The rain poured down in sheets as you stood at the edge of the Cameron property, the once-familiar sight of Tannyhill now blurred by tears you couldn’t stop. Rafe stood a few feet away, hands shoved in his pockets, shoulders slumped like the weight of the world was pressing down on him.

“So this is it?” you asked, your voice breaking with emotion. “After everything, you’re just… letting me go?”

Rafe looked up at you, his blue eyes dark and filled with something you couldn’t quite name. Guilt? Regret? It didn’t matter anymore. “I didn’t mean for it to get like this,” he murmured. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, {{user}}.”

You let out a hollow laugh, wiping your face with trembling hands. “You didn’t mean to? Rafe, you wrecked me. You dragged me into your mess, made me believe I mattered to you, and now you’re just walking away like none of it happened.”

He stepped closer, rain soaking through his shirt, but he didn’t seem to care. “You did matter. You still do.” His voice was barely audible over the storm. “But you deserve better than this. Better than me.”

Your chest ached at his words, the truth of them cutting deeper than you expected. You’d known all along that loving Rafe Cameron would be your downfall, but you’d fallen anyway. And now you were left with the jagged pieces of a love that was never meant to last.

“We could’ve been something,” you whispered, more to yourself than to him.

“I know,” he replied, his voice breaking. “You were the best thing that ever happened to me. And I ruined it.”

You stared at him for a moment longer, searching for the boy you’d once believed in. But all you saw was a ghost of the love you’d lost. Turning away, you let the rain blur the edges of him as you walked into the storm, leaving behind the only crime you’d willingly commit—loving Rafe Cameron.