The Billionaire's Unexpected Proposal by Samantha

Chapter 198

The darkness was thick, pressing in from all sides, as Derek tossed and turned restlessly in his sleep, trapped in a nightmare he longed to escape. Something about the dream was familiar- perhaps it was the fuzzy and disorienting feeling that made him feel like he was looking through a broken lens.

He was small again, no more than seven years old. His legs dangled from the back seat of a car that felt both familiar and distant. His hands moved across the screen of a small device, busy with a building block game.

A man, presumably his biological father, was in the driver's seat, humming softly. His deep voice calmed the tense air and lulled Derek into a sense of security.

A woman, most likely his biological mother, sat in the passenger seat, holding a quiet conversation with the man. At the same time, a baby no older than ten months slept in an infant safety seat next to him, a silver neck chain clutched tightly in her hand. Despite the peaceful setting, little Derek could tell that something was wrong.

He shifted untold him he had been here before, had lived through this, but couldn't quite remember why.

in his seat, his fingers hesitating over the game console in his hand. A strange sense of foreboding crept in

-the kind that

His eyes darted up from the screen, peeking at the man's reflection in the rearview mirror. There was a slight frown on his face now, his eyes flicking nervously to the sides of the road.

"Honey, are you okay back there? Is your sister still sleeping?" the woman asked. Before Derek could respond, a blinding light pierced through the dream, and a deafening roar filled the air as a truck suddenly appeared from the left side of the road. It came barreling out of nowhere, its headlights glaring like the eyes of a predator. Derek opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came.

"Oh, my God, Tyler! Tanya"" he heard the woman cry as she turned in her seat.

The world slowed down, every second dragging out painfully as the truck collided with the side of their car. The impact was brutal.

Metal crunched, glass shattered, and the car spun wildly out of control. Derek's small body was jerked around in his seatbelt as the car somersaulted off the road. His mother's scream was cut off by the horrifying screech of metal scraping against the pavement. The sleeping baby was awake now, crying out loudly as though it could tell what was happening. The game console slipped from Derek's hands, bouncing off the car seat and disappearing into the chaos as he tried to reach for his baby sister. The car flipped again. And again.

Derek's heart pounded in his chest, the sound deafening in his ears. Blood trickled down his face, warm and sticky. Everything hurt. He was crying now, though he couldn't hear himself. The world was a blur of blood, broken glass, and twisted metal. And then, there was silence. Even the baby was no longer crying.

The car had stopped moving. It rested on its side, crumpled like a discarded toy. Derek's tiny body was trapped in the wreckage, his chest heaving with panicked breaths. The pain was overwhelming, but it was the silence that terrified him the most. Mommy?" "He cried when neither of them moved nor responded.

He thed to get out of his seat, wanting to check on his sister and parents, until he heard the sound of a door opening.

figure, shadowed by the darkness, stepped out from the wreckage of the truck. As he approached the broken car, he moved with

were wrong- too slow, too

over the ringing in his ears. But they grew louder, closer, with each

hitched, fear

widened in terror as the figure knelt beside

to see if they

his father, slumped

was unmoving, her face pale in the moonlight. Derek's tiny body trembled, helpless, as the figure

Derek's breath

figure straightened up. In the stillness of the night, he raised the

Derek's blood

body jolted

shut his eyes tightly as he heard the second gunshot. He knew it was

him to his very core. Derek's sobs were silent, his voice trapped somewhere deep within his

stepped back, surveying the scene as though it was

to obey.

and I

was drowning in the blood, the glass, the endless

as though he had been running for miles. Sweat drenched his face,

dimly lit

of where he was. His breath came in ragged, uneven gulps, and his trembling hands clutched the blanket as though it were the only thing tethering him to

haze, soft and urgent.

beside him, her hands gripping his shoulders firmly, grounding him. "It's me. You're safe. It was just a

in his hands, his shoulders shaking violently under the force of his grief. "My

everything." His words broke into sobs, raw and The words lodged in his throat like shards of glass, too painful to speak. heart shattered at the sight of him. Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him tightly against her. her voice steady despite the lump forming in her throat. "'ve got you,

E.

Evelyn's she

him spiraling back into the nightmare. His

whitting go