10
On the day of our engagement party, I wore a
breathtaking gown that Landon himself had
personally designed for me.
Under the soft glow of the chandeliers,
surrounded by our families and friends, we
exchanged rings, our vows a quiet promise of
o
future filled with love and lovalty
After the ceremony, I wanted to ask Landon. I
needed to know why. Why he believed in me
so unconditionally, why he loved me with such
unwavering devotion.
But before I could voice my questions, he
presented me with his own surprise.
And as I watched the man walking slowly
towards me, a figure emerging from the
crowd, my heart leaped into my throat.
Even after ten long years of separation, of a
silence so profound it had felt like death
itself, the invisible bond of family, that deep,
inexplicable connection, resonated within me.
“Brother?” I whispered, my voice choked with
disbelief.
My brother. My brother, who had vanished
from my life a decade ago, was finally,
miraculously, home.
I threw myself into his arms, sobbing like a
child, all the years of unspoken grief and
longing pouring out of me.
Later, with Landon by my side, his hand a
warm, steady presence in mine, the full story
unfolded.
My maternal grandmother, it turned out, had
possessed two jade bangles, nearly identical
in appearance.
One had been gifted to me at birth, a
precious heirloom. But my mother, fearing I
would lose or break it in my childish
く
exuberance, had kept it locked away for
safekeeping.
The other bangle, the one meant for my
brother’s future wife, had always been in his
possession.
As for how it had ultimately ended up in Silas
Thorne’s greedy hands… that was a darker,
more twisted tale. The human traffickers who
had kidnapped my brother all those years
ago, the ones who had stolen his childhood
and nearly broken our family… they were
Silas Thorne’s parents.
They were hardened criminals, long sought by
the police, experts at evading capture.
My brother had spent all those years trapped,
first as a child, then as a young man,
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desperately trying to find a way to escape
their remote, isolated village, a place where
every villager was an informant, every shadow
a potential threat.
Unable to flee, he’d bided his time,
conserving his strength, waiting, with a
patience born of sheer will, for the perfect
moment to strike.
And finally, that moment had come. He had
managed to contact the authorities, and
together, they had brought the entire
trafficking ring, including Silas’s monstrous
parents, to justice.
After Landon finished recounting these
harrowing events, my gaze fell to his legs. A
cold dread, a horrifying suspicion, began to
creep into my heart.
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“Landon,” I asked, my voice barely a whisper,
“your legs… the accident… was it because of
me that you almost… that they almost had to
amputate?”
Landon looked at me, a flicker of surprise in
his eyes. “You remember?”
“Only fragments,” I admitted, “blurry,
disjointed pieces. After my brother was
taken… because of me… I was consumed by
guilt. I used to wander near the roads, day
after day, just roaming aimlessly. I had this
foolish, childish idea that maybe, just maybe,
if I kept looking, I’d see him again.”
My voice trembled. “I was a ghost, just
drifting through life. And then, one day…
there was a truck, out of control… It was
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heading straight for me. It should have hit me.
It should have killed me. But then… then…”
My voice broke, the words catching in my
throat.
Looking into Landon’s eyes, seeing the
profound tenderness, the deep, aching
compassion reflected there, I couldn’t hold
back any longer. I threw my arms around his
neck, clinging to him.
“Landon,” I sobbed, “why? Why are you so
good to me? After everything… you shouldn’t
- be. I… I’m afraid. Afraid I don’t deserve any
of this.”
Landon held me close, his voice a soft, gentle
rumble against my ear.
Г
“Don’t be afraid, Quinn. And please, never
feel burdened. Everything I’ve done, every
choice I’ve made… it was all voluntary, all for
you. And honestly, Quinn, if it hadn’t been for
you… I probably wouldn’t have survived
either.”
He paused, his voice tinged with a distant
sadness. “When we were children, back in the
old neighborhood… after my parents died,
everyone called me an orphan, the boy with
no mother or father. The other kids… they
bullied me relentlessly. But you, Quinn… you
were the only one who ever stood up for me.
You’d march right in, a little spitfire, and put
them in their place, protecting me.”
A soft smile touched his lips. “Truly, Quinn, if
it hadn’t been for you back then, I don’t think
L
I would have made it. I wouldn’t be here
today.”
“So, if anyone should be saying thank you,”
he murmured, his voice thick with emotion,
“it’s me. Thank you, Quinn.”
Landon’s words, his quiet confession,
unlocked a flood of forgotten memories.
Childhood in the old neighborhood. With my
older brother as my protector, I’d been a little
terror, a fearless queen of our small domain.
And I remembered him. A thin, quiet, painfully
shy little boy, always on the fringes, always
the target of the neighborhood bullies and
their cruel, exclusionary games. And I, without
even thinking, had always stepped in, always
shielded him.
<
“So, you were that… that pitiful little boy,” I
whispered, a wave of understanding, of a
connection forged long ago and nearly lost,
washing over me.
Landon nodded, a gentle, knowing smile in his
eyes.
After Cora Stone was discharged from the
hospital, she, predictably, sought out Silas
Thorne again.
Rumor had it they got back together, a toxic
reunion born of desperation and delusion.
But their reconciliation, if you could even call
it that, was short–lived.
Silas, true to his nature, scammed Cora out
of the last of her money and then, once
く
again, vanished without a trace.
She was pregnant again, apparently. The
shock and betrayal of his abandonment nearly
caused another miscarriage.
She was rushed to the hospital, but this time,
with no funds, no family, no one to turn to,
she fled in the middle of the night,
disappearing into the city’s shadows.
My father, despite everything, still worried she
might die alone and unknown on some cold,
indifferent street. He sent people to look for
her, but it was no use. It was as if she had
simply evaporated, vanished from the face of
the earth.
And that, I suppose, was Cora Stone’s ending
in this lifetime.
<
As for Silas Thorne… he developed a raging
gambling addiction. His life spiraled into a
vortex of debt and despair.
He owed vast sums to dangerous loan sharks.
In the end, they cornered him, their patience
exhausted, their methods brutal. When he was
finally found, it was too late. He was dead, his
body a testament to their savagery
covered
in knife wounds, his flesh torn and mangled.
There wasn’t a single part of him left
unscathed.
And me? After my engagement to Landon, I
chose to go back to school, to complete my
education, to finally pursue the dreams I had
so carelessly abandoned in my previous life.
Step by step, I walked towards the new life I
had envisioned, a life filled with purpose, with
Step by step, I walked towards the new life I
had envisioned, a life filled with purpose, with love, with hope.
From then on, my path was clear, my journey
bright. A life in full bloom, a future paved with
endless possibilities.
