DARK SEDUCTION

Chapter 68

Max's voice was heavy with a mixture of confusion and pain as he spoke, "You are the first woman to best me in anything, Leila. But why me? Why did you choose me?" His question hung in the air, laced with an emotion that seemed foreign to him, a man who had always kept his guard up.

Leila took a deep breath, feeling the weight of his words and the memories they carried. She let out the breath softly, as if trying to expel the pain lodged deep within her heart. Her eyes glistened, but she kept her voice steady. “Letting you go wasn’t easy, Max. But what choice did I have? You were there handsome, brilliant, muscular, and most especially, you saved me.”

Saved you how?" In highschool, you saved me from , jumping over the roof top". Her voice trembled slightly as she continued, and after that, you became my everything , she looked into his eyes searching for something's that wasn't there but he purposely kept his expression blank

Anna needs me, and contrary to what you think, she is not as strong as she seems. In fact, she’s quite fragile. She would shatter if I ever left her, and I also love her, your a strong woman you would het through this."

Leila leaned over she wanted to kiss him on his lips but at the last moment Max turned his head, her lips instead brushed softly against his cheek in a tender peck. It was a kiss of goodbye, a kiss of gratitude, and a kiss of love that could never be. “Thank you, Max. If there is a next life, I will still choose you.” Her eyes searched his, a desperate plea hidden in their depths. “Friends?” she asked softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Max stared at her, his heart caught in a vice of conflicting emotions. For a moment, he simply looked at her, taking in the sadness in her eyes, the resolution in her voice. Then, slowly, he nodded, a faint, bittersweet smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Friends,” he replied, his voice husky with unspoken words. He stood up, his movements slow and deliberate, as if trying to delay the inevitable. Then, without another word, he turned and left the room, each step feeling heavier than the last.

As the door clicked shut behind him, Leila let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. The tears that had threatened to spill over finally broke free, streaming down her cheeks in silent agony. She had let him go, but her heart still clung to the hope that somehow, someday, they might find their way back to each other.

Unbeknownst to her, Anna had been watching the entire exchange through the keyhole. Her heart ached as she watched Leila, the woman who had loved Max so deeply, so fiercely, that she had been willing to sacrifice everything for him. But her sacrifice had been in vain. Anna knew that Max had never truly loved Leila, not in the way Leila had loved him.

A mixture of pity and anger surged within Anna as she watched Leila’s heartbreak unfold. How could someone do so much for a man who had never even loved her? She felt a profound sense of sadness for the girl Leila had once been and the unfulfilled woman she had become. Loving a man who could never love her back it was a tragedy that seemed almost Shakespearean in its cruelty.

But as Anna watched Leila, she also felt a simmering resentment. Leila had gone out of her way to deceive and manipulate Max, dragging him into her tangled web of emotions and schemes. It was beyond selfish, beyond unreasonable. It was unforgivable.

Then, Anna’s gaze shifted to Max, and she saw the expression on his face a mixture of shock and disbelief. He was clearly trying to process what had just happened, trying to make sense of the emotions that had suddenly engulfed him. She could tell he wanted to be angry at Leila, to lash out at her for the pain she had caused. But he held back, perhaps because he could see that she was on the verge of breaking down. Max had never been one to tolerate tears, especially not from women. Instead of getting angry, he did the only thing he could think of he laughed, a harsh, hollow sound that echoed through the empty room.