Lucas's voice was raw, filled with something I couldn't quite place. "You think I left because I didn't care. Because I didn't want to stay."
I swallowed hard, my heart pounding. "Didn't you?"
He let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head. "God, Claire. Do you really think it was that simple?"
I crossed my arms, unwilling to let him sway me with that tormented look in his eyes. "It was simple to me, Lucas. One day you were there. The next, you were gone. No explanation. No goodbye."
His jaw clenched. "You think I wanted to leave you?"
"Yes!" The word tore from my lips before I could stop it. "Because if you didn't, you would have fought to stay."
Lucas took a step closer, his presence overwhelming. "I did fight."
Something in his tone sent a shiver down my spine.
I searched his face, looking for answers in the sharp lines and haunted expression. "Then why did you leave?"
Lucas inhaled deeply, like he was bracing himself.
"My father," he finally said. "He forced me to leave."
I blinked. "What?"
He ran a hand through his hair, his frustration evident. "He found out about us, Claire. And he made it clear—if I didn't end things with you and leave town, he'd destroy you."
The air left my lungs.
"That's ridiculous," I said, shaking my head. "Destroy me how?"
Lucas's expression darkened. "You don't know my father the way I do. He had the money, the power, the connections. He could've ruined your family, made sure your career never took off, dragged your name through the mud in ways you can't even imagine."
I took a shaky step back, my mind reeling. "And you just… believed him?"
He scoffed. "I knew him. He wasn't bluffing, Claire. He never bluffed."
I stared at him, my chest rising and falling too quickly. "So instead of trusting me, instead of telling me the truth, you made the decision for me?"
His expression twisted with regret. "I was trying to protect you."
Anger surged through me, hot and suffocating. "You don't get to say that. You don't get to act like you were some kind of hero when all you did was leave me in the dark."
Lucas flinched, but I didn't stop.
"Do you have any idea what that did to me?" My voice cracked. "How many nights I spent wondering what I did wrong? Why I wasn't enough for you to stay?"
His eyes shone with something dangerously close to guilt. "Claire…"
"No." I held up a hand, my vision blurring. "You don't get to stand here and act like this is some tragic love story where you were the noble idiot and I was just supposed to wait around, hoping one day you'd come back."
Lucas exhaled sharply. "I never wanted to hurt you."
"But you did," I whispered. "You did."
Silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating.
Then, barely above a whisper, he said, "If I could do it over, I'd fight harder. I'd tell you everything. I'd let you decide."
I shook my head, tears burning my eyes. "It's too late for that."
Lucas's gaze dropped to my lips for the briefest second before flicking back up. "Is it?"
My breath caught.
Because even after everything—even after years of hurt, of betrayal, of missing him more than I ever wanted to admit—part of me wasn't sure of the answer.
And that terrified me more than anything.
Lucas's words hung in the air between us, thick with regret and unspoken longing.
"If I could do it over, I'd fight harder. I'd tell you everything. I'd let you decide."
I wanted to scream. To tell him he had no right to say that now, not after all the years of silence. Not after I had spent so long convincing myself I was over him.
Instead, I took a step back, needing distance before I did something reckless—like let myself believe him.
"You don't get to rewrite the past, Lucas," I said, my voice shaking.
"I know." His hazel eyes searched mine. "But I'm not asking for the past, Claire. I'm asking for a chance to fix the present."
I let out a sharp breath, shaking my head. "That's not how this works. You don't get to show up and expect me to just—just forget everything."
"I don't expect you to forget." His voice was quiet. Steady. "But I need you to know that leaving you was the hardest thing I've ever done."
I swallowed against the lump in my throat.
"Do you have any idea what it was like for me?" I whispered. "One day, we were planning a future, and the next, you were gone. No explanation. No warning. I spent months waiting for a call that never came. A text. Anything."
Lucas closed his eyes briefly, his jaw tightening. "I hated every second of it."
"Then why didn't you come back?"
His throat bobbed. "Because I thought staying away was the only way to keep you safe."
I let out a bitter laugh, wiping angrily at the tears that had started falling. "Safe from what, Lucas? Your father's threats? I could have handled it. We could have figured it out together."
His hands curled into fists. "And if he followed through? If he ruined your family, your career? If he hurt you?"
I flinched at the raw desperation in his voice.
"I couldn't take that risk," he continued. "So I did the only thing I thought I could. I left. And every single day since, I've regretted it."
Silence stretched between us, heavy with everything we'd lost.
For the first time, I saw the truth in his eyes—the pain, the guilt, the love he'd tried to bury.
And it shattered me.
Because no matter how much I hated him for leaving, a part of me had never stopped loving him.
I turned away, wrapping my arms around myself as if that could hold me together. "It doesn't change anything."
Lucas took a hesitant step closer. "Claire…"
I shook my head. "You don't get to do this to me, Lucas. You don't get to come back and act like we can fix this."
His jaw tightened. "Why not?"
"Because I don't know how to trust you again." My voice cracked, and I hated how vulnerable I sounded. "You broke me once. How do I know you won't do it again?"
Lucas inhaled sharply, then took another step—closer this time, close enough that I could feel his warmth.
"Because I won't make the same mistake twice," he said, his voice low, full of something I wasn't ready to name. "Because losing you once nearly destroyed me. And I swear, Claire, if you gave me even the smallest chance, I'd spend the rest of my life proving to you that I'm not going anywhere."
I swallowed hard, my heart hammering against my ribs.
I wanted to believe him.
God, I wanted to.
But could I?
Could I really let him back in, knowing what he was capable of doing to me?
I looked up at him, my breath uneven. "I don't know if I can do this, Lucas."
His fingers brushed against mine—just barely, but enough to send a jolt of something dangerous through me.
"I'll wait," he said. "As long as it takes."
And that terrified me more than anything.
Because a part of me already knew—no matter how hard I tried to fight it—Lucas was the one thing I'd never been able to let go of.