Obsession His Runaway Bride (Noelle and Adrian) novel Chapter 82

Chapter 82: Plea

Chapter 82: Plea

+25 BONUS

Grace’s grip on the steering wheel was so tight that it fell like her ones might break beneath the pressure. Her chest ached and it felt suffocating as the burden pressed against her ribs, making harder to breathe with each passing second. No matter how much she tried to calm herself, her hands refused to stop trembling, and the nausea curling in her stomach only made it worse.

Her mind wouldn’t stop replaying it, wouldn’t stop reminding her of the nightmare she caused everyone.

Yesterday had been Faith’s death anniversary.

Everyone had gone. Her father, the servants, even the people who had barely known her but still stood at her grave, pretending they cared. They had brought flowers, whispered prayers, bowed their heads in mourning as if their presence made a difference.

And where had she been?

Locked inside her room, trying to take her own life while staring blankly at the ceiling, willing the hours to pass. She had told herself she wasn’t avoiding it. Had convinced herself that she didn’t need to go, that Faith wouldn’t have cared either way.

But the truth was far uglier than that.

She hadn’t gone because no one would want her there.

She could almost hear the whispers of everyone’s hate. She could feel her father’s cold, detached stare stabbing through her. She could already imagine the judgment and the silent accusations

But none of it compared to the voice inside her own head.

The one that never let her forget.

‘She died because of you.‘

The thought lodged itself deep in her chest like a rusted blade, twisting, cutting, and festering.

If she had stayed. If she had listened. If she had just swallowed her pride for once in her miserable life instead of walking away.

Faith would still be here.

She sucked in a sharp breath, forcing down the tightness in her throat. She had no right to cry. No right to grieve like everyone else when she was the reason her sister was six feet under in the first place.

And now, she lost Marco too.

The one person she had ever allowed herself to hold onto.

She had always known he didn’t love her the way she wanted him to. That she was nothing more than an obligation, a weight around his neck that he had been forced to carry. She had known it, but she had clung to him anyway, selfish and desperate, because at least he stayed with her.

But she had seen it in his eyes when he said those words that night. She saw the flicker of frustration, maybe even regret. Like he was finally beginning to wonder if she was worth the effort at all.

And maybe… maybe she wasn’t.

Her fingers curled tighter around the wheel as her nails bit into her palms. But the pain itself grounded her and kep slipping too far into the gaping, endless void inside her.

trom

She pressed her foot harder against the gas pedal which made the car jolt forward as the speedometer climbed. Faster. She needed to go faster. If she slowed down, if she stopped, even for a second, the pain in her chest would drown her completely.

She had spent years pretending. Pretending she was fine. Pretending she didn’t care. Pretending she could survive on her own, without love, without warmth, without anyone.

1/3

Chapter 82: Plea

+25 BONUS

But as she drove toward the place she did not want to go, she was sure how much longer she could keep pretending,

Grace’s POV

The moment I stepped out of my car and saw my sister’s gravestone, the walls I had spent years building began to shake. My breath caught in my throat as I stared at hier name carved into old, lifeless stone. My legs felt numb and my entire body froze in place, as if even the earth beneath ine knew I had no right be here.

I should have been here yesterday. I should have stood with the others, should have placed flowers at her grave.

But I couldn’t.

Because I didn’t deserve to.

A suffocating lump formed in my throat but I swallowed it down. Iad held back my emotions for years–I wasn’t about to let them spill now. Not when I was the reason she was lying six feet under in the first place.

I forced my feet forward, but every step felt heavier than the last. I felt like my body was trying to stop me from reaching her. As if it knew what I had never been able to admit out loud.

That I was a coward.

By the time I reached the gravestone, I instantly dropped on my knees like I was hammered down by the heavens like the sinner that I am.

The impact jolted through me as I collapsed onto the damp earth while my hands pressed against the ground to steady myself. My breath came out in uneven, shallow gasps. My shaking fingers reached out, brushing over the engraved letters of her name.

Faith Blackwood.

A choked sound escaped my lips. It wasn’t a sob. It wasn’t a word. It was just pain, raw and unfiltered, which clawed its way out of my throat.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, my voice barely audible, my fingers tracing over the letters as if touching them could somehow make her real again. “I should have been here yesterday… I should have just stayed that night… I should have-”

My words broke off as a sharp sob wracked through me. My shoulders trembled and my entire body shook from the force of holding everything in for too long.

“I should have died instead of you.”

The confession fell from my lips before I could stop it.

My vision blurred with unshed tears, but I refused to let them fall.

“If I had just stayed… If I hadn’t walked away… You would still be here,” I said as my voice cracked from every regret that had haunted me since the night she died. “And it’s not fair. Because you… you were better than me. You were kind, you were everything I wasn’t. Everyone loved you. And now they look at me like-”

Like I stole your life. Like I took something that was never meant to be mine.

I sucked in a sharp breath, but it did nothing to ease the burning in my chest.

“I don’t know how to do this without you,” I admitted, my fingers curling into the damp grass beneath me. “I don’t kr who I’m supposed to be anymore.”

The wind whispered through the trees, but the silence from the grave was deafening.

She wasn’t here.

She would never be here again.

2/3

Chapter 82: Plea

And no matter how much I begged, no matter how much I wished,

I couldn’t trade places with her.

+25 BONUS

Tears welled in my eyes, but I clenched my jaw, forcing them back Crying wouldn’t change anything. Breaking down wouldn’t bring her back.

All I could do was kneel here and whisper apologies to a woman who would never hear them.

To a sister who had deserved so much more than me.

“…Marco, would have been happy if it was me who died…” I paused and looked up the sky letting my tears fall as if the heavens could hear my pleading.

“…Please, God… take me already…”

Chapter 83: Nowhere

Chapter 83: Nowhere