Chapter 314: It Was Me All Along

I couldn’t help it. A laugh slipped out, sharp and tired.

“Who in their right mind loves someone so much that they’d peel their skin, break their bones, and reshape them into a statue?” My voice shook at the end, like my body couldn’t decide if it wanted to cry or fight.

Yael didn’t laugh back. He just looked at me, calm in a way that made my stomach twist.

“I know you won’t believe me,” he said, steady as stone, “but I’ve known you for a long time. I’ve seen your work. All of it. Since the orphanage.”

The orphanage.

Something in my head clicked so hard it felt like pain.

It wasn’t our first meeting at school.

He’d been there before one of those students who came in groups, all wearing the same uniform, all smiling like they were doing something kind for a day.

I hadn’t noticed him. Not really.

I was older. Seven or eight years older, at least.

Back then, after my miscarriage, I never fully came back to myself. My body healed, but something inside me stayed thin and fragile. I spent a lot of time at the orphanage because the noise kept my mind busy. The kids didn’t ask too many questions. They just wanted someone to listen.

That day, I got dizzy. The room spun. I remember reaching for the edge of a table and missing.

He caught me.

I remember his hands too young, too careful. I remember him guiding me to a chair like he was afraid I’d break. He brought me water, stayed close, and kept talking softly, like he was trying to anchor me to the moment.

I must have fallen asleep in a rocking chair for over an hour.

When I woke up, he was still there, sitting beside me like he’d been assigned to watch over me.

I thought he was just a kid.

I thanked him and left.

But he remembered.

And now, sitting in this car with the air feeling too tight, I realized he’d been carrying that day like a secret.

I stared at him. “So was it your plan all along? To get close to me?”

Yael sighed. For a second, he almost looked guilty.

“Yes,” he admitted. “At first it was. But I didn’t expect to actually fall for you. Elena, you’re kind. And Julian never deserved you.”

Something dark flickered in his eyes. Not rage. Not exactly.

More like hunger.

“I alone couldn’t save you,” he said. “The only way to keep you in this world is to make you… permanent. To turn you into the most beautiful work of art.”

Cold crawled up my spine.

My instincts screamed at me to run, but my body stayed still. Like it understood something my mind was still trying to accept.

“When did you find out I came back?” I asked, my voice dropping to a whisper.

“Two days ago.”

My throat tightened. “Does Theo work for you?”

“Not exactly,” he said. “He was sent to protect Lewis. He doesn’t know the full plan.”

“Then why did he betray Carl?” I pushed, forcing the words out.

Yael didn’t hesitate. “Because someone wanted you dead. Theo thought handing you to me might give you a chance to survive.”

My hands went cold. “It’s Amber, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

The answer landed like a slap.

So that’s why Amber looked at me like she wanted to erase me. The moment she realized who I was, she decided I shouldn’t exist at all.

I swallowed hard. “What’s her relationship with Lewis?”

Yael’s jaw tightened. He turned his face slightly away from me, like even saying her name too much tasted bitter.

“I won’t tell you the rest.”

And in that silence, something else hit me.

Theo wasn’t my enemy.

Not truly.

He was stuck between loyalties, and he chose a path he could live with.

Lewis had wanted Theo to rescue Whitney and take down the Blackwell brothers. At the same time, Amber who had Theo tied to her side ordered me dead.

Theo didn’t want to kill me.

So he took a gamble.

He handed me to the one person in this whole nightmare who claimed he liked me.

A messed-up kind of mercy.

I looked at Yael. “You’re not planning on killing me, are you?”

It didn’t make sense. Why care for someone… feed them… then kill them like they meant nothing.

Yael shook his head. “No.”

A weight shifted off my chest, just a little. Not peace. Not safety.

Just room to breathe.

Then the panic came back, sharp and urgent.

“Yael,” I said quickly, “you have to help me. Send a message to Carl for me. Please. I’m scared he’ll do something drastic if he thinks I’m gone.”

Yael’s eyes locked on mine. “Elena, do you think I’m a saint?”

“You could try to be,” I shot back, too tired to be polite. “Let me guess. You’re not going to kill me. You haven’t hurt me yet. The most likely thing is you want to keep me with you.”

I lifted my hands slightly, showing I wasn’t reaching for anything. “So here’s my proposal. I won’t run. I’ll stay with you.”

My mouth tasted like ash as I forced the next part out.

“But my only condition is this tell Lewis I’m alive. That’s it.”

Yael blinked, like he didn’t expect me to offer myself up so easily. “You really want to stay with me?”

“At least it’s safer than going back to Lewis right now,” I said bluntly, even though it hurt to say it.

Because if Amber wanted me dead, going home would be walking straight into her hands.

And if Lewis thought I was taken, he’d burn the whole city down trying to find me.

I needed time.

Time to understand what this organization really was. Time to find where Whitney was being held. Time to figure out why the Morrigans kept ending up at the center of blood and fire.

And maybe… just maybe… time to find a way to change the ending.

Yael didn’t answer. His gaze stayed on me, but his mind felt far away, like he was already planning the next move.

Outside the window, the landscape shifted. Green vegetation. The ocean in the distance. A place that didn’t match any part of the city I knew.

My stomach tightened again.

We stopped, got out, and he led me toward the water.

A speedboat waited there, rocking gently like it was impatient.

An island.

Of course it was an island.

Hidden places always sit where people can’t reach easily. No neighbors. No police. No random help.

I stayed agreeable. I smiled when I had to. I kept my voice soft.

But my thoughts were a mess.

Lewis.

Has he noticed I’m missing yet?

If he has, he’ll be tearing through every door, sniffing out every lie, turning every ally into an enemy just to get to me.

By the time we reached the island, it was pitch black. The air smelled like salt and wet wood, and something old underneath it like the earth had secrets buried deep.

I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“Yael,” I said, my voice shaking, “please. Just promise me this.”

He didn’t answer right away. He stepped closer, and his stare pressed into me like a warning.

“Have you thought about it?” he asked quietly. “That person wants you dead. If she finds out you’re still alive, don’t you think she’ll come again? Harder?”

He moved closer still, until my instincts rose like a wall inside me, bristling, ready.

“Elena,” he said, low and sharp, “I don’t want you to die again. I need you to work with me. If you don’t…”

He didn’t finish.

He didn’t have to.

That unfinished sentence carried teeth.

In that moment, I saw it the resemblance I didn’t want to see.

He wasn’t like Vito on the surface.

But the darkness?

That was the same.

The same cold control. The same sense of ownership. The same way they looked at people like they were pieces on a board.

I forced myself to nod.

For now, cooperating was survival.

He led me into a wooden cabin that looked normal from the outside. Cozy, even.

Then he opened a hidden door and guided me down narrow steps into a basement.

The air changed immediately. Colder. Drier. Heavy.

The lights flickered on.

And I froze.

The basement was full of statues.

Stone after stone after stone, lined up like a silent crowd.

Every one of them had a face.

And every face…

was mine.

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