The world didn't end.
That was the strangest part.
After the words left his mouth.
"Scarlett was your mother"
Nothing shattered.
No thunder cracked. No light exploded. The sky didn't fall.
I was still standing on the balcony.
Still breathing.
Still alive.
But something inside me went very, very quiet.
I took a step back.
Then another.
My heels brushed cold stone and I didn't remember walking that far. My chest felt hollow, like someone had scooped everything out and forgotten to put it back.
"No," I said again, softer this time. Not to him. To myself. "That doesn't make sense."
Aiden didn't move. He didn't reach for me. He didn't try to convince me.
He just watched.
And somehow, that made it worse.
"If Scarlett was my mother," I continued, my voice strange in my own ears, "then why did my life look like that?"
I laughed once, sharp and broken.
