After 999 Nights, He Said We Were Never Together Chapter 18

After 999 Nights, He Said We Were Never Together Chapter 18

Because the investigation would take time, the Whitfields remained in New York.

During that period, the Monroes used every connection they had to plead for leniency almost daily.

The Whitfields refused them all.

The Blackwoods soon learned what happened and returned as well.

When Sophie stepped out of the police station one afternoon, she found Ryan waiting outside.

After only a few days apart, he already looked worn down. His eyes were threaded with red.

The moment he saw her, guilt crossed his face.

“Sophie.”

She had no interest in speaking to him. Pretending she hadn’t seen him, she started down the steps.

Before she reached the bottom, Ryan hurried forward and blocked her path.

“Can we talk?”

Sophie assumed they had run into each other because he had also been called in for questioning about the

case.

He was probably there to plead for Isabelle. She had heard enough appeals on Isabelle’s behalf to last a lifetime, so she refused to let him begin.

“There’s nothing to discuss. The evidence has confirmed that Isabelle solicited a crime. My parents and I intend to pursue the case fully, and no one will change our minds. Instead of asking me to spare her, use your time to find better lawyers for the girl you’ve never been able to forget. Maybe they can shave a few years off her sentence.”

Ryan froze.

The police had already shown him the surveillance footage.

He had never imagined Sophie had been telling the truth that night. Isabelle truly had staged everything and

framed her.

Remembering his behavior, Ryan wanted to hit himself.

Why had he turned his rage on the victim?

Why had he spoken in anger and said things designed to wound her?

Why couldn’t he have been patient enough to calm down and learn what actually happened?

The questions piled inside him until he could barely think.

When he realized Sophie had misunderstood his reason for approaching her, panic flashed across his face.

“I’m not here because of Isabelle…”

“Then we have even less to discuss.”

Sophie pulled her arm free and strode to her car.

But after fastening her seat belt, she looked up and found Ryan standing directly in front of the hood,

refusing to move.

The eyes that usually carried effortless arrogance were filled with pleading.

“Sophie, fifteen minutes. Just give me fifteen minutes.”

She stared at him, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel.

She knew Ryan. If she refused, he would stand there all day.

She didn’t want to waste hours on the confrontation, so she finally nodded.

“Ten.”

The moment she agreed, Ryan seemed to catch hold of a thread of hope. He exhaled and came to the driver’s-side window.

“I wronged you, Sophie. I should never have trampled on what you felt for me, and I should never have said those things. I’m sorry. Blame me however you want, but please don’t shut me out.”

“For years, I believed I loved Isabelle. But on the day of the wedding, when I learned you’d moved to Spain, I finally understood that you were the most important person in my life. I couldn’t lose you. That’s why I called

off the wedding.”

Sophie could no longer tell when Ryan was lying and when he meant what he said.

Over the years, she had heard countless tender promises from him. She had believed those words were love.

In the end, he had dismissed every one of them as proof that she alone had misunderstood.

If he truly cared, if he truly loved her, would he have abandoned her in a life-or-death moment?

Would he have denied her the chance to explain?

Would he have pushed her away again and again?

She had already been fooled once.

This time, no matter what he said, she treated it like a joke.

“And?”