Secrets of Us A Forbidden Love Romance (Alina) novel Chapter 74

Not Ready to Forgive

My stomach turns, still empty since I never ate the plate of eggs I left in the living room.

I sit on the edge of my bed, staring at my wrist, my fingers tracing the thin, raised line of the scar. It’s usually the only thing that grounds me when panic takes over, when the weight of old memories threatens to break me.

It’s not doing much to help me right now.

The room feels too quiet, too still, as my mind takes me back to that day.

The day everything changed.

1 see the inside of the car, hear the hum of the engine, feel the warm sun streaming through the windows. Alex is in the passenger seat, flipping through the stations on the

radio.

I’m in the backseat, leaning forward, reaching to poke his ear because he refuses to put on my station pick.

He swats at my hand, and I giggle.

I give him a peaceful thirty seconds before I lick my finger and try again.,

“Alina, quit it!” he says, but his voice is playful, and I giggle, doing it again.

He spins as much as he can in his seat and swats at me with both hands, slapping my shoulders until I’m laughing so hard my stomach hurts.

Dad glances at us, grinning. “You are both the most annoying kids.”

The memory shifts and slows, the edges blurring.

The car enters the intersection.

A flash of red streaks across my vision.

The impact is sudden and violent, the sound of crunching metal drowning out my scream. The car jerks sideways, and we’re spinning, flipping, tumbling into chaos. I smell the sharp tang of chemicals, the bite of burning rubber. Glass shatters, cutting into my skin

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Not Ready to Forgive

like needles.

When the car finally stops moving, everything is silent. Too silent.

Dad saying nothing, Alex doesn’t even scream. I watch their still bodies as I taste blood in my mouth.

I squeeze my eyes shut, my breath hitching. I run my hands through my hair, tugging at the roots, trying to pull myself out of the memory. But it lingers, the weight of guilt pressing against my chest.

It’s my fault.

I distracted him. I was the reason he wasn’t looking.

And I survived.

The thought twists inside me, sharp and cruel. Why me? Why did I get to walk away when Alex didn’t? When Dad didn’t?

I cry silently, wiping at my face with the hem of my shirt. My shoulders shake, and my breath comes in uneven gasps.

The guilt is suffocating, and the moments like this when I feel like I cannot keep it at bay, all I want to do is stop breathing.

And now, knowing what Aiden did, t’s like the ground beneath me has been ripped away.

I think that’s why it was so easy for me to keep Zaid at a distance. He was so careless; he hurt someone with a car. It was something I thought was unforgiveable.

I pull my knees to my chest, trying to steady myself, when I hear a loud crash from downstairs.

My heart skips, and I’m on my feet in an instant, running out of my room and down the stairs.

3:16 pm

Zaid bites his lower lip before he continues. “I’d do it again if I had to. You’re my brother, Aiden. I love you.”

Aiden’s shoulders sag, his face crumpling as tears spill down his cheeks. My own chest sours in pain. It’s heartbreaking to see the relief in Aiden’s face, like he believed with all of himself that his brother hated him.

It’s even more painful for me to see Zaid express his love so confidently. It’s beautiful.

“I’m sorry,” Aiden says, his voice breaking. “I’m so sorry.”

Zaid doesn’t soften. “Don’t be sorry. Be better.”

Aiden looks to the grounds, nodding.

Zaid’s fists clenched at his sides. “Don’t waste the chance I gave you. Take the damn scholarship. Go to fucking school. Do something with your life.”