Chapter 5

Elliot's pupils shrank to pinpricks, his entire body going rigid as if struck by lightning.

He finally spoke, his voice so hoarse it was barely audible.

"Say that again," he commanded, his eyes wide open. "What did you say?"

His subordinate's stuttering voice confirmed the reality.

"Sir... Kayla Ashley... she passed away three years ago. To save you, she donated her corneas and died on the operating table."

"The records... they're all here. Her grave... is at the municipal cemetery. The very one you're at right now."

A muscle in Elliot's jaw twitched violently, the veins on his forehead bulging like thick cords.

He gripped the phone in a death hold, his knuckles turning white, his entire body shaking.

"You're lying!" he roared, his raspy voice shattering the graveyard's tranquility. "You're all lying to me! She's not dead! She can't be dead!"

The subordinate, clearly terrified, insisted, "Sir, the information is irrefutable. We have the official death certificate, the hospital records..." Before he could finish, Elliot let out a gut-wrenching groan, a sound tangled with agony and rage.

Mom remained slumped on the wet grass, staring at him with hollow eyes.

Wave after wave of tears spilled from her eyes, flowing endlessly.

"Oh, Kayla," she sobbed, her voice shattered. "My baby girl. I should have stopped you. Even if it killed me, I should have stopped her from donating her corneas."

The remorse in her voice felt like a crushing weight, suffocating my empty heart.

Elliot snapped his head toward her, his eyes blazing with an ominous fire.

"Shut up!" he bellowed, his voice laced with pure denial. "She's not dead! She abandoned me! It was Dolly who saved me, not her! Don't you dare try to twist the truth now!"

He clung desperately to his distorted reality, refusing to let go of the narrative that absolved him of guilt.

He waved his arms frantically at his men.

"Dig it up! Dig it up! I want to see it with my own eyes! Proof! Prove to me she's dead!"

His command stemmed from a desperate, manic urge to utterly obliterate the truth.

Despite her frailty, Mom scrambled forward, waving her arms.

"No! You can't! Don't you dare desecrate her grave!" she shrieked, her voice ragged.

But it was too late. Two of Elliot's men grabbed her and dragged her away, her protests fading into desperate whimpers.

My soul let out a silent, agonizing scream.

He was desecrating my resting place, my quiet corner of peace.

Watching my family suffer, watching Elliot plunge step by step into this bottomless abyss of madness, the pain was almost too much to bear.

My love for him, which had endured even after death, was now rotting into bitter hatred.

Shovels bit deep into the dirt, tearing open the sacred ground.

Soil flew, clods of dirt scattering across the quiet cemetery. It felt like centuries had passed, though perhaps it was only minutes, before the men unearthed a small, smooth wooden box.

My urn. My final resting place.

Elliot stood at the edge of the open grave, his chest heaving, his face pale and gaunt.

With trembling hands, he reached out and took the urn from his subordinate.

He swayed on his feet, shaking uncontrollably.

He cradled the urn carefully, as if it were something infinitely precious.

"Sir, wait," one of the men said, pointing at something glinting in the freshly overturned earth. "There's a... a pendant down there."

Elliot's eyes widened, his gaze unfocused as he followed the man's pointing finger.

The urn slipped from his grasp, hitting the ground with a dull thud.

His eyes were glued to the small, silver heart pendant, half-buried in the dirt.

My throat choked up, a silent sob rising in my chest.

It was the pendant he had given me, engraved with our initials.

My heart-my foolish, love-filled heart-had prized it above any jewel.

I remembered my final moments, my voice weak, my hand gripping Christian's tightly.

"Promise me," I whispered. "When I'm buried, put this in with me. So a part of him will always be there."

I wanted him to know that even in death, I loved him, and he was forever with me.

What a massive irony.

My love, my eternal promise, had now been dug up, exposed to his freezing, biting rage.

I had thought our love was eternal, that our promises would be etched into the river of time.

Now, watching him stand beside my desecrated grave, it all seemed so laughably pathetic.

Elliot dropped to his knees, completely ignoring the mud. His hands clawed frantically at the dirt, desperate to retrieve the pendant.

His eyes were bloodshot, glowing like burning coals against his ashen face.

He snatched the pendant, clutching it tightly in his palm.

"No," he muttered, his voice hoarse and raw. "No, it's a trick. It has to be a trick. She's not dead. She can't be."

He looked up, his gaze darting between the pendant, the empty grave, and Mom.

Mom was weeping silently now, resigned to her fate.

"You're all lying! All of you are lying! She's playing me! She wants to hurt me!"

Then, he let out a blood-curdling sound.

He laughed-a manic, desperate laugh that quickly dissolved into broken sobs.

He clutched his chest, his breathing ragged and painful, his body shaking violently.

"Kayla," he choked out, my name breaking over his lips like a shattered plea. "Kayla, how could you do this? How could you leave me?"

He had finally, completely broken.

The truth-this terrain long buried beneath lies, hatred, and his own twisted narrative-was slamming into him like a tsunami.

He was collapsing, swallowed whole by the horrific reality he had built with his own hands.

"Get out!" he roared, shoving his men away violently, his voice torn with agony. "All of you! Get out! Leave me alone!"

He rebelled like a child in pain, trapped in a nightmare of his own making.

The sky seemed to share his sentiment, suddenly breaking open.

A freezing torrential downpour unleashed, instantly soaking everything.

Elliot staggered to his feet, looking like a phantom in the heavy rain. His expensive suit clung to his body, his face covered in mud, tears, and rain.

He walked toward his car-or rather, stumbled toward it, his movements slow and stiff, like a marionette with cut strings.

The rain poured down, reflecting the turbulent, violent emotions churning within him.

He was entirely alone, utterly broken, stripped bare beneath the indifferent, unfeeling sky.

He fumbled clumsily for the door handle, finally yanking it open and collapsing inside.

The engine roared to life, and the car sped off, leaving behind a weeping mother.

His destination was clear: the hospital.

The confrontation was coming.

For Dolly, and for him, the moment of truth had arrived.

I watched him go, a chilling premonition tangling deep within the hollow core of my being.

This was it.

Elliot pushed open the door to Dolly's hospital room with trembling hands.

His face was devoid of expression, like a blank canvas just before a storm strikes.

Startled by the abrupt intrusion, Dolly gasped, her eyes flying wide open.

She stared straight at Elliot.

In that split second, her carefully crafted facade vanished completely.

She saw him.

And I saw her.