After My Last Breath のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 271 - チャプター 280

[Damon]When I pull my car over outside the grand iron gates of the old Blackwood villa, something feels wrong.I look around, but not a single guard is at his post. Even the gate itself stands wide open.“Where the hell is everyone?” I say out loud, even though I’m the only one in the car.I wait for a few minutes, hoping someone will show up. But no one does.The security post is completely empty.The headache that’s been pounding in my head since I left Elara’s apartment only intensifies.I drive further into the estate, moving slower than usual to see if I can find anyone hanging around.But even the gardens are downright deserted. Not a single soul is loitering around in the darkness.Weird. That has never happened before. The villa always has at least four guards at the front entrance and four at the back. And a few servants can always be seen heading up and down the road leading to the driveway. But today, I don’t see a single person.It’s only when I reach the driveway and cut

For a minute, I don’t know what to say. I just stare at him as if he’s suddenly grown two heads.He takes one look at me and scoffs. “Don’t look at me like that. I might have turned a blind eye to whatever your mom did all these years, but I’m not completely blind.”It takes me another second to process what he just said.He continues, looking back at the villa. “Back when I was young and newly married to your mom, I had no interest in business. I wasn’t a business prodigy like my brothers or cousins. My heart was in something else. I wanted to build my own path. I wanted to fly—be a pilot or something. But Dad never approved, and your mom caused a scene every single day when I told her about my dreams. She wanted me to compete for the head of the family. She wanted me to win. But to her and my father’s utter disappointment, I didn’t.Not because I didn’t try my very best, but because others were simply better than me. You have to understand, Damon, hard work doesn’t always take you t

[Beatrice]I watch in utter disbelief as Damon’s car disappears down the road, leaving Celine and me alone in the cold, dark night.The sheer audacity.The absolute nerve of that ungrateful little brat.He left me.He left us.Stranded.In front of the villa—the home I poured my heart and soul into—that is no longer ours.My son, the heir to the Blackwood fortune, the man who owes me everything, just abandoned me.“Can you believe this?” I turn to Celine, my hands clenched into tight fists. “Can you believe what he just did?”Celine looks at me, her eyes wide with shock, then slowly shakes her head. “No. I can’t. He’s never… he’s never done anything like this before.”“That’s because he’s never had the guts to do anything like this before,” I say, my blood boiling with anger. “But after spending a few days with that gold-digging tramp, he thinks he can talk back to me. He thinks he can disrespect me. He thinks he can get away with this.”I pull out my phone, my fingers shaking with ra

The room is a complete disaster.The walls, once covered in Cora’s colorful crayon drawings, are now stripped bare. The drawings lie in a heap on the floor—some torn, some crumpled. The small bed where my daughter used to sleep is unmade, the sheets and blankets thrown aside. Her toys are scattered all over the place, and several of them are broken.Celine stands in the middle of the room, holding one of Cora’s favorite stuffed animals—a fluffy bunny with one ear missing—between two fingers as if it’s contaminated with some disease. Her face is twisted in disgust, and she’s about to drop it into a half-filled garbage bag.“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”Celine jumps, letting out a small shriek. She drops the stuffed bunny, and it lands on the floor with a soft thud.“Damon! What are you doing here? Don’t you know how to knock?”“This is my house!” I roar, stepping toward her. “And this is my daughter’s room! What gives you the right to touch her things? To throw them away?”

[Elara]Three days after Damon’s grandparents’ funeral, I find him standing outside my apartment door.He looks… forlorn. And so unlike the Damon Blackwood I’ve known for the better part of my life.He’s not wearing one of those expensive, custom-made suits that make him look like he’s just stepped off the cover of a magazine. Instead, he’s in a simple black T-shirt and jeans. He looks thinner, too, and there are dark circles under his eyes that even the best concealer couldn’t hide.“What do you want?” I ask, my arms crossed over my chest. I’m not in the mood for a conversation. Especially not with him.He flinches at the coldness in my tone, but he doesn’t back down.“I need to talk to you.”“We have nothing to talk about.”“Please, Elara,” he begs, and the sheer desperation in his voice catches me off guard. “I know now that you never came back to give me a second chance. In fact, truth be told, I’ve known it since the day you agreed to come with me. But I was stupid. Blind. Ignora