Chapter 77 Rae
RAE
Transcript: “He finally said yes. I’ve never loved him more.”
I look up at Jillian as tears sluice down my face. This might be the most tragic love story I’ve ever read in my life. I’m crumbling as I finish reading, reduced to absolute kibble.
Elena wasn’t murdered; she was… she was loved into the next life. She chose her own ending and she did it with so much dignity that it takes my breath away.
My heart breaks for everyone involved. For Elena, who made an impossible choice. For Lukas, who gave the flesh off his back to save her. For Kir, who couldn’t possibly understand.
Even for myself, because now, I understand everything.
And I have no idea what to do with it.
I think of what Lukas said in that holding cell in that flat, deadened voice: She was a distraction. Nothing more.
It’s so obvious what he was doing now. He was protecting Elena’s final request, yes, but he was also protecting me. He let his son believe the worst so he could keep me safe.
God, the idiot. The noble, self-destructive, infuriating idiot.
He’s still doing what these pages make clear he’s always done: carrying everyone’s weight for them—his dead wife’s secrets, his son’s hatred, my future. All of it balanced on those scarred shoulders.
I jump to my feet, one thought on my mind. “I have to tell Kir.”
Kir has spent eighteen years believing his father murdered his mother in cold blood.
He’s built his entire identity around that hatred, and one glance at him in that interrogation room was all I needed to see to know that it has ruined him.
It’s not too late, not yet—but God only knows when “too late” will arrive.
Jillian blanches. The color drains from her face so fast I’m worried she might pass out right there in the booth.
“Rae, I…” She shakes her head, red hair whipping across her cheeks. “I can’t. I can’t be involved in this. Kir… If he finds out I’m the one who gave you the journal, or even if he just thinks I’m trying to manipulate him—”
“It’s okay.” I reach across the table and squeeze her hand. Her fingers are still ice-cold. “I’m not asking you to come with me. Actually, I’m not asking you to do anything except stay safe.”
She stares at me. “You’re really going to do this? Walk up to Kir Lazarev and tell him everything he believes about his parents is wrong?”
“Someone has to.”
“What if he doesn’t believe you? He could think you’re lying to protect Lukas.”
“Then at least I’ll have tried,” I say. “That’s more than anyone else has done for him in eighteen years.”
Jillian’s grip tightens on my fingers. “You’re insane,” she whispers. “You know that, right?”
“Takes one to know one.”
A ghost of a smile crosses her face. “Be careful, Sunshine. Please. For both of us.”
I lean across the table and press a kiss to her forehead. She smells like stale coffee and exhaustion and fear, but underneath it all, she still smells like Jillian—like home.
Then I turn and go. I’m halfway to the door when the TV above the counter stops me cold.
The local news is on as the 6 A.M. broadcast begins. The sound is muted, but captions scroll across the bottom of the screen. A breaking news banner dominates the frame in urgent red:
LUKAS LAZAREV TO MAKE PUBLIC STATEMENT ON WIFE’S DEATH
The shot cuts to an empty podium bristling with microphones. Reporters jostle for position behind a velvet rope. A new chyron pops up, reading: Statement expected within the hour.
My stomach descends straight through the floor.
He’s going to confess. That’s why he told Kir he didn’t love me—he was clearing the runway, making sure I wouldn’t be dragged down with him when he fell.
Lukas is going to stand at that podium and take the blame for Elena’s death, letting the world believe he’s a murderer, all to keep her final wish intact.
Kirill can never know I chose to leave him.
If Lukas does this, he will go to prison. He’ll lose everything—his freedom, his legacy, and whatever scraps of his son’s respect might still be salvageable. And he’ll do it willingly, because eighteen years ago, he made a promise to the woman he loved.
He’ll throw his life away to honor his word.
Unless I get to him first.