Divorce to Destiny: Reclaiming My CEO Husband by Anney GW

459 Mother!

(Jayden)

The flashing lights of ambulances and police cars light up the hotel's entrance as I run the last few of the distance. My stomach churns, the bile rising in my throat as I close in on the foyer. This can't be real. It doesn't feel real.

I enter the elevator and take what feels like the slowest ride in the world up to the top floor. My mind is full of everything. Mother, Lance. I know she did wrong, so much wrong.

But she was still my mother. She loved me. I could never fault her on that.

Outside the elevator now, I march towards the officers outside the open suite door.

I try to push past the uniformed officers at the door, my voice sharp and demanding. "I'm Jayden Brennan. That's my mother in there. Let me through."

Two of them grab me by the upper arms.

Another officer steps forward, raising a hand to block me. "Sir, we can't-"

"It's my mother! Do you understand?" My voice cracks with desperation. "Let me through now!" I yell, trying to get free.

"Let him through," A tall man in a suit standing in the room orders.

The scene inside hits me like a freight train. Blood. So much blood. A body lies covered on the floor, stark and unmoving. Lance.

My stomach drops, and I feel like I'm about to collapse.

But then my eyes land on another figure, barely conscious, being lifted onto a lowered gurney. Mother. Blood is everywhere-soaking the carpet, smeared across the once-pristine furniture, staining her clothes.

"Mother!" I rush forward, shoving past the paramedics to her side. My knees hit the floor beside her as her eyes flutter open weakly.

Her lips move, but no sound comes out. I grab her hand, slick and sticky with blood. "I'm here, Mother. It's okay."

Her gaze locks onto mine, and for the first time in my life, she looks small. Fragile. Vulnerable in a way I'd never imagined possible. "Jayden," she whispers, her voice barely audible, her tone laced with something I can't quite place.

"I'm here," I say again, my voice trembling. "Don't talk. Save your strength. The paramedics are here. They'll take care of you."

coughs, blood bubbles at the corner of her

my

fingers twitch weakly in mine, her grip so faint I can barely

closer, desperate to catch every

shallow and labored. "About... Winona. About everything. I'm sorry, my

tears sting my eyes. "No, don't talk about that now.

me with their intensity. "You... love her. Don't waste it. Don't... let my mistakes... ruin you." "Mother,

love you," she interrupts,

I whisper, my tears falling freely now. "I know you did. I love you

into the faintest shadow of a smile. "Good. You're... so much better... than

talking like this. You're going

close for a moment, and panic

Mother, stay

eyes flutter open again, just barely, her gaze

and it feels like a physical

"No!"

gather around checking her vitals, writing on

but I know she can't hear me. Her eyes now lifeless. They close them for her, and I feel the presence of

blurring into the background noise of my spinning world. look to the covered body on the floor. "No. I just

need you to answer

my best friend

My

gone. Lance is gone. Lance killed her and then killed himself. He took her out for me. I know it. But she

who raised me, who protected

me, manipulated me-but she loved me,

She did. ne

And now she's gone.

here. Alone. I walk out of the suite. I need some air. There's

fingers trembling as I dial Winona. She answers almost immediately, her voice breaking through the

"Jayden?"

manage, my voice barely a