Chapter 3

Her voice was barely more than a breath, yet it struck him like a blow. The words echoed in his mind, hollow and merciless. Too late. He wanted to protest, to beg for a chance to understand, but the raw pain in her gaze silenced him. She stepped further into the room, the dim candlelight illuminating the hollow contours of her face. There was a beauty in her still, but it was one sculpted by sorrow, refined by years of silent suffering. Her hands trembled slightly as she reached for the edge of the desk, steadying herself as though the mere sight of him threatened to unmoor her completely. "I waited," she said, her voice breaking on the word. "I waited for years, hoping you'd see me. Hoping you'd remember. But you never did. You never even noticed." Alexander swallowed hard. "I didn't know. I never knew." Her laughter was bitter, brittle. "That is the cruelest part of all, isn't it? That I could love you so deeply, so completely, and yet remain invisible to you?" She shook her head. "Even now, you stand here looking at me as if I'm some mystery to be solved. But I'm not. I am merely the ghost of a love you let slip through your fingers."