Chapter 112
-Grayson’s POV-
Elaine didn’t give me a chance to speak or explain myself. She turned and bolted out of my study, her footsteps echoing down the hall. I cursed under my breath, frustration and dread twisting in my chest. Liam, who had been sitting across from me moments before, rose to his feet, concern etched into his features.
“Stay here,” I snapped at him, my voice sharp. “I’ll handle this.”
Without waiting for a response, I pushed past the door and into the dimly lit corridor. Elaine was already disappearing around the corner, moving with the kind of desperation that cut me deeper than I cared to admit.
“Elaine,” I called after her, but she didn’t stop.
I let out a weary sigh, knowing I was about to make things worse but having no other choice. The weight of my Alpha aura rolled over the space between us, commanding her to stop. “Stop moving, Elaine,” I said firmly, my tone leaving no room for defiance.
Her steps faltered, and her body froze. Her shoulders were rigid, her back turned to me as she stood motionless in the middle of the hallway. I didn’t relish using my authority over her but there was no other way to make her stay and listen. Slowly, I closed the distance between us until I was standing just a few feet away.
“Yes,” I said, my voice steady but hollow. “I started the fire that night. But I didn’t mean for it to kill your parents or my mother. Things got out of control.”
The admission fell heavily between us, like a boulder dropped into a bottomless chasm. Her shoulders stiffened further, and when she finally turned to face me, her eyes were filled with tears, brimming with pain and fury.
“Just how inhuman have you become, Grayson?” Her voice trembled with emotion, each word sharper than the last. “You were responsible for that night, and you don’t even have the decency to feel remorseful? After all these years of lying to me?”
“Elaine-”
“No!” she cut me off, her voice shaking with barely restrained rage. “That night, I watched my father go up in flames. Do you have any idea how many nightmares I’ve had because of that? How screwed up that moment made me? And you… you wake up every day and act like it’s my fault I’m this way–when you did this, Grayson!”
She shoved me, her hands pressing against my chest with more force than I expected. It wasn’t enough to move me physically, but the impact of her words hit far harder than any physical blow ever could.
“You ruined my childhood!” she cried, her voice cracking under the weight of her anguish. “You made me grow into this around her to be just as broken so I don’t have to feel alone. And then you act like who wants everyone miserable person taking me in was some kind of grand favor, as if I wouldn’t be this way if it weren’t for you!”
Her tears streamed freely now, her makeup smudging as she wiped at her face in vain. It was a heartbreaking sight, one that left me feeling utterly powerless. I wanted to say something–anything–that could make this better, but the truth was, there was nothing. Nothing I could say or do would undo what I had done.
It was one of the reasons I had Maria start to suppress my emories in the first place. I hated what I had done to her, hated the way I had destroyed her life. And yet, I couldn’t find the words to make it right. So, I stayed silent, my numbness and bleakness filling the void between us.
“Fifteen years, Grayson,” she continued, her voice quieter now but no less sharp. “Fifteen years of lies. That’s why you stood by and did nothing at first that night, isn’t it? I knew you were a bad person, but I didn’t know you were this evil.”
Her words were a knife twisting in my chest, but I didn’t flinch. Everything she was saying was true, and there was no point
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Chapter 112
in denying it.
“You are…” she paused, her voice breaking as she sniffled and rubbed at her
eyes.
“You are….
just a monster.”
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And that’s when I saw it–the full extent of the damage I had done. She wasn’t just angry or grieving. She was broken. Completely and utterly broken. And it was my fault.
Without thinking, I reached out and pulled her into my arms, holding her tightly. “I didn’t mean for it to happen,” I murmured, my voice low and strained.
For a moment, she didn’t fight me. She just stood there, crying against my chest, her sobs muffled but still heart–wrenching. She was saying something–words I couldn’t quite make out–but the pain in her voice was unmistakable. It was the sound of someone who had been carrying too much for far too long.
But then, like a spark igniting, she pulled away abruptly, her expression hardening once more. “Don’t touch me, Grayson,” she said, her voice icy. “Even if you didn’t mean for it to happen, how can you spend all these years acting high and mighty, as if I’m the problem, when you-” She broke off, sucking in a deep breath. “When you made me this way?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but she wasn’t finished.
“And even after everything you’ve done, you bring that commoner here.” Her voice dripped with disdain as she said the word. “You continuously belittle me because I am this way, even though you’re the one who made me like this. And still, you pick her over and over and over again.”
Her words slammed into me, and I froze, realizing where this was going.
“You want to start making this right?” she demanded, her eyes burning with a mixture of desperation and fury. “Then tell her to leave.”
The ultimatum hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. My wolf growled in the back of my mind, repulsed by the very idea. Ava was… she was everything I didn’t deserve but somehow had. She was light where I was darkness, hope where I was despair. And yet, as I looked at Elaine–her tear–streaked face, her trembling lips–I knew what I had to do.
“Fine,” I said finally, my voice flat and devoid of emotion. “I’ll ask her to leave. I was going to do so eventually because Ava Pierce means nothing to me.”
The words tasted bitter on my tongue, but I forced myself to say them. The moment they left my lips, I felt a strange, gut- wrenching sensation, like a part of me had been ripped away.
And then, I felt it–her presence.
I turned my head sharply, my wolf picking up the faint sound of footsteps retreating down the hallway. My heart sank.
“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath.
I started to move, my instincts urging me to go after her, but Elaine’s voice stopped me in my tracks.
“If you go after her now,” she said, her tone low and threatening. I swear on the Moon Goddess’s name, you will lose the only family you have left. I will leave, and I’ll never come back.”
I froze, torn between two impossible choices. My wolf growled in protest, urging me to follow Ava, to fix this before it was too late. But deep down, I knew what I had to do.
Whether I liked it or not, Elaine was my family. She was broken because of me, and for everything I had done to her, I owed
her this much.
So, I stayed. I let Ava go.
The sound of her footsteps faded into the distance, and a hollow emptiness settled over me. My wolf howled in anguish, but
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Chapter 112
I silenced it, steeling myself against the pain.
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Ava and I were never meant to be. She wanted a life I couldn’t give her, and maybe it was better this way–ending things now instead of prolonging the inevitable.
Still, as I stood there in the dim hallway, watching Elaine wipe the last of her tears, a part of me couldn’t shake the feeling that I had just lost something I would never get back.
