?Chapter 1519:

Caitlin’s response was a quiet shake of her head as she turned away, drawing an invisible wall between them.

But yton didn’t take it to heart. Instead, he reached out, his fingers brushing against her damp cheek in a touch so light that it barely existed. “This is on me,” he remarked, his voiceced with self-reproach. “I didn’t expect you to cross paths with Beth in a ce like that. I swore I’d keep you safe, but I failed.”

Caitlin remained silent, her tears continuing to trace a painful path down her face. She recalled the moments before she lost consciousness. She hadn’t suffered any grave injuries, but Beth—infuriated by her resistance—had ordered herckeys to restrain her. They were like iron shackles on her limbs. Then, in a cruel attempt to break her spirit, they had tried to strip her of her clothes.

Caitlin had fought, but against multiple people, she was powerless. The sheer humiliation, the despair—she hadn’t cked out from a blow but from the unbearable weight of it all. Later, she’d learned she’d suffered from respiratory alkalosis. Her body had betrayed her under the sheer force of her panic.

And then, yton had arrived. Only then had the horror stopped. Only then had she felt safe, cradled in his arms.

But safety didn’t erase scars. The moment lingered inside her, festering into something raw and bitter. Resentment. Humiliation. A wound that even time struggled to mend.

yton didn’t push her to speak. He just stayed there, patient, waiting. “It’s okay,” he coaxed. “I know you don’t want to see me, and I don’t me you. This is my fault—every part of it. If I hade sooner, I could have stopped it before it even began.”

The door creaked open.

The sound jolted Caitlin, her body stiffening, fingers clutching the sheets as instinctive fear curled around her.

But then, yton’s assistant spoke up. “Mr. Morgan, you need to rest. Miss Cooper’s condition hasn’t been stable these past few days, and you’ve been by her side for three nights straight. You still have to deal with the Fletcher family and Miss Fletcher. If you keep pushing yourself like this, how long can youst?”

Caitlin’s chest tightened. Three days? She turned back to yton, the bitterness in her gaze melting into something softer, somethingced with quiet concern. “You haven’t slept in three days?”

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yton’s smile was gentle, his exhaustion barely concealed beneath it. His eyes, however, remained warm—like he had no regrets. “If I hadn’t been there to see you wake up, I wouldn’t have been able to rest anyway. Caitlin… Could you forgive me?”

There was something unguarded in the way he looked at her—something that made it clear her answer mattered more than she could possibly know.

Caitlin swallowed past the lump in her throat and shook her head—not in refusal, but in quiet reassurance. “I don’t me you. You couldn’t have predicted what Beth would do, and you did everything you could to protect me. I’m just so useless that I keep letting myself be mistreated like this.”

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