I Stopped Loving Him When He Let Me Bleed Out novel Chapter 483

After Finn dropped that loaded question, a suffocating, agonizing silence settled over the living room.

It dragged on so long that he genuinely believed she wasn't going to answer.

He braced his hands against the couch, fully intending to walk out the door.

Then, Maeve finally spoke.

"It proves everything."

Finn's muscles locked mid-motion.

"I know I abandoned you, and I couldn't be there to watch you grow up, but I have always cared if you were safe. Watching you become this incredible, accomplished man... it gave me a profound sense of peace. Because it proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you were infinitely better off without me."

"So this entire display is just a desperate attempt to validate your cowardly decision to throw me away." Finn glared at her, utterly disgusted.

Maeve's face tightened fiercely.

"If I had selfishly dragged you down into my miserable, unstable life, I would have ruined you. That would have been the ultimate betrayal."

A vicious, mocking sneer curled Finn's lips.

"Do you actually think I had a good life? Or do you just violently delude yourself into believing that so you can sleep at night, convinced your sacrifice was noble?"

Maeve bristled, entirely offended by his venom.

"Are you seriously claiming you suffered? Do you have any concept of the absolute hell I endured over these past thirty years?"

Finn didn't back down an inch, meeting her furious glare head-on.

"Whatever hell you crawled through was a direct consequence of your own choices. I was thrust into my nightmare with absolutely zero say in the matter."

"Are you blaming me?"

"I don't blame anyone," Finn spat back. "But if you think you can weaponize these guilt trips to force a relationship with me, you are dead wrong."

He jabbed a finger aggressively at the worn leather album.

"This so-called motherly devotion? This narrative that you did it all for me? I see absolutely none of it, and I feel even less."

Maeve fell completely silent, squeezing her eyes shut as if dodging a physical blow.

"I'm not trying to manipulate you. I just desperately needed you to know that I never once stopped caring. I was drowning, and I had no other options."

"Message received loud and clear."

"You still can't bring yourself to forgive me, can you?"

Finn stared at her with hollow eyes.

"You don't even believe you made a mistake. So what exactly am I supposed to be forgiving you for?"

Maeve had no counterargument.

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