Chapter 117

Aria's POV I lost track of how long I stood there, thinking, while Knox stood there, watching me carefully. All these things he said were horrible and cruel. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that they didn't change how I felt about Knox. My heart was heavy with the weight of his confession, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to hate him. I wasn't a bad person. I knew what he did was wrong. I felt terrible for the lives lost, and for the pain he had caused. But I also knew the man standing before me now wasn’t the same one who had done those cruel things. He regretted it. I could see it in his eyes, and I could hear it in his voice. He had been carrying that guilt, and I knew that no matter how much he tried to hide it, it haunted him. And despite everything… I still loved him. That love didn’t make me blind to what he had done. It made me recognize that he was a different man now. Slowly, I took a step forward. Knox stiffened, his gray eyes bore