Love's Redemption (Chris and Maddie)

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.

broken his promise. He swore

me to

To

you wait for me?"

held me just

box

you to face that cruel

at her blank face-no

her gaze dropping to the box in her hands. "He was afraid that if you ever had to

Houston, he knew," Yara replied. Her words were ice

Houston

come back because of

conspiracy. And

trap. But he

And for what?

For me?

I couldn't believe that,

just the bait. And Steve... he'd been pulled

mind raced, clawing for the fragments of Hayden'tst words. His warning: "Don't go to

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

my mind. The secrets, the lies, the plans...

had orchestrated this, he wasn't just cruel-he was a

him