Kayros's Pov
My eyes flutter softly against the light, warm sunlight kissing my skin. A sharp pain shoots up my bones, making me groan.
"Kay! Kay!"
Czar shakes me, and the pain in my chest worsens.
"Stop shaking me, Czar."
My voice comes out rough and dry. Czar nods and helps me sit up. My hands shake, and my body feels numb.
My personal doctor—also one of my best friends—Alexander rushes in with a medical kit and starts checking me. His grey eyes concentrate on the wound on my chest, silver hair catching the warmth of sunlight filtering through the stained glass windows.
Alexander exhales in relief.
"Seems like you aren't dying."
Suddenly, I freeze.
Realization claws its way through the haze in my mind.
Czar…
How is Czar alive?
Didn't he die last year?
My stomach drops. I blink rapidly, trying to make sense of everything. Alexander's touch is warm—too warm for this to be a dream before death.
My head throbs. I shake my head hard, and the pain intensifies, making both of them hold me upright.
"Kay, you are fucking stabbed. Don't move!"
My shoulders stiffen at feeling Czar's face so close. My lips wobble, remembering the way I carried his coffin on my shoulder—his pale face, cold hands, dry lips, and unmoving body.
But here he is. Breathing. Frowning. Acting like he isn't—
"Czar…" I whisper.
He nods.
"What? Are you emotional that I saved your ass from getting killed?"
His crooked grin—once something that made me groan in frustration—suddenly feels like mercy.
Alexander sighs.
"Seems like his mind is hazy from the anesthesia."
He pulls Czar back, eyes narrowing judgmentally.
"Kay, you were attacked by a group of masked men. Czar saved you and brought you here to Crescent Moon's 2nd floor to avoid further attack."
My eyes widen. My blood runs cold.
Pieces start clicking together in a way that makes no sense.
My chest tightens. Memories flood my mind.
My son's small body pressed between me and Ophelia…
Ophelia's bloody face…
Her wounded eyes that refused to trust me ever again…
There are times in life where you feel disgustingly helpless and clueless. My life became that the moment Jessica entered it. Ophelia grew too skeptical, too suspicious of my love—the love I gave her unconditionally.
I won't deny it—there was something different about Jessica and me. It was far from romantic, but the pull I felt toward her… it felt like fate.
A fate that made me feel disgusted and like a filthy worm.
But Ophelia…
The woman I married, cared for, loved, and hid my worst side from—she never trusted me. Even when I explained everything.
She joined hands with that fucker Vincent, who cheated on her with her best friend. While being my wife, she abused the power I gave her, misused my feelings for her, and handed over my gang's secret—my family's secret—to her ex-lover.
And in the end, what happened?
The Natheniel family got massacred.
Including our five-year-old son.
She didn't trust me even when I laid myself bare before her, confessed the tearing pull toward Jessica, and reassured her of my love.
Yet… Ophelia Blackwood betrayed me.
She betrayed our love, our marriage, and our child.
Blood boils in my veins. Hatred mixes with ache and something deeper, making my body shake—nothing to do with physical pain.
Czar and Alexander exchange worried looks but stay silent. My fingers dig into my own flesh as my eyes take in the luxurious private room on Crescent Moon's 2nd floor.
Wooden walls covered in million-dollar artwork, plush couches, clothing catalogues pinned to the wall, and sunlight brightening the room.
I calculate everything.
Getting stabbed in the chest.
Saved by Czar.
Brought here secretly.
Alexander treating me.
My heart goes cold. My throat bobs as I piece it together.
I am back in time.
A day before Ophelia came to the Natheniel Mansion with her marriage proposal.
My mouth goes dry. Her hazel-green eyes flash across my mind. Three years of love—ruined because she refused to trust me. Refused to fight for us.
I can't forgive her.
I can't forgive how everyone dear to me died because of her choices.
I can't forgive the madness that cost us our son—the little child who made me feel like the best human being in the world.
This time… I won't forgive.
I won't forget the past that will repeat if I don't take a stand.
Ophelia…
You should have trusted me.
For God's sake, if I didn't love you, I wouldn't have kept you alive even after knowing how you killed Czar because he got between your men and Jessica. I wouldn't have kept you by my side even after you slowly drugged Alexander and drove him insane.
If I loved Jessica, I would've divorced you and married her. Simple.
"Kay, your blood pressure is spiking again," Alexander warns, nudging me.
I inhale deeply, closing my eyes.
This is crazy—but it's not.
I have lived once.
I have loved once.
Bullshit.
Love is nonsense.
Even if I gave her my whole heart, she wouldn't have trusted me. She betrayed me.
Joining hands with Vincent Dimitri—seriously?
Ophelia Blackwood, you never got over that bastard.
Fine.
Because this time, I will write the grand ending of the decade's most disgusting couple.
My heart tears, my stomach twists, but I shove the emotions down.
Falling for Ophelia again?
As if one death wasn't enough.
I won't love you again.
I won't beg you to trust me.
I will take revenge for every drop of blood shed because of you, Ophelia—and that lover of yours.
"Are Vincent Dimitri and Elosia Jonas also in Crescent Moon?" I ask coolly.
Czar nods.
"Yeah. But why?"
A cruel smirk tugs at the corner of my lips. Calm rage pours through every vein.
I look at Czar and Alexander—my two best friends.
My chosen family.
The ones who died miserably because of her.
Ophelia Blackwood…
I won't show mercy this time.
In this new life, I will draw the weapon first—not the other way around.
I gave you love.
You gave me betrayal.
And now… I will show you what it's like to be betrayed—what it's like to beg for trust from the person who destroyed you.
I am far worse than you.
I just let emotions make me weak. Soft.
Never again.
"Call my father. Tell him I want to marry… Ophelia Blackwood."
Both of them gasp in shock, eyes wide as I stand up as if there isn't a wound in my chest.
But nobody will know…
My son—our son—needs to be born.
Our union is his fate.
El… wait for dada.
I won't let you face pain in this life.
Not even the pain designed by your mother.
Ophelia Blackwood... My misery started the day I fell in love with you..
But not again...
Never... again.