The Day the Tragic Heroine Chose Herself Chapter 02

The Day the Tragic Heroine Chose Herself Chapter 02

I didn’t even see him coming.

Elias stormed in.

He shoved past everyone and came straight for me.

His hand cracked across my face. My head snapped to the side.

The blow pulled at my stitches. Blood seeped through the bandages.

“Are you fucking crazy?”

His eyes were bloodshot. He grabbed my jaw and forced my face toward his.

“Leo is our son! You were going to drag him off that ledge with you because you’re throwing a sick tantrum?!”

“How long are you going to keep this up, Celine? Do you even have a soul?”

Something hot burned in my throat. I laughed anyway. Cold and hollow.

Me? I was the one without a soul?

Who told me I had cancer when I didn’t?

Who put me through chemo I’d never needed?

Who carved my body apart just to appease Hazel’s sick vendetta?

But I was past the point of explaining.

My silence only made him angrier.

He grabbed me by the arm and hauled me out.

“If you won’t stay in the hospital, then you’re coming home with me.”

I let him drag me to the car. I didn’t fight it. My mind was already somewhere else.

All I needed was one clear chance to get out of this world for good.

Ravenwood City blurred past the window.

An entire city, full of life. None of it had anything to do with me.

Then the road emptied out. Just the two of us on a dark stretch of coastal highway that wound along the cliffs.

I grabbed the door handle and yanked.

Elias snarled. “You want to die that badly?!” He yanked the wheel hard to the right.

The car screamed sideways across the asphalt.

I threw my whole body against the door. It flew open, and freezing night air rushed in.

I didn’t hesitate. I jumped.

I was halfway out when Elias let go of the wheel entirely. He lunged across and pinned me down.

The car spun out and slammed into the guardrail at the cliff’s edge.

The impact threw us both forward. Metal screamed. Glass shattered.

A gash opened across Elias’s forehead. Blood ran down the side of his face.

He was panting. His eyes locked on me, dark and furious.

“Are you that eager to die?”

I held his gaze. “Yes.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but we smelled it at the same time. Gasoline.

Elias’s face went white. “Shit.”

He didn’t even check his own wound. He just started tearing at the crushed seat, trying to pull me free.

I didn’t want to be saved. Part of me was begging the flames to come faster.

“Just go. Leave me.”

He didn’t listen. He ripped the seat apart with his bare hands, dragged me out, and pulled me hard against his chest.

We barely made it out.

The explosion hit a second later. Fire swallowed the car whole.

The blast of heat slammed into us. He threw himself over me, and when I looked up, his eyes were dark with panic.

“Celine. I’m only going to say this once.”

“You don’t get to die unless I say so. Not even God gets to take you from me.”

It was just like that night years ago. Pinned down in a warehouse, bullets flying, his rival closing in.

He’d shielded me the same way then. And he’d said:

“Don’t be scared, Celine. I’m right here. Nothing’s going to touch you.”

That one promise had been enough. I stayed. Through everything.

We fought our way through blood and betrayal, side by side. I leveraged the entire Ashford empire to put him on top. He ruled this city because of me.

But now, the same arms around me just felt like a sickening joke.

I don’t remember how we got back to the house.

The second I walked in, warmth washed over me. Laughter. Light. Like nothing had happened. It made my skin crawl.

Hazel was at the table, blowing on a bowl of homemade chicken soup.

My father hovered behind her, all soft looks and gentle fussing. “Careful, Hazel. It’s still hot.”

She looked up when we came in. Her eyes went straight to the gash on Elias’s forehead.

Hazel gasped and rushed over.

“Elias, oh my God, what happened to you?”

Her eyes flicked to me. Then dropped to my chest. The disgust that flashed across her face softened into something worse. Pity.

“Was it because of Celine? Don’t be upset with her. She’s probably just struggling with… what happened to her body. That’s why she’s acting out. We should be more patient with her.”

I stepped forward and slapped her across the face.

“Shut your mouth. Drop the innocent saint act.”

Hazel clutched her cheek, staring at me like I’d lost my mind.

My own father was across the room in a second. He shoved Hazel behind him and knocked me to the ground.

“Enough!”

“Look at yourself. Is this how an Ashford woman acts?”

“We spoiled you. That’s the problem. You got so entitled that you thought you could treat Hazel like dirt. The surgery was supposed to teach you some humility. But instead, you do this? Throwing around suicide threats?”

I looked up at him. This man who used to love me like I was the only person in the world. And I spoke slowly, making sure every word hit him.

“So that’s your excuse? You made me believe I was dying. You let them cut me apart. For a lesson?”

I couldn’t tell if the silence was guilt or if he really believed he’d done nothing wrong.

He didn’t answer.

When I first entered this world, Arthur Rowland had just buried his wife. The grief was eating him alive.

He’d married into the Ashford name, not the other way around, and the family never let him forget it. They crushed him at every turn.

The system had dropped me into this story because the original host’s obsession was ruining him. My job was to save him.

And for a long time, we did. We saved each other.

I loved this life enough to throw away the mission. I chose to stay.

Then Hazel showed up. The scholarship student I’d helped sponsor. And one by one, every person I loved turned on me.

If I so much as asked how she was doing, they said I was mocking her.

They’d tear me apart if it meant making her feel vindicated.

I smiled. Bitter, tired, done. Then I reached for the sharp letter opener on the coffee table…