Chapter 21 I have Changed #3
A deafening crash followed as the vehicle slammed into an electricity pole, sparks flying wildly.
And then… silence.
Inside the car, Kylie froze, her body stiff. Shock robbed her of sensation. She hadn’t meant to hurt James.
Blood ran down her hands, pooling around her, but she didn’t feel it. Darkness began to swallow her.
Mia sat up, dazed, the echo of the crash still ringing in her ears. And then she saw him.
James. Bloodied, lying on the road.
“James!” she cried, panic strangling her voice.
Alexander bolted from his car, moving faster than humanly possible. Within moments, doctors and nurses swarmed the scene, the chaos of alarms and shouting echoing across the street.
But James, lying on the ground, bleeding, didn’t notice any of it. His gaze stayed locked on Mia, who was on her hands and knees in front of him, tears streaking her face. Even as blood trickled down his own face, mingling with the pain, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her.
His heart was not racing anymore when he looked at her… and for the first time, it didn’t hurt. Instead, an inexplicable warmth spread through him. He wanted to smile.
Mia’s eyes were on him. Only him. Finally.
He wanted to reach out, to wipe away her tears—but his body refused to obey. His eyelids grew heavy, yet he couldn’t break his gaze. Pain still lingered, but looking at her, memories of their life under the same roof flooded him again and again.
And with those memories came… a calm he had never known in his life.
As darkness began to pull him under, he focused on her one last time, trying to speak the words that had been trapped in his heart for a long time.
“I… haven’t loved anyone in this world… except you… Mia…”
He didn’t realize that while he was trying to say those words—even as Mia was lowering herself to hear him—his mouth had moved incoherently, and no words had come out. It seemed that he only took a few shallow breaths and didn’t say anything. And then… one last breath.
And with it, the memories, the love, the longing—all sank beneath the darkness of his vision.
***
Mia stood beside Alexander in silence, the cold wind brushing against them. Before them lay a grave. A simple stone read: James Sinclair.
The cemetery was silent.
Mia’s fingers clutched Alexander’s hand tightly. Her eyes never left the stone, her face pale, as if she were trapped in a nightmare she could not wake from.
The silence of the graveyard shattered with a furious screech.
“How dare you hold a funeral for my son?!” Athena came storming toward them, Ezra flanking her, both of them eyes ablaze.
Before Mia could react, Athena pushed Mia roughly, sending her stumbling sideways. Instinctively, Alexander stepped forward, positioning himself between Mia and Athena, shielding her from the onslaught.
But Athena’s rage was unrelenting. Clad in her flawless outfit and gleaming jewelry, she seemed untouched by grief, her eyes burning daggers.
“Who told you to hold his funeral?!” she screamed. “I told you I’d keep his body until the legal cases are finalized and my company shares are secured! How dare you go behind my back?”
Ezra’s eyes bore into Mia, full of hatred.
“What did you do to him? How did you convince him to give all of our property to you and leave us with nothing but ten percent shares of our own damn business? You stole everything! And now you’re pretending to be his virtuous wife after running away with another man? ”
His glare snapped toward Alexander. “And you! How can you let this happen? Take care of your wife! Make her accountable for everything she’s done!”
Athena’s eyes blazed as she snapped back at Mia. “You are already divorced! Don’t think about taking anything from us!”
Mia stared at the woman in disbelief.
Her shamelessness staggering. She hadn’t even allowed her own son a proper farewell. Instead, she had wanted his body to rot, waiting for months until every court case, every claim, every penny of the inheritance had been settled.
Mia felt a chill run through her. To see someone like Athena—so calculating, so devoid of empathy—was almost impossible to comprehend. A mother who treated her sons as tools for wealth, not as human beings.
Athena hadn’t shed a tear after she heard that James died. Not once. She had only rushed in, stunned for a moment, and then immediately asked William where the legal will was, making sure she could secure everything before anyone else touched it.
Alexander’s eyes flickered toward Allen, standing silently on the other side of the graveyard, hands folded neatly in black. With a subtle lift of two fingers, Alexander commanded, “Take care of them. Make sure they get everything they deserve… and more.”
Ezra and Athena exchanged triumphant glances, convinced their schemes had succeeded.
They believed they had successfully blackmailed Mia and Alexander.
But they had no idea that everything they held—their power, their wealth, their control—was about to be stripped from them, down to the very last possession.
Mia, still at the gravesite, remained frozen, staring at James’s tombstone. The words of Athena and Ezra, the coldness of their hearts, made her grief pierce deeper. How could someone behave so cruelly after losing a child, a son she had birthed? Her chest heaved as tears streamed down her face.
She sank to her knees, fingers brushing over the fresh soil. Her voice was soft, trembling with love and sorrow.
“I hope you go to heaven,” she whispered softly. “I hope you’re born again into a good life, with health, with fortune, and with people who care for you… and who you can care for. In this lifetime, we couldn’t be together, but I never wanted you to die.”
Tears blurred her vision as she continued, her voice breaking. “I hope that when you’re born again, you get to experience real love. The kind of love that fills your heart completely, the love that surrounds you with happiness… I pray that you feel it, truly, and that it overwhelms you with joy.”
Her tears spilled freely as she pressed her hands gently into the soil, whispering, “I pray that… you fall in love again.”
Alexander knelt beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. His hand rubbed hers gently, offering silent comfort.