“I closed off the walls around my heart long ago. I made sure never to trust anyone easily again… that’s why. Honestly, there are few people whom I really trusted. Which is why I… I can’t believe that one of the few people left in this world, whom I believed could never hurt me, ended up being Mrs. Engel.”

Brendan wiped the glistening sweat off her skin, but Deirdre caught his hand instead. “Let her go, Bren.”

Brendan regarded her pale, ashen expression silently.

If it were up to him, he wou