Chapter 10: He Found Her
Rosalie:
Darkness wrapped around me again. But this time, it wasn’t peaceful. It was heavy and suffocating. The kind of darkness that pressed against your chest until breathing itself became difficult.
Somewhere far away, I heard a bird chirping softly for a while. Then came silence, and suddenly... my eyes snapped open.
For a few disoriented seconds, I simply stared upward, breathing slowly as my vision adjusted to the dim room around me. The soft golden lighting from the bedside lamp cast faint shadows across the unfamiliar walls, and it took me a moment to remember where I was.
Eiden Thorn ’s house.
The realization settled through me slowly, along with the lingering exhaustion weighing down my body.
I must have fallen asleep after he left.
The room was quiet except for the beeping sound of the monitor. But then, a faint shuffling sound broke through the silence and my heart skipped slightly as I realized someone was in the room.
I turned my head carefully toward the sound, ignoring the faint ache that still pulsed through my body. At first, all I saw was darkness near the far side of the room where the shadows gathered thickest near the windows.
But then I noticed him - a figure standing there silently with his back facing me. He was tall, with broad shoulders. And something about his silhouette instantly made my breath catch.
"Eiden...?" My voice came out soft and rough from sleep.
The figure stilled. Then slowly turned to face me, and the moment he stepped into the light, the air left my lungs. Because it wasn’t Eiden... but Alastor.
My heartbeat stopped so violently it physically hurt. For one impossible second, I could only stare at him, at his dark hair and deep blue eyes. He looked tall, cold, and handsome in the same devastating way he had always been.
He looked exactly the same. Exactly like the man I had spent years loving. And suddenly nothing else mattered - not the betrayal, not the pain, not Charlotte. All I knew was that he was here.
He came for me.
I rose from the bed so quickly that sharp pain instantly tore through my ribs, but I barely felt it. Somehow, impossibly, I was already moving. I stumbled out of the bed and toward him before my mind could catch up with my body.
"Alastor..."
His name broke from my lips like something fragile. I stopped directly in front of him, breathing unevenly as tears suddenly overwhelmed my eyes. There was so much I wanted to say, to ask.
Why?
How could you?
Did you really want me dead?
Did you ever love me at all?
But none of the words came out. My throat felt too tight, too broken. So all I could do was stare at him through blurred vision while tears rolled silently down my cheeks.
He was really here.
He found me.
Instinctively, my gaze flickered past him toward the doorway and around the room, searching for Darien and Kaiser, but they weren’t here. It was only Alastor. Only he came.
The realization twisted painfully inside my chest.
Why? Why him? And why did some horrible weak part of me still feel relieved seeing him?
I hated him.
Didn’t I?
After what he did... after the way he looked at me that night... after the way they all abandoned me - I should hate him. A part of me did. But another part - a crueler, weaker, pathetic part - still held on to the feelings I had for them for so long.
It still remembered every gentle touch, every quiet moment, every time they looked at me like I mattered. And that was the worst pain of all. Because even now... standing in front of the man who shattered me, my heart still reached for him.
The realization made something snap violently inside me. And before I could think, my hand rose and slapped him. Hard. The sound cracked through the silence of the room sharply enough to sting my own palm.
Alastor’s face turned slightly from the force, but he didn’t react otherwise. He didn’t get angry, didn’t even move.
Tears blurred my vision harder. "You-" My voice broke apart completely. "You-" The pain inside me became unbearable. It wasn’t enough - the slap - it’s not enough.
So I raised my hand again, but this time, before my palm could reach him, his hand shot up and caught my wrist firmly. Then suddenly, he pulled me into him.
My breath caught violently as strong arms wrapped around me instantly, securing me against his chest with terrifying familiarity. The warmth of his body surrounded me, and the scent I knew so well filled my senses completely.
Alastor.
The embrace I had been starving for since that night. Since before that night. And just like that, I broke.
A sob tore from my throat as my body trembled violently against him. Tears spilled endlessly down my cheeks while I clutched helplessly at his shirt like someone drowning.
Why? Why did this still feel like home? Why did he still feel like home?
His hand moved gently through my hair, patting my head softly the same way he used to whenever I cried or became overwhelmed. The familiarity shattered me further.
"Rose," he murmured quietly above me. The nickname hurt more than anything else. "I expected you to understand."
I froze.
His hand still moved gently against my hair and his arms still held me securely, but the words... the words felt wrong.
My sobs weakened as confusion slowly crept through the pain. "What...?" I whispered shakily.
Alastor sighed softly above me as he added, "Just like you always have."
Something cold slid slowly down my spine. I pulled back enough to look up at him, and forgot how to breathe. His face remained handsome and perfect, but his eyes... they were wrong - cold and empty. There was no warmth in them anymore, no softness, no love, nothing familiar at all.
I stared at him in horror.
"I wanted things to continue peacefully," he continued calmly, almost disappointed. "The way they always were. But that’s no longer possible now."
I shook my head weakly, unable to process what I was hearing. "Alastor..."
The door suddenly opened behind him and I flinched instinctively. Then froze as I watched Darien walking inside first with Kaiser beside him. And right after them... Charlotte.
She looked beautiful, elegant, perfect.
The moment she entered the room, everything changed. Alastor stepped away from me immediately, like touching me had suddenly become a mistake, like I disgusted him.
I watched silently as he crossed the room toward Charlotte without hesitation, and then, he smiled at her warmly and his eyes gentled in a way I knew too well. It was the exact same way they once used to soften for me.
Or maybe...
Maybe they never truly had. Maybe I imagined it all. Maybe I had spent years desperately grasping at scraps of affection and convincing myself they were love.
The thought hollowed me out completely.
The four of them stood together now, like a perfect picture. And I stood alone.
Charlotte’s gaze settled on me calmly before she spoke in that same sweet, graceful voice everyone adored. "You needed to disappear," she said softly. "So we could finally be happy."
The words echoed endlessly inside my head. And then suddenly, everything changed again. The room vanished and cold wind slammed violently into me while rain poured from the sky.
I was back in the forest...running. My lungs burned. Branches tore against my skin. Voices shouted behind me. And right ahead... was the cliff.
No.
Panic surged violently through me as I stumbled backward toward the edge.
Not again-
The men surrounded me as the storm roared. And then, Alastor stepped forward.
My breath shook violently.
He looked at me with the same cold eyes from moments ago. There was no hesitation, no emotion, nothing at all.
"Please..." I whispered brokenly. I didn’t even know what I was begging for anymore. Mercy? Love? An explanation?
But Alastor only reached for me calmly... and pushed.
My body fell backward instantly. The cliff vanished beneath my feet and cold terror swallowed me whole as the river rushed closer before freezing water slammed into my body.
And I woke up gasping!!
