Killed Me for Your Precious Angel? Now Pray She Can Save You from Hell - Chapter 63: Chapter 63

The smell of disinfectant burned his nostrils.
Kaiden stared at the ceiling, dreams and reality blurring together in his mind.
Brooklyn crying. Brooklyn struggling to push him away. Brooklyn on the beach, smiling at another man.
All because I failed her. All because I let them destroy her.
"Ka-Kaiden?"
A timid voice came from beside the bed.
Alina stood two steps away, her knuckles white as she clutched her purse strap.
"How are you feeling? The doctors said you fainted from emotional stress..."
Kaiden slowly turned his head, his gaze settling on her face with the intensity of a predator studying prey.
Look at you. Still pretending to care.
Alina instantly froze like a rabbit caught by a wolf, cold sweat breaking out across her back.
He knows. Oh God, he remembers everything.
"Having fun?"
His voice was terrifyingly hoarse, each word dripping with barely contained rage.
"Wh-what?"
Alina forced out a shaky smile.
"I don't know what you mean. I was just worried about you..."
Still fucking lying.
"I remember everything."
Seven simple words, delivered like a death sentence, drained all color from Alina's face.
Every single thing you did to her. Every moment of torture. Every time you made her bleed.
She stumbled backward, nearly knocking over the IV stand.
"I... I don't know what you're talking about..."
Her voice trembled like autumn leaves.
"Brooklyn left on her own. It had nothing to do with us..."
Even now. Even now you're lying to my face.
Kaiden slowly sat up, pulling the needle from his hand with deliberate violence. Blood droplets traced down his skin like war paint.
He seemed to relish the pain, focused entirely on Alina with predatory focus.
The same way you focused on destroying Brooklyn.
"Why are you standing so far away?"
His voice was silk over steel.
"Afraid of your beloved Kaiden?"
You should be. You should be terrified.
Alina shook harder, her designer clothes suddenly feeling like a costume.
She remembered what Kaiden had done to people who hurt Brooklyn—some senator's son had merely touched Brooklyn's hand, and by morning his entire family had been erased from existence.
And that was just for touching her. What I did was so much worse.
"You just woke up, you should rest..."
She turned to flee.
"Stop."
Two words, cold as a death sentence, nailed her in place.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
Kaiden threw off the covers and stood, approaching her with the measured pace of an executioner.
Twenty years. Twenty years I wasted on you people.
"Why did you have to target Brooklyn?"
His voice was getting quieter, which somehow made it infinitely more terrifying.
"Weren't Mom and Dad already giving you all their love? They degraded Brooklyn to nothing just to avoid hurting your precious feelings..."
They chose you over her every single time. And it still wasn't enough for you.
"What about you?!"
Alina suddenly whirled around, screaming hysterically.
Finally. Show me your true face.
Tears streaked her face, ruining her carefully applied makeup until she looked like a broken doll.
"Did you ever actually treat me like a sister?!"
Sister? You were never my sister.
She shook violently, twenty years of resentment pouring out like poison.
"I'm your real sister! But you? You only ever saw Brooklyn!"
Because she was worth seeing. Because she was everything you'll never be.
Kaiden's expression didn't change, but something murderous flickered in his eyes.
"What are you talking about?"
Keep going. Dig your grave deeper.
"Talking about?!"
Alina laughed bitterly, the sound sharp and broken.
"Remember my first day home? I was so careful calling you Kaiden, but you wouldn't even look at me! Brooklyn sneezed once and you immediately gave her your jacket!"
Because she mattered. Because every breath she took was precious.
"I tried so hard to please you, but what did you do? I had a 102-degree fever, but you were out buying Brooklyn cake! She got a tiny cut on her finger and you called an entire medical team!"
Because she was my world. Because she was the only pure thing in this rotten family.
The rage in Kaiden's chest was building like a nuclear reactor about to explode.
"Kaiden! I'm your real sister! She's just some unwanted bastard! Some parasitic cuckoo who stole my nest! Some trailer trash whore who—"
CRACK!
The slap echoed through the room like a gunshot. Alina's pale cheek swelled instantly, the force of it spinning her around.
Don't you dare. Don't you fucking dare talk about her like that.
"So you made her life hell?"
His voice was deadly quiet now.
"Yes!"
Alina clutched her face, staggering backward with hysterical, broken laughter.
There it is. Finally the truth.
"I hated her! I hated every breath she took! Why should some fake get all my real brother's love? Why, even after I came home, did you still revolve around her like she was the fucking sun?!"
Because she was. Because she lit up every dark corner of my soul.
Kaiden's hands were shaking with the effort of not wrapping them around her throat.
"I'm glad I made her suffer! I'm glad I watched her cry! I'm glad I had her beaten until she bled! She deserved every second of pain for stealing what was mine!"
You what? YOU WHAT?
The nuclear reactor in his chest finally detonated.
"And you know what's really funny? Mom and Dad's so-called love for me? It's just guilt! They didn't want people saying they treated the bastard better than the real daughter!"
You destroyed an angel because of your pathetic jealousy.
Kaiden was quiet for a moment, then smiled.
It was the smile of a man about to burn the world down.
"Listen carefully, Alina."
Each word was delivered like a blade to the heart.
"I don't give a damn how Mom and Dad treat you. But to me? You're not worth the dirt under Brooklyn's fingernails."
You're nothing. You've always been nothing.
The words shattered what was left of Alina's composure like glass.
She collapsed to the floor, makeup smeared like a broken marionette.
"So what? So what if I'm not worth it? I'm still the real Sheridan heiress!"
No. You're a tumor that I'm going to cut out.
She mumbled to herself, completely unhinged.
"Brooklyn doesn't want you anymore anyway! She'd rather be on the other side of the world than with you! She chose some other man over you! Don't you get it?!"
The words hit like bullets to the chest.
Kaiden's pupils contracted, his heart feeling like it was being ripped apart with rusty claws.
She's right. Brooklyn ran from me. Chose exile over my love.
Because I let them torture her. Because I was weak.
"Get out."
His voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried the weight of mountains.
Before I kill you with my bare hands.
Alina scrambled from the room on hands and knees, crashing into Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan in the doorway.
"Alina? What happened?"
Mrs. Sheridan tried to help her up.
"Don't touch me!"
Alina shoved her away and ran down the hall, sobbing like a banshee.
Run. Run far and fast. It won't save you.
Mr. Sheridan frowned as he entered the room.
"What did you do to your sister?"
Sister. Still calling her that.
"I've told you a hundred times—Alina is your real sister. You need to treat her better."
Still protecting the wrong person. Still choosing her over Brooklyn.
But Kaiden ignored them completely. He slowly looked up, his eyes cold enough to freeze the deepest circle of hell.
You helped them. You all helped them destroy her.
"Mom, Dad."
His voice was calm now, which somehow made it infinitely more terrifying than screaming.
"We need to have a very long conversation."
About what you did to Brooklyn. About how you chose that monster over an angel. About how you helped drive away the only woman I'll ever love.
About how you're all going to pay for it.
Starting right fucking now.