I Was the Unwanted Fifth in Their Life and Death Pact Chapter 08

“Don’t bring up Mom, Ryan.” Naomi’s tone remained flat and even. “You don’t get to speak of her.”

Ryan froze in place.

Naomi bent slowly, rolling up the trouser leg of her right leg.

A long, purplish surgical scar stretched nearly six inches down her calf.

Faint pin-site scars dotted the length of it, the skin along the incision still slightly raised.

Evan gasped and turned his head away, unable to look again.

The sight of it gutted them both.

“My leg was shattered in multiple places. The doctors said even with full recovery, it will ache whenever it rains, and I may limp forever.”

Naomi rolled her pant leg back down and straightened up.

“That night I was trapped in the car, rain filling my nose and mouth. I fumbled to press that emergency button

four times.”

“Every time I pressed it, I told myself you’d come soon. Later I heard the 911 dispatch voice, but I knew it

wasn’t you who’d called them.”

She looked toward Evan, a faint smile touching her lips that never reached her cold eyes.

“Evan, in the group chat you said if I didn’t show up, I couldn’t attend the engagement party. I’m here now. Are

we still having that party?”

Evan grabbed the hem of Naomi’s coat and looked at her, tears streaming down his face.

“We will. Anything you want, I’ll give it to you. Please, Naomi.”

“Hit me, yell at me, anything. Just don’t look at me like this. I can’t bear it…”

He was desperate for even a flicker of pity.

Naomi looked at him.

She didn’t struggle. She simply pried his fingers loose from her coat.

“Evan, the rain that night was far too heavy.”

“The Naomi you knew died in that car. The woman standing here owes you nothing.”

She turned away, steady as she walked with her cane toward her apartment building.

The cane tapped crisply against the stone paving.

Not once did she glance back.

Evan stayed outside Naomi’s apartment building all night.

Pallavia was hit by heavy rain after midnight, soaking his shirt completely.

He stared up at the lit window on the third floor, refusing to move an inch.

Ryan stood there beside him, soaked as well.

At dawn, Naomi stepped out with an umbrella.

She didn’t spare them a single glance and walked straight toward the little coffee shop on the corner.

Evan stumbled forward, blocking her path.

He’d been freezing all night in the rain, his lips blue, barely able to form words. He could only stare at her with pleading eyes.

Ryan spoke, his voice rough and hoarse.

“Naomi, even if you want to condemn us forever, at least hear us out.”

“I made sure Lily will pay. Her life is ruined. Come home with me. I’ll give you my life to make amends.”

Naomi stopped and listened quietly.

The umbrella cast her face in shadow, her expression unreadable.

Evan watched her, hoping to see a crack in her resolve.

“And then what?”

Naomi lifted the umbrella slightly, looking straight at them.

“And then what? Lily goes to prison, and this scar on my leg disappears?”

“Will all the blood I lost in that rain flow back into my body? Or do you think put Lily behind bars erases what

you did, forcing me to apologize in that ER lobby?”

She stepped forward, locking eyes with Ryan.

“You are my brother, but while I was being wheeled into surgery to sign that risk consent form, you were

cutting cake for someone else.”

Then she turned to Evan.

“You were the man I loved for seven years. But while my life hung in the balance, you were annoyed my

emergency alerts interrupted your celebration.”

Naomi smiled, though the joy never touched her eyes.

“Do whatever you want with Lily. Just don’t expect me to thank you for it. I don’t care.”

Evan reached out, fingers closing around nothing but air.

She turned again, walking steadily back toward the office building, her silhouette vanishing through the

revolving door.