Chapter 26

After leaving the Wakefield residence, Emmanuel drove straight to Velmont Cemetery. He slowly approached Elena's gravestone, his eyes fixed on her beaming smile in the photo. The ache in his chest flared up all over again. "Elena… I don't even deserve to stand in front of you right now, but I couldn't stop myself. I had to come." "I finally know what really went down three years ago. I know why you left… And I swear, I'll make every single person who hurt you pay—myself included." "When I've made Lilith answer for what she did to you, when everything's settled… I'll come back and face the wrongs I did to you. Can you wait for me?" "If you can hear me… just give me a sign, anything." But the cemetery lay silent, empty. Only Elena's smile stared back at him. Emmanuel stood there for a long time, unmoving. In the end, he seemed to make up his mind and finally walked away. His tall frame, once proud, now looked beaten and hollow. The next day at noon, Emmanuel returned to the Wakefield hou