Chapter 495

"Emma, I know from the beginning, I was never in a position to demand anything from you." "I don’t even have the right to ask you to stay with me. Not even with Jordan—I wasn’t there for your pregnancy, your delivery, or the nine years you raised him alone. I don’t deserve to hear him call me Dad." "There were times I thought, maybe I should just give you and Jordan everything I own and then disappear from your life forever—that’d probably be the right thing to do." "But I..." Elijah’s voice cracked suddenly, like something stuck in his throat. He struggled to go on. Emma stared at him, stunned by the glimmer of red in his eyes. The fairy tale illusion at the start was slowly peeling away, replaced by something bittersweet, tangled with everything unspoken. Turns out, he had thought about so much. Just never said it out loud. Just like she had tucked away her own chaos, never letting him see. It was a long moment before Elijah calmed down enough to go on. "But every time I looked throu