Her Birthday His Forbidden Desire novel Chapter 31

**Twilight Carves Destinies by George Orwell 31**
**Chapter 21**

“I sequestered myself in the isolation chamber for three long days. You once claimed I could never grasp the depths of that kind of anguish—but now, I find myself intimately acquainted with it.”

Declan’s voice trembled slightly as he spoke, the weight of his words hanging heavily in the air. “And this bracelet—it’s something I crafted with my own hands. I wish to present it to you. I truly am sorry.”

Sloane’s expression hardened, her eyes narrowing into icy slits. She made no move toward the bracelet, letting it dangle between them like a pendulum marking the passage of time. “No. Those photographs—you owed me those. I’ll take them. But that bracelet? Even if I wore it for just a single day, it would be a waking nightmare.”

With a swift motion, Declan hurled the bracelet into the nearest trash can, the metal clinking harshly against the plastic. “Then what now? Please, Sloane, tell me. What more must I do to make amends? Just say the words.”

She turned away, her back to him, poised to leave. In a moment of desperation, he grasped her hand once more, his voice a mix of urgency and vulnerability. “Is it the slaps that shattered you? Was that the breaking point?”

Before she could respond, he took matters into his own hands, lifting her hand and striking himself across the face with a forceful smack. The sound echoed in the empty space around them. He did it again, and then again, his desperation fueling each blow.

“There! Is that enough for you?!” he shouted, his voice raw with emotion.

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