Chapter 83
Ren
The front lawn of Wayward felt unfamiliar in the best way. Sunlight spilled across the grass in wide, golden sheets, warming my shoulders through the fabric of my gown. The scent of freshly cut grass and spring flowers enveloped us with every quiet shift of bodies in their seats.
A soft breeze moved through the crowd, lifting loose strands of hair, fluttering programs, and tugging gently at the corners of the Wayward banner on the wooden podium as if the world itself was breathing with us.
For the first time since I arrived here, the air didn’t feel heavy with secrets or waiting violence. It felt clean. Open. Like something had finally loosened its grip, and we were standing in the exact place where everything was always meant to end, ready to step forward into a new tomorrow.
Nash and Myles sat next to me, with Liam on the other side of Nash and Blake beside Myles. My hands were folded in my lap, the fabric of my gown heavy against my knees.
I scanned the crowd looking for our parents.
Dad was three rows back, his shoulders squared, posture proud in a way that made my chest ache. Mom was right beside him, her smile as warm and infectious as it had always been.
Emmett and Bridget sat with them. Ethan and Lip were in the next row. Lip whispered something that made Ethan smile and shake his head. I swallowed past the lump in my throat.
Vicky sat in front of me with Ivy, Chantry, and a couple of the girls who had apologized to her.
She wore pale blue to go with the robe, and her hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail.
Her expression was neutral. After Patricia’s funeral, Vicky donned her hard shell and acted as if nothing could hurt her.
She was sarcastic but held her head high like the queen bee she was.
I could see the pain she was masking, and I knew that one day the walls would crash down around her. I should know—I’d lived it. And when that day came, I would be there for her. But right now, she could barely look at me, and I knew I was a constant reminder of everything she’d lost.
Everyone that I loved was here.
Everyone that I’d almost lost.
Theo stepped up to the podium, adjusting the microphone with a familiar confidence that had nothing to do with arrogance and everything to do with knowing who he was. The crowd quieted.
He looked out at us—at me—and smiled.
“Good afternoon, fellow graduates, teachers, parents, and alumni. They tell you graduation is the end of something. I think that’s a lie we tell ourselves because endings are easier than the beginning of something unknown.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
“We’re being released into a world that is not gentle. It will not slow down for us. It will not explain itself. And it will not care how prepared we think we are.”
Nash rubbed his knee against mine. I glanced up, and he winked.
“But here’s what I know. When we first walked through these gates, most of us didn’t know what we were stepping into.
We didn’t know who we would become here or what this place would take from us before it gave anything back.
We were trained in pressure. We were forged in uncertainty.
We learned how to stand when everything told us to fall. ”
My throat tightened as memories rose and played like a movie in my mind. Neil, dropping me off that first day. Ivy, smiling at me and making me feel welcome. Myles and his puppy-dog stare, warming me.
Reaching over, I linked our hands, and he grinned at me.
“Some of us came here already broken. Some of us broke here. And some of us learned that breaking doesn’t mean defeat.” Theo paused, letting the silence stretch, his eyes finding mine. “It’s the chance to rebuild.”
I blinked hard.
“We won’t all walk the same path from this moment on. But every one of us carries the same truth—we survived.”
Applause rose, but he lifted a hand, and everyone quieted once more.
“So go into the world knowing this.”
Theo dipped his head, then looked up, staring at the silent crowd and letting each of them feel the weight of his words.
“You have been tested. You are prepared. Everything you survived is proof that you’re ready for what comes next. And whatever waits for you out there…you are not alone.
I’ll leave you with this final thought. The great and inspirational, Maya Angelou, said it best—Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better. Congratulations, graduates. You made it. Now go make it matter.”
The applause this time was thunderous.
I pressed my lips together as emotion swelled in my chest. For the first time, the memories didn’t feel like weights. They felt like proof. Proof that I had survived.
I turned slightly, and my shoulder brushed Nash’s arm. He stopped clapping, cupped my cheeks, and kissed me until my head spun.
