Chapter 1197:

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Claire crumpled, blood pooling beneath her — but a faint smile lingered on her lips. Her lifeless eyes stared into the distance, as if catching a glimpse of someone she had loved her whole life.

“Millard…” she murmured, her final breath slipping away. “I’m coming to you…”

The basement fell silent, broken only by Landen’s anguished cries. He tore free from his chains and stumbled to Angelica’s side, his hands pressing desperately against her wound.

“Angelica, look at me!”

His voice cracked, tears streaming down onto her pale face. Angelica lifted a trembling hand, her fingers brushing his cheek, wiping away his tears.

“Don’t cry…” Her voice was faint but filled with love. “Meeting you… it was my greatest joy.”

Her hand fell, like a fragile leaf drifting into the dark.

Landen held her close, his cry of despair echoing like a storm’s howl — so raw and ragged it seemed to hush the world around him.

In the corner, Kaelyn knelt in a pool of blood, cradling Rodger’s limp form. Her hands pressed hard against his wound, but the blood kept flowing, staining her arms a deep crimson.

“Stay with me, please…”

Her tears mixed with the blood, falling onto Rodger’s fading face. He opened his eyes just a sliver, his fingers grazing her cheek as if to speak — then his hand fell limp.

The distant wail of an ambulance pierced the air, too late to undo the tragedy of this shattered wedding.

Claire was gone, her warped love and hate buried with her. But for those left behind, the ache of loss would linger like an open wound. Perhaps that had been her final act of vengeance.

а𝘤𝘁𝗂𝘷𝖾 𝘤𝘰𝗺𝗺𝗎𝘯і𝗍𝗒 𝗈𝗻 𝘨a𝘭𝘯𝘰𝘷𝖾𝘭s.𝘤о𝗺
Kaelyn’s fingers clung to Rodger’s blood-drenched shirt, the sticky warmth coating her hands. Landen’s cries rang in her ears, but her world had gone eerily quiet.

Then, like a spark in the dark, a blinding light burst through her mind.

Memories came rushing back — vivid, piercing, and bittersweet. She saw Rodger leaning against the door at Faulkner Industrial Park, the sunset stretching his shadow long across the ground. At their wedding, his hands shaking as he slid the ring onto her finger, his eyes sparkling like stars. After a fight, standing alone on the balcony with a cigarette, his silhouette a lonely island in the night. Before his last mission, locking her inside the safe house, his voice steady through the iron door: “Wait for me.” Each memory felt as fresh as yesterday, brimming with equal parts love and pain.

“Rodger…” Kaelyn’s voice trembled as she whispered his name, tears falling like rain onto his closed eyes.

Every memory she had locked away, every ounce of love she had guarded so carefully — it all came flooding back in this blood-soaked moment. But the man in her arms grew weaker, his face pale as moonlight.

She pressed harder against his wound. The blood kept coming, pooling on the floor in a widening red sea.

“No — please don’t leave me.” Her voice broke, and she was the girl she had once been, searching for the man who had pulled her from the cold seawater. But this time, no one would come to chase away the shadows.

Someone reached out to pull her back, urging her to tend to her own wounds. She shoved them away.

“He promised me,” she whispered, her eyes fixed on Rodger’s still face. “He said we’d have another honeymoon…”

Happiness flooded Kaelyn’s heart as forgotten memories rushed back — only to be crushed by a harsh truth. Destiny had dealt her a bitter blow: she remembered everything she cherished just as it was slipping away.

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