"Then… die What are you waiting for?."
The words slipped out before Anna could stop them, sharp, cold, and unforgiving, slicing through the evening air like a blade.
They hung there, suspended between them, heavy with finality.
For a long, agonizing second, everything froze.
Joseph stared at her, his eyes wide with shock and raw pain.
Anna stared back, her own heart hammering violently against her ribs.
Even she hadn't expected herself to say something so brutal. The words tasted foreign on her tongue, bitter and wrong, yet they had escaped anyway, born from months of accumulated hurt.
"Do you… hate me that much?" Joseph asked quietly, his voice low and almost breaking. The usual confidence in his tone had cracked, leaving behind something fragile and desperate. "That you'd actually wish me dead, baby?"
Anna's chest tightened painfully. A wave of guilt crashed over her, making it hard to breathe.
