The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 517

Chapter 254-1

he instant my fingers leave his skin, Locke lets out a long, shaky breath through his mouth His shoulders drop half an inch, the physical relief so obvious it feels like a slap across my face

He looks down at the bedsheets, his face turning dark with shame.

“I’m sorry,” he mutters, his voice thick and rough. “f**k, Zara… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t… I don’t mean to act like that. I just… it’s strange. Having someone touch me like they know me, when I dont when

I can’t…”

“Don’t,” I choke out. “Don’t apologize, Locke. Please don’t do that.”

“I just feel like a bastard,” he says. “Cobra told me how I used to be with you. He said I.. he said! wouldn’t let anyone near you. He said I was crazy about you. And now you’re standing here crying, carrying a miracle child, and I’m sitting here like a total stone. It’s just not right.”

“You’re not a bastard,” I say, the heartbreak choking me. “You’re hurt.”

“I’m supposed to take care of you,” he says, looking up at me. “That’s what they said. They said I’m your partner. That we’ve got a kid coming after everything you went through. I’m sitting here trying to figure out how the hell I’m supposed to protect you when I can’t even remember loving you.”

The raw, messy honesty of his words tears through me. He isn’t shutting me out with a cold heart; he’s drowning in the sheer absurdity of his own broken life, trying to piece together a puzzle that has no edge pieces left.

I look at him. Really look at him.

I see the deep bruises around those storm gray eyes, the physical exhaustion radiating from his giant frame, the back–breaking strain of a man being asked to be a partner, a lover, a protector, father when he doesn’t even know who he is when he wakes up in the morning.

My hope doesn’t die, but the illusion that I promised myself to make true shatters.

I can’t fix this by standing here. I can’t cry him into remembering.

Every second I spend standing by his bed, crying and reaching for him, is just piling more guilt and pressure onto a man who’s already barely holding himself together.

“I should go,” I say, stepping back toward the middle of the room.

Locke looks up, surprised. “What? You just got here. You don’t have to run off.”

“No, I do,” I say, forcing my voice to stay as steady as possible, though my whole body’s shaking. “You’re exhausted, Locke. You’ve got three different doctors coming in today, and you’re in pain.”

15

Chapter 254-1

Locke shifts uncomfortably, his eyes following me as I gather my bag. “Zara… look, I really am

His deep, gravelly voice calls out from behind me just as my hand touches the edge of the blue

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