Steve steadied me as I took a shaky step forward.


    We reached the door just as someone walked out, cradling a small ck box in their arms. Their


    face was etched with grief, and 1 froze. My breath caught in my throat.


    My gaze locked on that box.


    Steve’s grip on my hand tightened, grounding me, keeping me from falling apart then and there. He


    guided


    me inside.


    And that’s when I saw her.


    Yara stood in the middle of the room, her back to us. She was stiff, unmoving, her entire frame


    radiating the kind of despair that mirrored the storm inside me.


    I stopped dead. My legs refused to move.


    Steve froze beside me. Neither of us said a word.


    Yara must have sensed us, because she turned slowly. Her hands cradled the same ck box, and


    sight of it sent everything spinning. My vision blurred, my knees buckled.


    the


    She walked toward me. “This is what Hayden wanted. He said for you to take him back. To bury him


    in that ce you both loved.”


    I stared at the box, but I wasn’t really seeing it. My mind drifted to that ce. I could almost hear his


    voice, almost feel his hand in mine.


    He’d broken his promise. He swore he’d stay.


    And now, he wanted me to bury him there?


    Was this his final act? To make me suffer even now?


    “Why didn’t you wait for me?” The words slipped out.


    I couldn’t ept it. The person who had held me just hours ago was now reduced to this–this


    small, cold


    box


    “He didn’t want you to face that cruel moment,” Yara said quietly.


    I stared at her nk face–no tears, no emotion.


    “Hayden broke up with you to protect you,” she continued, her gaze dropping to the box in her


    hands. “He was afraid that if you ever had to face this, you’d hate him. He thought it might hurt a


    little less this way.”


    “He knew this day woulde?” My voice cracked.


    “When he stepped back onto Houston, he knew,” Yara replied. Her words were ice in my veins.


    Houston


    He’de back because of Steve’s mess. Because of me.


    Jace had said it was all part of a conspiracy. And now, it all clicked. Hayden had known the truth–


    known


    It was a trap. But he still walked straight into it.


    And for what?


    For me?


    No. I couldn’t believe that, I wouldn’t.


    I wasn’t the reason. I was just the bait. And Steve… he’d been pulled into it, too.


    My mind raced, wing for the fragments of Hayden’tst words. His warning: “Don’t go to the


    Johnstons.


    What did he mean?


    The urgency in his voice wasn’t random. He’d known something–something about Wayne


    Johnston?


    A chill ran through me as Wayne’s diary shed in my mind. The secrets, the lies, the ns… It all


    pointed back to him.


    If Wayne had orchestrated this, he wasn’t just cruel–he was a monster.


    I would make him pay for this.


    But no matter what I did, it wouldn’t bring Hayden back


    My eyes locked on the ck box again–Hayden–tall, strong live–reduced to this. The


    de twisting deeper into my chest.


    I hated it. All of it. I couldn’t ept it. But I was helpless.


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org - ?.


    thought felt like at


    “Why didn’t you stop him? You knew he was in danger snapped, my grief and fury exploding at


    Yara.


    “If I could have stopped him, he wouldn’t have loved you.”


    Her words mmed into me, and I hated how much they made sense.


    She had loved Hayden. But he had only ever loved me


    And his love for me had killed him.


    “Hayden… let’s go home,” I whispered, taking the ck box from her hands.


    The moment I held it, the weight hit me–not heavy, but unbearable, like the world was caving in


    around


    1. me.