Obsession His Runaway Bride (Noelle and Adrian) novel Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Blame

Chapter 79: Blame

~~~A Year Ago~~~

The rain poured relentlessly, drumming against the Blackwood mansion like an omen. Thunder rumbled in the distance and its deep growl became barely audible over the sharp voices echoing through the halls.

Grace stood rigid in the center of the dimly lit study. Her chest was heaving, hands curled into tight fists at her sides. Her mind was a storm, barely holding back the waves of emotions crashed against the walls she had spent years building.

Across from her was Faith standing with her arms wrapped protectively around herself, her usually serene features tight with distress.

“You’re lying,” Grace said, her voice sharper than the crack of lightning outside. Her throat felt dry and her pulse was a violent thrum in her ears. “Tell me you’re lying, Faith.”

Her older sister didn’t move. She didn’t deny it.

And that, more than any shouted confession–was enough.

“I’m not,” Faith finally whispered, her voice barely above the sound of the rain against the windows.

The words struck like a physical blow.

Grace sucked in a breath and tried to ground herself, trying to keep the fury, the devastation, from swallowing her whole. She felt like she was drowning, like the walls around her were closing in.

“You’re pregnant,” she murmured, as if saying it aloud would change the reality of it. She swallowed hard before forcing herself to ask the real question, the one that twisted her gut in ways she didn’t want to acknowledge. “And it’s not Marco’s?”

Faith looked away.

Grace let out a bitter, humorless laugh.

Unbelievable.

Fucking unbelievable.

“You-” Grace exhaled sharply, pressing her palm against her forehead as she tried to contain the sheer fury bubbling beneath her skin. “Marco has been everything to you. He’s risked his life, fought for you, loved you like you were the goddamn air he breathed, and you-” Her voice cracked, raw with disbelief. “You do this to him?”

Faith flinched, her fingers digging into her own arms as if she could hold herself together. “Grace, it’s not that simple-”

“It is that simple!” Grace snapped, her vision blurring with unshed tears. “Do you even love him?”

The silence that followed was deafening.

And in that silence, Grace knew.

Faith didn’t.

She never had.

Her world tilted and her stomach lurched as she took an unsteady step back.

She had spent years, years–watching Marco love Faith, watching him devote himself entirely to her sister while she had buried her own feelings deep enough that even she started to believe they didn’t exist.

She had stepped aside, swallowed her pride, and pretended that it didn’t hurt every time he looked at Faith like she was his entire world.

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Chapter 79 Blame

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And for what?

For Faith to throw it all away? For her to betray him so carelessly?

“Grace, please–”

“No.” Grace shook her head, voice trembling with rage and some ing dangerously close to heartbreak. “I can’t listen to this right now.”

She turned on her heel, striding toward the door.

“Grace, wait!” Faith’s voice rang out behind her, desperate, but Grace didn’t stop.

She yanked open the heavy wooden door, stepping out into the cold night air as the rain began drenching her instantly. She didn’t care. She needed to breathe. She needed to think.

She needed to get the hell away from this house before she said something she couldn’t take back.

But then-

“Grace, stop!”

Faith had followed her, barefoot with her hair plastered to her face as she ran after her, one hand cradling her stomach as if already protecting the life growing inside her that was not even visible yet..

“Go back inside, Faith,” Grace said coldly, her steps never faltering

“I’m sorry!” Faith cried, her voice breaking. “I didn’t mean for it to happen this way!”

Grace scoffed, spinning around to face her. “You never mean for anything to happen, do you?” She threw her arms out in exasperation, her wet clothes sticking to her skin. “But it always does.”

The street was slick with rain and the pavement was shining under the dim glow of the streetlights offering the only escape Grace could see.

But before she could reach them, headlights sliced through the darkness.

Blinding.

Fast.

Too fast.

The screech of tires skidding against wet asphalt.

The deafening crash of impact.

Pain.

Metal twisted.

The sharp scent of gasoline mixed with rain.

For a moment, everything was still.

Then, Grace’s world returned in fragments–blurred, disoriented, muffled voices shouting, red and blue lights flashing in the distance.

She couldn’t move.

Pain radiated through her every limb. Her head was pounding and her vision was swimming.

But none of it mattered.

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Chapter 79 Blamo

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Because when she forced her eyes open, when she turned her head just enough to see

She saw Faith lying motionless beside her.

Her breath hitched.

“No, no, no, no-”

Shaking fingers reached out, barely brushing against Faith’s check She was still warm.

“Faith, wake up,” Grace choked out, her voice barely above a whisper. “Please.”

But Faith didn’t move.

Her chest didn’t rise.

Her fingers didn’t twitch.

Sirens wailed in the distance, voices growing louder, but Grace could only hear the silence.

Then-

“She didn’t make it.”

Someone said it.

A faceless medic, a voice lost in the chaos.

And just like that, her world shattered.

After that night, Grace never spoke the truth.

She never told them about the fight. She never told them that Faith had been the one chasing after her. Never told them that if she had just stayed, if she had just swallowed her pride, her sister would still be alive.

But what was the point?

The damage was already done.

It was easier to let them believe what they wanted. Easier to let them whisper that she had always been reckless, always too wild, always too much. That she was out of control, that she was the problem, that she had been the one to drag Faith down with

her.

Her father had barely looked at her since that night.

And Marco, he hadn’t even needed to say anything.

She saw it in his eyes.

The way something inside him had hardened. The way the warmth that was once there had vanished, leaving nothing but cold

indifference.

Or maybe it was worse than indifference.

Maybe it was hate.

And Grace had let him believe it.

Because the truth was?

She hated herself too.

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Chapter 80 Hollow

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Chapter 80: Hollow