CHAPTER 80: A COWARD

Raphael’s POV

The air felt suffocating. My pulse hammered, not from the punch, but from the weight of everything crashing at once. Lucien’s fist was still tangled in my collar, his eyes burning into mine like he wanted to tear me apart piece by piece.

"I said..." his voice trembled, not with fear, but with fury, "...what. did. you. do. to. her?" he said through his gritted teeth, counting each word.

My throat choked, and a strange emotion washed over me. Guilt, maybe, but something more. The look in his eyes wasn’t casual. He looked like he could rip me for Braelyn...

No, don’t think of that. I didn’t want to. I gritted my teeth.

Braelyn stirred weakly in my arms, her fingers twitching against my shirt. Her skin felt too hot. Her breathing was shallow. I hated the sound of it. I hated that I caused it.

"I..." The words stuck. I didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t sound like a lie. And I already knew what he thought I was. A monster but I thought I was protecting her.

Lucien’s jaw clenched. He was seconds away from snapping. "She could have died, you selfish bastard. What happened with the yellow Chrysanthemums..." my eyes widened remember the post she made

He ran over here just because of that post. Amelia whimpered, her voice coming out shaky. "He ran through the gates, bursting them down with his car. He had lost his mind." She cried.

Lucien hissed, he shoved me back, and for a moment, I almost fell. My hand clenched around Braelyn tighter it felt like she was slipping away further than I thought.

Amelia moved forward, voice quivering. She grabbed Lucien’s hand trying to break his hold while crying desperately. "Lucien, stop....Raphael didn’t mean..." her voice choked.

Lucien shrugged her off pushing her against the wall. He snapped his head toward her, voice sharp and venomous as he stared at her crumpled figure on the floor

"Shut your mouth."

Amelia froze. Even the thunder outside sounded quieter for a second.

Lucien looked back at me. His expression shifted. He looked like he finally understood something.

I swallowed a lump in my throat. "Please I can’t do this now. I need to take her to the hospital.." I said his anger dissipated for a moment.

He stared down at Braelyn. She was unconscious. Her face was a mess, her lips were still quivering while she muttered jumbo nonsense, completely delirious.

"What is wrong with her?" His hands trembled as he tried to touch. He reached for her face but I backed away.

"She has an allergic reaction. I didn’t know she was allergic to those flowers.." I admitted. His eyes snapped as if everything was falling in place. I wasn’t lying but the look he had in his eyes...

"You fucking knew," he muttered. Not loud. Not accusatory. Just a hollow realisation that scraped the air raw.

"How would you know your wife’s allergies? You just didn’t take her seriously." His voice was sharper this time.

My chest tightened. I didn’t know what to say. We had known each other for years, and I didn’t know.

"No." I breathed out. "I didn’t know. I swear I..." my voice broke. I wanted to say I would have listened but I doubted that. She was literally falling apart in front of me and all I could think of was that she was desperate to go to her lover.

He didn’t care.

"Give her to me," Lucien demanded, stepping forward, voice low and final. Every instinct in me rejected that. My arms tightened around her before I could stop myself.

"No." My voice cracked, but I stood my ground. "She’s my wife."Lucien laughed. His laugh was dry and dead. It sent chills down my spine.

"Your wife. Is that what you call the person you put through this?" The storm outside roared, slamming rain against the windows.

I opened my mouth, but I didn’t know what I was trying to defend anymore. A small voice spoke. Braelyn raised her hand trying to reach for something.

"Lucien..." She called out his name weakly. I froze staring blankly at her. Lucien did not wait, he grabbed her hand.

"Braelyn I’m here." He answered. She whimpered, still clearly unconscious, and repeated his name again. "Lucien... please... Help..." Her eyes fluttered then closed again.

He grabbed my wrist firmly, like he was giving me one last chance to be a human being. "Raphael." His tone was calm now. Deadly calm.

"If you care about her at all... even a little..." His eyes burned into mine, searching, judging, condemning. "Let her go."

Braelyn whimpered again barely there. My heart twisted painfully. She needs help. It was the only truth that mattered.

My grip loosened. I couldn’t stop him either. It felt like I lost the right to hold her. She wanted him to hold her.

Lucien didn’t hesitate. He pulled her from my arms with a steadiness I had never possessed. He cradled her carefully, like she was breakable.

Something in my chest fractured. Amelia was crying silently now, her hands covering her mouth. Lucien didn’t look at either of us again.

He just turned and walked into the storm with her in his arms.

I didn’t want to follow. I couldn’t. For the first time... I wasn’t sure I was the person she’d run back to.

Everything said I shouldn’t follow, but my legs moved on their own, following behind them. Lucien covered her with his jacket and ran towards his car. I could see the way it was crushed from running into the gate.

A car stopped by my side. Joseph stepped out and handed me the keys reading through me immediately. Lucien drove off. My hand clenched against the key...

"Fuck.."

"Fuck"

I repeated, rushing to the car to drive after them. I stepped on the accelerator driving out not missing the look Amelia had on her face as she drove off

I drove behind him in the storm through the broken gate. For a second, I couldn’t blink, scared that if I did, she would disappear....

By the time we arrived at the hospital, she was rushed to the emergency ward. Everything happened in a daze. I just stared at the door.

Even when the doctor mistook Lucien for her husband, I couldn’t even correct him.

"Your wife needs to stay under observation for longer." He explained. My heart tightened.

"Can I see her now?" Lucien asked. The doctor nodded before leaving Lucien stepped forward about to go in

Then he stopped glancing over his shoulders. "It will be better if you leave..." He simply said and I froze watching him go in. I tried stealing a peek at her figure through the door gaps

******

Since then I still couldn’t bring myself to see her, not even after she regained consciousness.

"You are a coward..." I laughed at myself staring back at the hospital entrance. Genny had gotten into her car and driven off.

My phone blinked with a notification from an unknown number

Unknown: A blood debt must be repaid in blood

My chest felt too tight to breathe.