Nash
Caps were thrown into the air as we all cheered, and it felt like more than just graduation. We had survived years of trials. A gauntlet designed and used as a test for those who would step outside of these walls into danger that no one else could ever comprehend.
To survive Wayward was a win all on its own. I caught sight of Dean Henry, shaking hands among the crowd. We locked eyes, and he gave me a single nod, but I knew it was so much more.
I didn’t like all the secrets he kept, but once I stepped outside of my own pain, I understood him. Only now could I appreciate his role here and in our lives. He walked over to me, and his lip twitched.
“So, I guess this is it,” Dean Henry said.
“I have a feeling that I’ll be seeing you around,” I said, and he chuckled.
“God, I hope not,” he said, smiling and making me laugh.
He glanced at Ren and my guys talking to the rest of our family and friends.
“I’ll be honest with you, Nash. When you first arrived, I wasn’t sure this was how your story ended, but I genuinely hoped you’d prevail. I’m proud of you.”
He held out his hand, and as I took it, my throat tightened.
“Thank you.”
“You deserve it.”
My expression sombered. “Dean…Camden is a good kid, give him a chance like you gave me. I think he’ll surprise you too.”
With a slight smile, he turned and started to walk away.
“Dean Henry?”
He paused and glanced back.
“You know any more secrets about me?”
He chuckled. “What do you think?”
“Not creepy at all,” I called out sarcastically, and I heard him laugh as he disappeared into the crowd.
I shook my head. Always a mystery. I turned around and found Ren—my Queen.
The world had tried to burn us all to the ground. Instead, it had forged something lethal.
I’d learned early what fire felt like. Not the kind that warms you, but the kind that strips flesh from bone and teaches you exactly how much pain a body can endure before it breaks.
Lawrence didn’t need fists every time. Sometimes it was the silence. He looked at me as if I were already dead while I waited for the final blow. I was property, nothing more than a thing, and not a son.
I’d learned how to stand still. How not to flinch.
How to survive in a house where love was a weapon and mercy didn’t exist. I’d told myself that if I endured long enough, if I became harder, smarter, meaner, then I could win…
and I did. But why was it that winning felt like a loss?
There were so many casualties along the way, a list that could fill my arm.
Loss like that didn’t give warnings. It gutted you and left you breathing through something that should’ve killed you. I couldn’t even count how many nights I lay awake praying that I didn’t become the thing I wanted to destroy. And for a while, I wasn’t sure if that was possible.
Among the bullets and torture, betrayals and broken oaths, I found my brothers, not by blood, but by choice.
They saw the worst in me and stayed anyway.
They knew exactly how ugly this world was and decided to fight back rather than bow.
We learned that loyalty wasn’t words. It was standing shoulder-to-shoulder when everything went to hell.
And then along came Ren.
Like she felt my thoughts brush against her, she looked up and found me.
Her cheeks were flushed from the heat of the day, her eyes bright with everything she carried and somehow still survived.
I’d never seen anything more devastatingly beautiful.
There was no comparison, no competition—there never had been.
Princess carried a light inside her that was fierce and constant, something that pulled everything toward it. She was the sun, and I wasn’t circling her by choice anymore. I needed her warmth to breathe, and to remember why the world was worth surviving.
She crooked her finger, summoning me over, and there was nothing that could stop the smile that spread across my face. There was never a moment when I stood a chance against her, and it took me far too long to see it.
Hands in my pockets, I stalked toward her, and with each step, my heart pounded harder.
She didn’t fix or soften me. She didn’t ask me to be anything other than exactly what I was, scars and all. When she saw the damage that lived in my soul, she didn’t run away. Instead, she challenged me and chose me even when it would’ve been easier to let me go.
I fought against letting people in, but loving her didn’t make me weak. It made me better, stronger, and smarter, and without ever asking, she gave every violent instinct a purpose.
I hadn’t survived Lawrence just to lose her.
I hadn’t buried Ella and North just to let history repeat itself.
I hadn’t built this life, this family, just to watch the world take another piece of it from me. Because if anyone ever tried to take Ren, they wouldn’t just face my anger. They would quickly learn what happened when a king who had already survived hell unapologetically destroyed them.