Another silence stretched between them.
The thunder outside rolled again, vibrating faintly through the mansion walls.
Kathrine finally spoke, her voice softer now.
"I still should have told you."
Her fingers tightened around the edge of the curtain.
"You had the right to know the truth."
Ethan turned his head slightly, looking at her for the first ti since he had entered the room.
There was exhaustion in his eyes.
But there was also sothing else.
Acceptance.
"If you had told earlier," he said quietly, "I wouldn’t have believed you."
Kathrine frowned slightly.
Ethan gave a small, bitter smile.
"I was too blinded by the image I had of him."
His eyes lowered briefly.
"To , he was always the man who built everything... neglecting his family all along"
His voice faltered for a mont before he continued.
"So if soone had told that he was capable of destroying lives... I would have defended him without hesitation."
Kathrine felt a tightness in her chest hearing that. That sadful chuckle was sothing she couldn’t ignore.
Ethan’s fingers curled slightly against the cold marble of the window ledge.
"But hearing it from him today..." he murmured. "Seeing the regret in his eyes..."
He swallowed hard. "That’s sothing I can’t ignore."
The storm outside intensified, the sound of rain growing louder.
Kathrine studied Ethan’s face, noticing the way he was struggling to keep himself composed.
"You cried," she said softly.
Ethan froze for a second.
Then he chuckled quietly, though there was no real amusent in it.
"Did I look that obvious?"
Kathrine didn’t answer.
She simply gave him a knowing look.
Ethan ran a hand through his hair, sighing.
"I didn’t cry because I hate him," he admitted after a mont.
His eyes darkened slightly.
"I cried because... despite everything... he’s still my father."
The confession hung heavily in the air.
Kathrine’s gaze softened.
Ethan leaned back slightly, crossing his arms as he looked toward the rain again.
"He said he wants to spend his final days with us," he repeated.
This ti his voice was quieter.
Almost uncertain.
Kathrine turned her eyes back to the storm outside.
"Do you want that?" she asked.
Ethan didn’t answer imdiately.
Instead, he stood there silently, listening to the rain and thunder as if searching for clarity within the chaos.
Finally, he spoke.
"I don’t know."
His voice was honest.
"I don’t know if I can forgive him."
A pause followed.
"But..."
Ethan’s expression softened slightly.
"I also don’t know if I can live with myself if I don’t give him that chance."
Kathrine watched him carefully.
The boy who once believed in absolute right and wrong was gone.
In his place stood a man learning that life was far more complicated.
Another thunderclap echoed outside.
And for the first ti that night, Kathrine gently placed her hand over Ethan’s.
"You don’t have to decide tonight," she said quietly.
Ethan looked down at their hands, then nodded slowly.
But neither of them noticed the storm outside was only beginning.
"Go get changed. I’ll bring sothing for you to eat," Kathrine said softly, her hand resting briefly on Ethan’s shoulder.
Ethan nodded, too drained to argue.
Once she stepped out of the room, Kathrine headed straight to the kitchen. The house felt unusually quiet, the distant storm filling the silence with a low, constant rumble. She prepared sothing light—nothing too heavy, just enough to ensure it filled his stomach.
Balancing the tray in her hands, she made her way back.But the mont she reached the doorway, her steps halted.
Ethan was already asleep.
He lay sprawled across the bed, still in the sa clothes, exhaustion having claid him before he could even change. His breathing was slow and deep, his face finally at ease—but the faint tension lingering around his brows revealed how much he had been holding in.
Kathrine’s expression softened.
Carefully, she walked inside and placed the tray on the bedside table without making a sound.
For a mont, she just stood there, watching him.
The exhaustion etched on his face made sothing in her chest tighten painfully.
Slowly, she reached out, her fingers brushing against the strands of hair that had fallen over his forehead. She gently pushed them aside, her touch light, almost hesitant.
Leaning down, she pressed a soft kiss against his forehead.
"Everything will be fine," she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Though whether she was reassuring him... or herself, even she didn’t know.
