CRYSTAL.
I had no regrets about what I did.
Not one.
I saw the look in his eyes when I told him to leave — that quiet devastation he tried so hard to hide behind control — and for a second, something inside me twisted. But I shoved it down before it could turn into guilt.
He needed to go.
He wasn't a part of us.
He didn't belong beside my son’s hospital bed, nor in this chaos he helped create.
If Jaden Astor had even a shred of conscience left, he’d stay gone.
The moment he walked out, the air finally felt breathable again. I could hear my own thoughts — though I didn’t want to. Every one of them hurt.
I kept replaying his face in my head — the flicker of shock, then anger, then that final, hollow calm before he turned and left.
But I didn’t care anymore.
We’d waited for over
