Bye-Bye Jerk, Hello Mr. Right by Rosie Steppe

Chapter 617

Steve steadied me as I took a shaky step forward.

We reached the door just as someone walked out, cradling a small black 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 black 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 place you both loved."

I stared at the box, but I wasn't really seeing it. My mind drifted to that place. I could almost hear his voice, almost feel his hand in mine.

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

he wanted me

act? To

for me?" The

it. The person who had held me just hours ago was now reduced

box

face that

at her blank face-no

ever had to face this, you'd hate him. He thought it might hurt a little less this way." "He knew this day would come?"

onto Houston, he knew," Yara replied. Her

Houston

back because of Steve's mess. Because

And now, it all clicked. Hayden had known

he still walked straight

And for what?

For me?

I couldn't believe that,

the reason. I was just the bait. And Steve... he'd been pulled into it,

clawing for the fragments of Hayden'tst words. His warning: "Don't go to the Johnstons. What did he

in his voice wasn't random. He'd known something-something about

through me as Wayne's diary flashed in my mind. The secrets, the lies, the plans... It all pointed

had orchestrated this, he wasn't just

him pay for

what I did, it wouldn't bring

locked on the black box again-Hayden-tall, strong live-reduced