Chapter 54

As the words left Ethan's lips, Emily couldn't help but feel her heart skip a beat. Was he saying what she thought he was saying?

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Ethan took a deep breath. "I mean that maybe the contract was just a formality. Maybe what we had between us was real, even if we didn't realize it at the time."

Emily felt a surge of hope. Could it be possible? Could Ethan have finally realized what he had lost?

But she refused to let herself get carried away. "Ethan, you can't just say things like that and expect everything to be okay. You hurt me, and I can't just forget that."

"I know," Ethan said. "And I'm not asking you to forget. I just want you to know that I never stopped caring about you. Even when we were apart, I thought about you every day."

Emily felt a sense of warmth spread through her chest. She had missed Ethan more than she ever thought possible, and she couldn't deny the fact that she still cared about him.

But she refused