CHAPTER 26
Other lifetime
Pain is a strange thing.
Memories break apart, Images fade, moments scatter into fragments I can barely hold onto.
But pain…
Pain stays whole, no pieces, no missing parts. Just one solid weight sitting in my chest. I feel all of it. The same sharp ache from that day in the hospital. The same crushing grief. No less, no more, exactly the same. My body folds in on itself as the sobs finally break free.
I cry.
And cry.
The kind of crying that shakes your whole body, like your ribs are cracking open just to let the grief out. The room around me disappears. The past crashes into the present and for a moment I am both people at once.
Era.
Sera.
Both feeling the same loss. Both mourning the same sister.
Dominic kneels beside me. He doesn’t say anything.
He just gathers me into his arms, carefully.
Like I might shatter if he moves too fast. He lifts me from the couch and carries me upstairs.
The house is quiet except for the storm outside.
Thunder rolls through the distance as rain taps against the windows.
He lays me down on the bed but he doesn’t leave.
He climbs in beside me and pulls the blanket over us. Then he wraps himself around me.
One arm around my waist. The other resting over my trembling hands. Holding me together, like he’s been doing this for years.
And maybe he has.
I cry into the pillow until there are no tears left until my body finally goes still from exhaustion but Dominic never lets go.
He stays there. Breathing softly behind me. Holding me like he’s afraid that if he loosens his grip even for a second…
I might disappear again.
And somewhere in the quiet between thunder and rain…
I realize something that breaks my heart all over again. All this time I thought I was alone inside my own mind. Lost between two lives, two versions of myself but Dominic was there, always. Holding the space for whichever version of me needed to survive.
And as sleep slowly pulls me under, one final thought drifts through my mind.
Era lost her sister. Sera lost her truth.
But tonight, for the first time, we both finally know what really happened.
And sometimes the cruelest thing about the truth…
is that it’s still beautiful enough to keep you alive.
* * *
A few days pass.
The storm that night feels like it happened in another lifetime now, but the heaviness inside my chest hasn’t gone anywhere.
The cemetery is quiet this morning. Gray clouds stretch across the sky, thick and low, like the world itself is holding its breath.
The air is cool, carrying the faint scent of damp earth and fallen leaves.
Somewhere in the distance, a crow calls once before silence settles again.
I sit on the small wooden bench in front of the headstone.
The wood beneath me is slightly cold. My hands rest quietly in my lap as I stare at the carved letters in the granite.
Clara Laurent
1994 – 2026
Beloved Sister
Free from earthly suffering. Finally at peace.
My eyes linger on the words. For a long time, I don’t move. The wind shifts softly through the cemetery trees, rustling the leaves above me. The sound feels strangely peaceful. For days, my mind has been a battlefield of memories, grief, and truth.
But here…
Sitting in front of Clara’s name…
Something inside me finally settles. No more denial. No more pretending she’s still out there somewhere. No more calling a number that will never answer.
She’s gone.
And accepting that truth feels quieter than the lies my mind built to survive it. My fingers trace the edge of the bench as I look at the grave again. Clara always hated silence. She used to fill every quiet moment with some ridiculous story or joke.
Now the silence feels endless. The wind picks up slightly. And then, footsteps. Crunching softly over gravel behind me. I don’t turn because for some reason, I already know who it is. A moment later, someone sits down beside me.
Lucien.
The bench creaks faintly under his weight.
We don’t look at each other. We just sit there.
Two people staring at the same grave. The silence stretches between us, but it doesn’t feel awkward.
Just heavy, honest. The kind of silence that comes when there are too many things to say and no words big enough to hold them.
After a while, Lucien exhales slowly.
“Sera.” My name sounds different in his voice now. “I’m sorry.”
The words come out rough, like they’ve been sitting in his throat for days.
I keep my eyes on the gravestone.
“I saw your name on the employee list a week before the convention,” he continues.
His hands rest loosely between his knees as he stares down at the gravel.
“The plane seat… the hotel reservation… the timing of everything…”
A faint, bitter smile touches his lips.
