Her beauty transcended mortality itself—even in death, Heaven's delicate features bore that ethereal innocence I'd fought so desperately to protect. The hospital room remained exactly as I'd demanded: her body uncovered, untouched by clinical indifference. My trembling fingers traced her cheek, searching for the warmth that had vanished because of my negligence, my weakness. "Forgive me, Heaven." The words fell hollow against the suffocating silence. I should never have obeyed your plea to leave. I should have defied every instruction, every boundary between us. If I'd reached you in time, if I'd simply ignored your wishes just once, you'd still be breathing. You'd still be mine. I captured her fragile hands in mine, marveling at their impossible softness even as death claimed her. A cruel breeze swept through the room, tangling strands of her silken hair across her face. My fingers moved instinctively to brush them away—an intimate gesture for a woman I'd spent so long denying myself, only to lose her anyway. The demon I'd tried so hard to restrain from her body had ultimately destroyed her through my restraint. My carelessness had rewritten both our destinies. Heaven deserved more than a lover's regrets whispered to a corpse—she deserved the fierce, unrelenting passion I'd caged within myself for her sake. And now, that sacrifice meant nothing.