Chapter 530

If Hayden hadn’t said anything, I might have forgotten he was even there. His face was unreadable, but his eyes? Dark and intense, like he was drilling straight into Matthew. He was talking about his dad. But Thorsten had already mentioned Hayden’s father was involved—bribed, apparently. Hayden himself admitted it was all about the money on the way here. So why was he bringing it up again? What was he really digging for?

My head started to pound, like a jackhammer revving up. I glanced at Matthew, who somehow looked perfectly calm. Lindey, on the other hand, was a bundle of nerves, fingers clutching Matthew’s arm.

After a long, tense silence, Matthew finally replied, “Your father was bribed. That has nothing to do with me.”

“Are you absolutely sure about that?” Hayden shot back, his voice ice-cold.

“Hayden,” Lindey jumped in, defending Matthew. “He’s already admitted what he did to Rea’s parents. If he’d been involved with your dad, he wouldn’t hide it now.”

Hayden’s jaw clenched tighter. “According to what I found, Thorsten bribed my dad on someone else’s orders.”

Matthew’s eyes flickered for a split second, a crack in the calm mask. But Hayden wasn’t stopping. “If I’m right, you set it all up to make sure Keira had nowhere else to go. With her parents gone, she’d have no one left to take her in.”

A chill ran through me as I turned to Hayden, horrified. His gaze locked on mine, steady. “Her rare blood type meant she could be a backup donor for your son. And raising her yourself? Maybe that was just to ease your own guilt.”

He looked back at Matthew. “From the start, she was nothing more than a pawn in your game.”

Lindey shook her head wildly. “No, that’s not true! We genuinely care about Keira! We love her—”

But I couldn’t take it anymore. I cut her off. Maybe she didn’t know about what Matthew had done to my parents, but that didn’t make his intentions any less twisted.

“Matthew, is that true?” My voice trembled.

His silence was all the answer I needed. All the love, all the gratitude I’d felt for him—for this family—it had been built on a lie. A calculated game.

Maybe my parents hadn’t died just because of some business deal. Maybe it was all because of the blood running through my veins. Blood that could save Jace. And for that, my parents had been disposable.

I’d spent the last ten years loving him, giving my heart to this family, to people who’d only seen me as some kind of insurance. A shiver ran through me, my whole body going numb. My fingers tingled, barely holding back my anger.

“Rea, I’m responsible. I’m the killer. If you hate me, if you want to take my life, I won’t resist,” Matthew said, his face a mask of regret I didn’t buy for a second. That look only made him seem more hollow. All these years, he’d worn this mask, fooling me, probably fooling my parents too.

My vision blurred, tears welling up as I clung to the last shred of control. I dug my nails into my palms, letting the sharp sting slice through the rage. “What good would hating you do? Will it bring my parents back? Will it fix the life you ripped away from me, the years I spent trying to earn your love?”

In that moment, every bit of the obedient daughter I’d tried to be vanished, burned away by fury.

“Rea,” Lindey whispered, her face crumpling with grief, but nothing she could say would cool the anger or mend the betrayal ripping through me.

“How could you be so selfish? Jace’s life mattered, but my parents’ didn’t?” My chest tightened, like I was being hollowed out from the inside.

“Rea… we really did love you. That’s the truth,” Lindey pleaded, like repeating it would somehow make it real. But to me, their love was stained, a chain tying me to the very people who’d taken my parents from me. All those times I’d visited my parents’ graves, telling them how well the Johnstons treated me, thinking it’d give them peace. Now, those words felt like a betrayal.

“Stop. Just… stop,” I muttered, bringing my hands up to cover my ears, trying to hold myself together.

Then I felt a warm, familiar arm slip around my shoulders, pulling me close, grounding me. I knew it was Hayden. The one person who’d already let me go.

Chapter 541