“I planned all of it.”
The confession hangs in the cool air.
“I was hurt,” he says quietly. “Angry.”
His expression hardens.
“I thought I had moved on. I thought I was over what happened.” He shakes his head slowly. “But I wasn’t.” His voice grows heavier. “I was ready to make Dominic feel what I felt.”
The wind moves through the cemetery again, stirring the grass around Clara’s grave.
Lucien lets out a quiet breath.
“But the day at the bar…” A soft laugh escapes him. Not amused. More like someone remembering the moment their life changed without warning. “I didn’t expect you.”
His eyes finally lift toward me. “I thought you were just another part of the plan.”
He pauses. “But then you sat there… listening to me like I wasn’t a broken mess.” His voice softens. “I was drawn to you.”
The honesty in his tone makes something in my chest drawing tight.
“Your pain… it felt familiar.” He swallows slowly. “Not beautiful in the way people romanticize pain. But real, raw…and I understood it.”
The wind brushes through my hair as he continues.
“You were kind to me when you didn’t have to be. You listened. You looked at me like I was still worth something.”
His voice lowers. “And somewhere along the way… this stopped being revenge.”
He glances toward Clara’s grave for a moment before looking back at me.
“What I said at the house…” His voice almost breaks. “It was real, Sera. All of it.”
The quiet around us grows heavier. “The way I feel about you.” He shakes his head faintly. “I can’t lie to myself about that.” A long breath leaves him. “Even if I wanted to.”
The wind moves through the cemetery again.
And for the first time since he sat down…
I finally turn my head to look at him. For a long moment, I just look at him. Part of me wants to say something bitter. Something sharp, something that would make this easier, something that would push him away the way he deserves but the truth sits heavier in my chest than anger ever could.
Because the truth is…
I love him. I fell for him.
Hard.
And no amount of anger can erase that. My fingers tighten around the edge of the bench as I stare down at the gravel between my shoes. “I keep trying to think of something cruel to say to you,” I whisper. Lucien doesn’t interrupt. He just waits. “But I can’t.”
The wind moves softly through the cemetery trees.
“I should hate you,” I say, my voice trembling. “After everything that happened… after the lies… after what all of this turned into.” I shake my head slowly. “But I don’t hate you.”
My throat tightens painfully.
“That’s the worst part.” Lucien’s gaze drops to the ground beside us.
I swallow hard and force myself to continue.
“I wish we met in a different time,” I say quietly.
“Before any of this.” Before Dominic. Before Evelyn.
Before revenge. Before grief hollowed us both out.
Before our lives became something neither of us could escape.
I finally look at him again. “If we had met then… before we belonged to other people…” Something in me aches, slow and unrelenting. “I think we would have loved each other the right way.” The words break slightly as they leave me. “And maybe we would have been happy.”
The silence between us deepens.
For a moment he looks like he’s trying to hold something back but his eyes betray him. They shine with tears he doesn’t want me to see. He looks away quickly, running a hand over his face before letting out a quiet breath.
“I’ve thought about that too,” he admits. His voice is rough now. “If life had been kinder… if the world had moved just a little differently…” He glances at me again. “I think I would’ve spent my whole life loving you.”
My heart cracks open inside my chest.
Lucien looks out across the cemetery for a moment before speaking again.
“In another life…” He pauses. Like the words themselves hurt to say. “In another life we find each other sooner.” His voice softens. “There’s no revenge. No ghosts. No past chasing us down.” He gives a faint, sad smile. “Just you and me… starting something that actually has a chance.”
The wind brushes through the grass around Clara’s grave.
Lucien turns toward me again.
“And if that life exists somewhere…” His voice lowers. “I’ll wait for it.”
My vision blurs with tears. He reaches out slowly.
Then leans forward and presses a gentle kiss to my cheek.
Like he already knows this is goodbye. A tear slips down my face as he pulls away.
Because this is the part that hurts the most. Letting go of something that was real.
But never meant to stay. I fell in love with Lucien but the life that exists outside this cemetery…
The one waiting for me beyond this moment…
Belongs to Era.