Serena's POV
Those devastating words I had thrown at Derek still echoed in my mind, words that would have never escaped my lips in calmer moments.
Yet I understood now that my desperate attempts to cling to him only drove him further into the shadows.
The guilt swimming in his dark eyes offered me a sliver of hope though.
He had never once denied the whispers or dismissed the accusations that Bella still owned his heart.
Too many confessions had spilled from his mouth for me to pretend otherwise, but I refused to surrender to that reality.
Deep down, I believed he was simply lost, uncertain of his own desires.
His gravitational pull toward her stemmed from one painful truth - I couldn't bear his children. That weakness became his convenient excuse to drift back into her waiting arms.
But change was coming, I could feel it stirring in my bones.
I remained in his bedroom, observing how he maintained careful distance between us.