With one last glance, Kathrine stepped back, switched off the lights, and quietly left the room.
The hallway outside was dim, shadows stretching along the walls as lightning occasionally flickered through the windows.
Kathrine wasn’t in the mood to sleep.
Too many thoughts crowded her mind—Marcus, Ethan, the truth that had finally surfaced, and the uncertain days ahead.
And the storm outside only made it worse.
The relentless sound of rain against the windows, the sudden crashes of thunder—it all seed to echo the unrest within her.
She wrapped her arms around herself, exhaling slowly as she tried to steady her thoughts.
But just as she reached the staircase—
RING...
Her phone rang.
The sharp sound cut through the silence like a blade.
Kathrine frowned slightly and pulled out her phone, answering the call without much thought.
"Kathrine speaking—"
"K-Kathrine... please... please save ..."
The voice on the other end was frantic. Breathless. Trembling.
Roseline.
Kathrine’s brows knitted together instantly.
"Mom? What happened? Where are you—"
The line went dead.
Silence.
Kathrine froze.
For a split second, it felt as though everything around her had co to a complete stop—the rain, the thunder, even her own breath.
Her grip on the phone tightened.
Sothing was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
***
Back at the Bennett house, silence had turned suffocating.
Roseline crouched behind a half-open cabinet in the dark, her body trembling violently as she pressed her hand against the wound in her stomach. Blood continued to seep through her fingers, warm and relentless, staining her clothes, dripping onto the cold floor beneath her.
Her breathing was uneven—too loud.
Too risky.
She tried to muffle it, biting down on her lip, but a broken whimper still escaped.
A few feet away, her phone lay on the ground.
The screen was still faintly lit.
Kathrine.
The only na at the top of her ergency list.
The only person she had reached for when everything began to fall apart.
Roseline stretched her fingers toward it, but her strength failed halfway. Her hand dropped, hitting the floor weakly as another wave of pain shot through her body.
Her vision blurred.
And then—
mories began to flood in.
Fast.
Uncontrolled.
Like a broken tap that refused to shut.
Hugo’s face—cold, accusing.
Collin’s voice—promising, then threatening.
Every lie she had told.
Every secret she had buried.
Every betrayal she had justified.
Tears stread down her face as her chest heaved.
"I... I didn’t an..." she choked, her voice cracking under the weight of everything crashing down on her.
Her shoulders shook as quiet sobs turned into desperate ones.
"I don’t want to die..." she whispered, shaking her head weakly. "Please... not like this..."
Her lips trembled as she forced her eyes shut.
"God... please save ..." she begged, her voice fading in and out. "I don’t want this... I don’t want this end..."
The storm outside roared louder, thunder crashing as if answering her desperation.
And then ca a sound. A faint creak leaving Roseline’s eyes snapped open.
Her entire body went still.
Footsteps. Slow. Deliberate getting closer.
Her breath caught in her throat as terror gripped her completely.
No...
No, no, no—
A shadow stretched across the floor.
And before she could even think of moving— he was there.
Collin, standing right in front of her.
Roseline’s eyes widened in horror as she looked up at him, her body too weak to even crawl away.
For a mont, he just stared at her.
Then— he smiled.
A slow, malicious smile that made her blood run cold.
"Found you," he said softly.
Roseline’s lips parted, but no sound ca out.
Her vision began to darken, her strength finally giving out as fear and pain consud her completely.
"Please..." she tried to speak but her voice faltered and the man refuse to stop.
The malice in his eyes made her see her end finally coming, but for a mont she wanted to hope that he would listen to her. For the sake of their love, for sake of of what they once had.
But Roseline knew, she had ruined everything and now the man wanted nothing but to destroy her as he had wanted.
She held onto her stomach and cough as the blood spilt out. Her tearsfill eyes looked at him for the last ti as he brought that sharp thing once again closer to her and stabbed her one last ti, until the last of her breath escaped her lips.
And all she saw was dark in the end.
"Goodbye"
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