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Chapter 256

Chapter 256

-Ava’s POV-

I let out a shuddering breath, my fingers tightening around his hand. It felt cold, unnaturally still, and yet, somehow, I still expected him to squeeze back. To open his eyes. To scowl at me the way he always did when I challenged him. But there was nothing.

Silence.

Emptiness.

I swallowed against the lump in my throat, willing myself to be stronger than this, to be harder than this. But the moment I spoke again, my voice cracked.

“You were supposed to fix things.”

The words felt like acid on my tongue.

“I hated you for so long, and some part of me still does. But I would take us continuing how we’ve always been. For me me seeing you as the enemy and fighting with you than this.”

My chest tightened as I stared at him, his face slack, peaceful in a way that felt unnatural. Luther Pierce was never peaceful. He was absolutely dreadful and this was so wrong.

“I need you to wake up.”

My voice dropped to a whisper, raw and broken.

“I need you to fight like you always have. For once, not against me, but with me. I know it is impossible but I need you to find a way to do that still.

My breath hitched, and I squeezed my eyes shut. Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it. I had spent so much of my life trying to break free of his shadow, and now, sitting here, I realized how much of me had been built in reaction to him.

I sniffled, shaking my head as I wiped angrily at my eyes. This isn’t fair.

know what the worst part is?” I let out a breathless laugh, my voice shaking with anger and grief all at once, “Even now, lying there, you still win. You still get to be the center of everything. You still get to consume me, even in

resting my forehead against the

“Damn you, Father.”

of the healer’s quarters the only sound in the room. I thought about everything–about the years of resentment, the hard–earned moments of understanding, the way we had started to

gotten the chance to hear him say he was

wanted to know what it would be like being on the sane page family and this time it lasted for the rest

with my

last time

when it happened. A twitch.

beneath my fingers.

1/3

Chapter 256

breath catching in my throat. My heart pounded wildly as

it happened again.

weak twitch of

sharp breath, my pulse roaring in my ears. No.

to wake up. The healers had said I shot to my feet, my

back.

with tears, just as my

twitched

pulse still uneven from what I thought I had seen–what I knew I had seen. But now, as I sat there, watching, waiting, there was nothing Just the same stillness, the same unnerving quiet that had filled the room since I first

hovered over his hand, waiting for

out a shaky breath, pressing my lips together as my shoulders sagged. I imagined it.

that moment with Grayson hadn’t been a hallucination? What if it had been

because my father was dead so….

his face once more, searching for something I wasn’t even sure existed. And then, before I could second–guess myself, I did

and pressed a kiss to his

brief, barely there, but the weight of it sat heavy in my chest. It felt like

let my gaze linger on him one

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