Chapter 4

I woke up in a private hospital room. The first thing I saw was Cedric's face. He was asleep in a chair by my bed, his head slumped to one side. He looked exhausted, his usually perfect features shadowed with fatigue. A stranger might have thought he looked like a devoted husband, consumed with worry.

He stirred and opened his eyes. He reached out and touched my forehead, his fingers cool against my skin.

"You're awake," he said, his voice rough with sleep.

He sat up, his expression softening into one of gentle reproach.

"Keena, please. Don't do things like this again. Just leave Kortney alone. Whatever she wants, just give it to her. It's not worth risking your health."

He still believed I was the aggressor. He thought my pain was a just consequence.

I was too tired to argue. Too empty. I just closed my eyes.

For the next few days, he was the model of a caring husband. He barely left my side. He fed me himself, spoonful by spoonful, as if I were an invalid. He read to me from boring financial journals. The nurses cooed about his devotion. I knew it was all for the heart. He was monitoring his investment, ensuring the asset was stable after a period of high stress.

The day I was discharged, he helped me dress, his fingers lingering as he buttoned my coat.

"I'll take you somewhere nice," he said. "To make up for all this."

It was an apology, not for his cruelty, but for the unpleasantness of it all.

I didn't answer. The wound on my thigh throbbed with every step. I felt like I was dragging a dead piece of myself along with me.

As we were leaving, Kortney appeared, a triumphant smirk on her face. Her arm was in a pristine white cast.

"Cedric, are we going to the charity auction tonight?" she asked, ignoring me completely.

He frowned. "Keena needs to rest."

"But you promised!" she whined. "It's the biggest event of the season."

Cedric sighed, the familiar look of weary resignation on his face. He was weak when it came to anyone who reminded him of Fallon.

"Fine. But Keena is coming with me."

The auction hall was a sea of jewels and fake smiles. Cedric spent money like it was water, buying me a diamond bracelet I didn't want and a painting I didn't like. I sat beside him, a beautifully dressed mannequin, my spirit a thousand miles away.

Then, an item came up for bid that made my heart stop.

It was a small, antique silver locket on a delicate chain. It was my mother's. It had been sold with the rest of her estate after she died to pay for my medical bills before the transplant. It was the only thing I had left of her.

A flicker of life returned to me. I leaned forward, my hands clutching my purse.

Cedric noticed the change in me instantly. "You want that?"

I nodded, unable to speak.

He raised his paddle. The bidding was fierce. The price climbed higher and higher. Cedric didn't flinch. He was determined to get it for me, a grand gesture to prove his generosity. He won it for a price that made the room gasp.

He turned to me, a small, self-satisfied smile on his lips. He was the hero, the provider.

Then Kortney appeared at his elbow.

"Oh, Cedric, that's beautiful," she purred, her eyes wide and innocent. "Can I have it? It would look so lovely on me."

Cedric hesitated. He looked from Kortney's pleading face to my desperate one.

I could feel the heavy, familiar sinking in my gut. I knew what he would choose. He always chose the ghost of Fallon.

He took the locket from the velvet box and handed it to Kortney.

"Of course," he said.

The pain was so sharp it was physical. I felt the air rush out of my lungs.

He saw my face and tried to placate me. "It's just a necklace, Keena. I'll buy you a bigger one. A better one."

He didn't understand. He would never understand.

Kortney fastened the locket around her neck, her eyes glinting with victory. She gave me a triumphant, pitying look. Then she walked away towards the terrace that overlooked a large, ornate fountain.

Something inside me broke.

I stood up and followed her.

"Kortney, please," I said, my voice trembling. "That locket... it was my mother's. I'll pay you for it. Name your price."

She laughed, a cruel, mocking sound. "Pay me? You have nothing that I want."

She unclasped the locket.

"Except maybe to see you suffer."

With a flick of her wrist, she tossed the locket into the air. It glittered under the lights for a moment before landing in the fountain with a small splash.

I didn't think. I just acted. I scrambled over the balustrade and jumped into the cold water.

The shock of the cold was immense, but I didn't care. I frantically searched the bottom of the fountain, my fingers numb, my dress heavy with water.

"KEENA!"

Cedric's furious roar came from above. A moment later, he was in the water with me, his face a mask of incandescent rage. He grabbed my arm and hauled me out of the fountain, his grip like iron.

"Are you insane?" he shouted, his whole body shaking with fury. "You could have caught pneumonia! You could have gone into shock! What about your heart?"

"My locket," I sobbed, dripping and shivering. "It was my mother's."

"It's a thing, Keena! Your health is more important!"

His security team was already in the fountain. A minute later, one of them emerged, holding the locket.

Cedric snatched it from the man's hand.

I reached for it, my heart soaring with relief. "Thank you, Cedric..."

He didn't give it to me. He held it in his palm, his expression cold and hard.

"You need to learn that these attachments are dangerous," he said, his voice low and menacing. "They make you reckless."

And then, he closed his fist.

There was a crunch of metal.

He opened his hand. My mother's locket was a mangled, crushed piece of silver. Unrecognizable. Destroyed.

I screamed, a raw, animal sound of pure agony. I tried to lunge at him, to save the broken pieces, but he held me back easily.

"If you can't control your emotions," he said, his voice chillingly calm as he dropped the ruined locket back into the water, "then I'll have to remove the things that cause them. All of them."