Chapter 4 Chapter 4

Hayden POV:

The rain was still falling, a relentless, icy curtain descending upon the graves. I stood by Julia' s fresh mound, the wooden bird clutched tight in my hand, feeling like a ghost haunting my own grief. A movement caught my eye, a flash of dark suit against the muted greens and grays of the cemetery. My heart stalled, then hammered with a frantic, sickening rhythm.

Kingsley.

He was there, walking towards Julia's grave, Brooklyn on his arm. Her umbrella, a frivolous splash of color, seemed obscene against the somber backdrop. My breath hitched. How dare they? How dare they set foot on this sacred ground, the ground where they had buried my sister?

Brooklyn saw me first. Her eyes widened, a fleeting look of surprise, quickly replaced by a tightening of her lips. She whispered something to Kingsley, pulling at his arm.

Kingsley' s head snapped up. His gaze locked onto mine, and his jaw instantly clenched. A dark flush spread across his face, and he stalked towards me, leaving Brooklyn a few paces behind. Every step he took felt like a hammer blow to my chest.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded, his voice low and dangerous, as he reached me. He grabbed my arm, his fingers digging into my skin, pulling me roughly away from Julia's headstone. "You have no right to be here, Hayden."

"I have every right!" I snarled, trying to pull away. The pain from his grip was nothing compared to the fresh wound he inflicted with his words. "This is my sister! My family! You're the one who has no right!"

"Your sister is dead because of you!" he hissed, his eyes blazing with an irrational fury. "You caused too much trouble, too much drama! If you had just let things be, maybe she'd still be alive!"

Brooklyn, catching up, let out a soft, theatrical sob. "Kingsley, darling, don't. She's clearly distraught. But she's making a spectacle of herself. It' s so disrespectful to poor Julia." She cast a pitying, yet utterly insincere, glance my way. "Hayden, please. Go home. You're upsetting everyone."

My blood ran cold. Disrespectful? Upsetting everyone? They were the architects of this tragedy, and they dared to accuse me? I yanked my arm free from Kingsley' s grasp, the sudden movement sending a fresh jolt of pain through my side.

"How dare you?" I cried, my voice trembling with suppressed fury. "You murdered her! Both of you! You stole her heart, and then you blamed me!"

Kingsley' s eyes narrowed to slits. "Murder? You think I murdered her? What kind of twisted fantasy are you living in, Hayden? And what are you doing here anyway? Trying to cause more trouble? Trying to get attention?"

He took another step, towering over me. "Apologize, Hayden. Apologize to Julia for your selfish behavior. Apologize for making her last days so difficult." He grabbed my shoulders, his grip like steel, and forced me down. "Get on your knees. Now. Apologize!"

The impact of my knees hitting the wet, muddy ground sent a fresh wave of agony through my body. My prosthetic leg dug into the soft earth. Humiliation, hot and searing, washed over me, but it was quickly eclipsed by a chilling realization. He was not just a monster; he was a stranger. The man I had loved was gone, if he had ever truly existed. This was my enemy. This was the man I would destroy.

"I will never apologize," I whispered, my voice raw, but laced with a newfound steel. "Not to you. Not to her. And certainly not to Julia, who you robbed of everything."

He scoffed, tightening his grip, pulling me closer until my face was inches from the cold headstone. "You think you're tough, Hayden? You think you can talk to me like that?" His voice was a low growl, filled with menace. "You have no idea what I'm capable of. You will regret this insolence."

The sky, as if mirroring my despair, opened up completely. The rain poured down, drenching us instantly, blurring the world into a watery canvas of gray. The cold seeped into my bones, mingling with the pain in my head and abdomen, the constant, dull ache that had become my unwelcome companion since the hospital. My prosthetic leg, already submerged in the mud, felt heavy and useless.

Julia, I thought, my heart aching. Forgive me. Forgive me for loving him. Forgive me for being blind.

"Kingsley, darling, let's go," Brooklyn whined, her voice barely audible over the drumming rain. She tugged at his sleeve, her perfect hair now plastered to her face. "It's freezing. She's not worth catching a cold over."

His words, his touch, his presence, they were a physical assault. My prosthetic leg was giving way. The straps were loosening, the connection weakening. A sharp, grinding pain shot up my residual limb. But it was nothing compared to the pain in my heart.

I loved him, I thought, a bitter, self-Demented laugh bubbling up. I loved this man. I gave him everything. My body, my career, my loyalty. And he gave me... this.

I looked up at him through the pouring rain, my vision blurred with tears and raindrops. He wasn't the man I thought he was. He was a void. An empty, cruel shell. My love for him had been a lie, a beautiful, devastating lie. The realization hit me with the force of a battering ram, shattering the last vestiges of my broken heart.

With a sudden burst of adrenaline, I shoved him, using every ounce of strength I had left. He stumbled back, momentarily caught off guard. "You think you can just stand there and mock me?" I screamed, my voice raw, utterly unhinged. "You think you can just watch her die and then come here and pretend to mourn? You're a fake, Kingsley! A fraud! A murderer!"

I lunged at him, my hands reaching for his face, my nails digging into his skin. He recoiled instantly, pushing me away with surprising force. I lost my balance, my prosthetic leg coming completely undone, and I fell back, landing hard on my injured side.

As I collapsed, something slipped from my coat pocket, tumbling into the mud beside me. It was the small, intricately carved wooden bird, Julia's good luck charm. My mother's last wish.

"No!" I cried, scrambling forward, ignoring the searing pain, ignoring the way my head spun. I had to get it. I had to protect it. It was all I had left.

But Kingsley was faster. He bent down, his hand closing around the small wooden bird before I could reach it. He straightened up, his eyes falling on the tiny, mud-splattered carving. He stared at it for a long, silent moment, a strange, unreadable expression on his face.