Harrison POV:
The sudden, sharp pain in my chest was unlike anything I had ever felt. It wasn' t a heart attack, but a searing, visceral ache that twisted my insides. My hand instinctively flew to my chest, my breath catching in my throat. I was on stage, Jeanine beaming beside me, the applause for our engagement announcement still ringing in my ears. The flash of cameras momentarily blinded me.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, a single message. I fumbled for it, a strange sense of dread washing over me. It was from Emilia.
"Goodbye, Harrison. May your ambition bring you all the happiness you desire. Colt and I are finally free. Don' t look for us."
A cold wave of terror, far worse than the pain in my chest, swept over me. Free? Don' t look for us? No. No, she couldn' t. My thumb, shaking uncontrollably, hit her contact. Busy signal. Again. And again. Just the cold, impersonal tone of a disconnected line.
Jeanine, noticing my sudden pallor, leaned in. "Darling, what' s wrong? It' s time for the vows."
I stared at the screen, at Emilia' s final words, my world crumbling around me. Vows? This was a lie. All of it. Jeanine, her family, the merger, the fake smile on my face. It was all a hollow shell compared to the real, vibrant woman I had just discarded.
"No," I choked out, pushing Jeanine away. The ring, a ridiculous diamond the size of a pigeon' s egg, slipped from my grasp and clattered to the polished stage floor. It sounded like a death knell.
I turned and bolted, ignoring Jeanine' s bewildered cry and the gasps from the audience. I had to find her. I had to fix this.
But a wall of Blazetooth security guards, paid to protect my image, now blocked my path.
"Mr. Bruce, you can' t leave!" one of them stammered.
"Get out of my way!" I roared, my voice raw. "That' s an order!"
They hesitated, looking at each other, then at the stunned crowd. Before they could move, a formidable figure stepped forward, her face a mask of cold fury.
"Harrison Alexander Bruce!" Karren, my mother, barked, her voice cutting through the stunned silence. "What is the meaning of this charade? Get back on that stage! This is just a momentary lapse, a fit of nerves!"
"Lapse? Nerves?" I stared at her, my mother, the woman who had orchestrated this entire farce. "She' s gone, Mother! Emilia is gone! And she took Colt with her!"
My mother merely scoffed, her eyes hard. "Good riddance, then! The little commoner finally knows her place. You have a future, Harrison, a family here. A real family! Jeanine is pregnant, for God' s sake! You think that… girl, that wanderer, could ever compare to the prosperity Jeanine' s lineage brings? My son would never abandon his own family, his own legacy, for some… fleeting infatuation!"
A surge of pure, unadulterated rage, something ancient and powerful, erupted inside me. My eyes, I knew, were glowing a fierce, unnatural gold. The air around me crackled with an unseen energy.
"Get out of my way," I snarled at the guards, my voice no longer human, but a low growl. "Or I swear to the ancestors, I will tear you limb from limb."
They fell to their knees, whimpering, their faces pale with terror. They saw it, the raw power that had always been dormant within me, the Sterling blood that ran in my veins, though I had denied it for so long.
My mother, however, stood her ground, her face etched with icy anger. "Control yourself, Harrison! Do you intend to shame our family further? Get back on that stage and finish what you started!" She gestured towards Jeanine, who was now being comforted by her father. "Are you truly so weak? So utterly devoid of honor that you would throw away everything for… for that?"
Then, the pain hit me again. But this time, it was different. It wasn' t just a sharp ache; it was a profound, wrenching tear. Like a cord, something invisible but undeniably real, was being ripped from my very core. My soul. The connection to Emilia, to Colt, was snapping, fraying, then severing completely.
A raw, guttural scream tore from my throat, a sound of pure agony and despair. It echoed through the grand hall, silencing the last whispers of the crowd. Guests recoiled, their faces etched with horror. I crumpled to the polished marble floor, clawing at the slick surface, my vision tunneling.
"Emilia!" I gasped, my voice hoarse, blood bubbling at the corner of my mouth. "Emilia! Colt!"
The pain was excruciating, an emptiness that devoured me from the inside out. I saw it all now, with terrifying clarity. The years of neglect, the casual dismissals, the cold indifference. I had traded a dynasty, a true queen, a son who was my heart, for a fleeting business deal. I had chosen a hollow ambition over a soulful connection, a future built on sand over a foundation of unconditional love. My mother' s words, my own blind ambition, had driven her away. I had watched her walk out of my life, taking my son, taking my soul with her.
My mother, ever the pragmatist, was already speaking to the bewildered event organizer. "He' s fine," she said, her voice chillingly calm. "Just a sympathetic reaction. The stress of the day. Get a medic. A strong sedative."
A sharp prick in my arm. Darkness began to creep in around the edges of my vision. My mother' s face, cold and unyielding, was the last thing I saw. "We will proceed once he' s stable," she commanded. "This engagement will happen."
My eyes fought to stay open, searching for something, anything. The distant lake, shimmering under the evening sky, where Emilia and Colt often played. I wanted to scream, to run, to beg them to come back. But the darkness swallowed me whole. I was a prisoner in my own home, in my own life, trapped by the choices I had made. It was dusk when I finally succumbed to the black.
