They Protected My Murderer, So I Walked Away from Them All Chapter 03

They Protected My Murderer, So I Walked Away from Them All Chapter 03

The wreck didn’t just put me in a coma for three years.

It took the child growing inside me.

And now, the woman responsible for the crash had her name beneath the very candle meant for the child I had lost.

My hands shook as I reached out to sweep the candle off the rack.

Footsteps snapped against the stone behind me.

“Aurora!”

I froze, looking over my shoulder.

Damian lunged forward, throwing his frame between me and the flame.

“Don’t touch that.”

My throat tightened, heat rushing behind my eyes.

“Why?” The word came out like crushed gravel.

“That light was lit for our child, Damian.”

Guilt crossed his face, followed by a tense, scrambling silence.

A voice cut through the quiet from behind him.

“Don’t blame Damian. It was your father’s idea. And mine.”

My spine locked up.

I turned around, staring at my mother and father. “Why?”

Nico walked in through the heavy double doors, his mouth set in a hard, disapproving line.

“Aurora, that child is gone. You can’t pray for someone who never drew breath.”

“While you were flat on your back for three years, Bianca took care of Ma and Dad like family. What’s the problem with lighting a candle for her?”

He stopped, his voice dropping into a cold, dismissive murmur.

“She stepped up when you couldn’t. You should be thanking her, not trying to wreck her candle. You’re making a scene over nothing.”

I looked at my younger brother—the kid I protected and gave everything to growing up.

He sounded like a complete stranger.

I ground my teeth together.

“She was responsible for everything that happened to me, Nico!”

Movement at the entrance cut me off.

Valerie stepped over the threshold; her hand looped through Bianca’s arm.

“Aurora, the crash was an accident,” Valerie said, smooth and patronizing.

“Bianca has spent the last three years tearing herself apart trying to make up for it. Let it go.”

Valerie. My best friend.

The way she shielded Bianca felt sick and intimately familiar.

She used to stand in front of me like that.

I forced down the acid rising in my throat and locked eyes with Damian.

“Tell them. Was it really an accident?”

Damian looked away, refusing to meet my stare.

He hadn’t told them. Not a single soul in my family knew.

A cold smirk pulled at my lips.

I opened my mouth to blow the whole thing wide open, but Damian moved first.

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me firmly through the side doors.

I hauled back with my free hand and whipped my palm across his face.

The slap cracked against the stone walls outside.

Damian stopped.

His eyes were shot through with red, his fists trembling against his thighs.

“You know, don’t you?” His voice was barely a rasp.

I stared back, silent.

He stepped closer and caught my wrist, stopping me before I could leave.

“Keep this buried, Aurora. If you tell anyone, Bianca won’t make it out of this city safely. Your father and Nico will come after her.”

“And what about me?”

My voice shook, thin and sharp.

“She took three years from me. I lost our child because of that crash. And she walks away without consequences?”

The words tore out of me, but Damian stepped in and clamped his arms around me, burying my face against his chest.

“I’m sorry, Aurora. I’m so sorry.”

He muttered it against my hair.

Then something hot hit my collarbone.

He was crying.

Damian Russo—the untouchable heir—sobbing against my neck.

Was he weeping for what he broke, or was he weeping for her?

His voice came muffled, desperate.

“Bianca hasn’t slept through the night in two years, Aurora. The guilt is eating her alive. Isn’t that punishment enough?”

My fingers twisted into his lapel.

Enough?

What kind of sick balance sheet was this?

I lost my child and three years of my life.

And Bianca was expected to pay for all of it with a few sleepless nights?