But as the night waned and dawn approached, Nicholas's distress remained.
The woman beside him slumbered, her features bathed in the gentle glow of morning light.
Nicholas's gaze lingered on her form, his emotions a blend of guilt and desperation.
He had sought refuge in her arms, hoping to quell the storm that raged within him, but his failures and the memories of Kiera remained stubbornly intact.
He rose from the bed, his movements deliberate yet heavy with the weight of his emotions.
As he dressed in the dim light of the room, his thoughts were a jumbled mess, his heart torn between the need for escape and the realisation that the void he sought to fill could not be so easily erased, nor could the wounds left by a love that had slipped through his fingers be mended.
He dipped his hand in his pocket, took out his wallet and a good amount of cash, and placed them beside her head.
