Bad Love An Alpha’s Regret

Chapter 313

He holds out his hand and I take it, shaking.

His grip is firm and cool, and there’s something almost comforting about it.

“I’m Emily,” I tell him in return.

His smile deepens. “That’s a pretty name.”

I laugh at this.

Ronan might be too charming for his own good.

“I think it’s pretty basic myself, but you’re welcome to your opinion.”

He gives a quick, friendly laugh.

“So, Emily, what has you out here looking so down on a day like today?”

I take a slow breath, working out how I can explain without sounding crazy.

“Something bad happened to me, something traumatizing,” I begin, choosing my words carefully. “Something that went on for a long time. I finally got out just recently, and now my family are treating me like I’m fragile and broken. Maybe because I am.

7

But I don’t want to be. And I can’t stay with my family, I can see that. It’s just not going to work. They’ll hate me when the realize the truth of everything that happened to me. Except I don’t know what to do, and don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Ronan nods, listening with sympathy and understanding.

And I realize it’s something no one has bothered to do since I got home.

they know what happened to me, and what they should do about

did have that

wasn’t

he–more than anyone–would be first in line to kill me if

strong and brave. You survived that bad thing you went through. And maybe these might seem like empty words,

know I’m definitely different, but I don’t think I’ve ever stopped to consider that

to me.

Just not in the

www

experiments were literally torture, but I can do things now that I

makes it all worthwhile.

could go back and have a choice, I’d choose not to ever go through that, because

since it puts me in greater danger from

I decide to look at it from a different

voice. “In a way that no one in your family can

has actually seen me- in a way Aaron and Jessica and Axel and everyone else maybe

just

so caught up in their own drama–and I was gone for ten years, so they’ve all

I don’t mean in a spiteful way, I

kind of way.

to remember it’s them, not you,” Ronan says conspiratorially, leaning forward a little. “It’s also their loss if they can’t see any of that. You’re strong. You’ve proven that to yourself. You don’t need to prove it to anyone else, even if they are

I’m speechless.

say, but I’m deeply touched by

you,” I say to him, emotion

he gets to his

week,” he says. “Maybe I’ll

reply, smiling, because I hope

and we stand there

I step forward and