𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐨'𝐬 𝐒𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞|✓

xxxii.

♔✙ 𝐑 𝐄 𝐈 𝐃 ✙♔

I could barely breathe properly as I read the words over and over again. I was seeing things. I had to be seeing things.

How could she? How could she do something so heartless?

"Reid, I'm so sorry," I heard her whisper. I couldn't even bring myself to look at her. The pain in my chest was unbearable.

"Why?" I whispered, unable to believe that someone was so capable of being so inhumane. "Why?!"

"I'm sorry—"

"Is this what I deserve? Is this what I get for loving you?" I was still looking down, and I could feel my emotions going through the roof in a matter of minutes.

"Answer me Iris, why did you do this to me?" My voice was barely audible.

"I was scared—"

"Fuck that bullshit! You've kept my son away from me for three goddamn years and you have the audacity to tell me you were scared? Of what?" I finally looked up, meeting her timid gaze from afar. I had never felt so much anger in my life.

She couldn't even answer me, tugging on her finger nervously as her jagged breathing met my ears. She looked down in guilt, shaking her head slowly.

"Do you know what kind of torturous pain you put me through? Do you know the kind of suffering I went through when you left me? You left me to fucking die from hypothermia in the snow, and it was a miracle they found me because I had been covered from the ruthless blizzard. I blamed myself over and over again for your departure, I hated myself so much."

"You called me a monster, you told me that you would never love me, tell me how I was supposed to deal with that when I gave up my entire life for you? I just wanted to make you happy, but you punished me for falling in love. You punished me for pouring my heart out to you despite how dangerous it was. Despite my commitment to God." Everything came rushing back as I expressed all that I had kept pent up for so long.

"I loved you with my everything Iris. I loved you so much that I confessed my sins and gave up eleven goddamn years of serving The Lord and the community just to make you happy. I could have saved myself, but I chose you. I chose you, over everything, over everyone. Over myself." I whispered the last part, and now she was sobbing heavily.

"You had no right to keep my child away from me. I get that I might have been a bad person for trying to give you what you wanted, and you didn't want to associate with me for being a flawed human, but you had no right to do this. Do you know that I went so insane after you left me? I grieved the death of our relationship while you moved on with another man. I had so many nightmares of all the bad things you said to me, I couldn't eat or sleep Iris, I went into a coma for four fucking months and you never reached out. You never came back, nor did you tell me it was all a lie," I poured out my emotions, and I couldn't help the tears of pain that had begun to escape my eyes.

"It wasn't easy for me. Because of you, I became so dysfunctional that I missed my father's death. I never got to say my last words to him, or even a goodbye. I had been in a coma while the only family I had left me. Do you know how painful it was, to know that everyone I truly loved had left me?" I sniffled, staring at her with so much hatred.

"Please, tell me that's not true—"

"Oh but it is. My father never got to hear me officially tell him that I'm going to take good care of his kingdom, something he's always wanted to hear from me. You don't even know that I became a Priest because I wanted to pray for my brother, the brother that I accidentally killed. That was so important to me. But guess what, I sacrificed everything just for you, for you—" I couldn't continue when the emotions became so overwhelming, I gripped the nightstand as I heaved rapidly.

"You couldn't even appreciate it. You called me a monster for falling in love, I just wanted to love you Iris. You couldn't love me, you let me down when I needed you the most. Why did you ever tell me that I was your soul mate if you were going to leave?" I asked her sincerely, the pain protruding in my voice.

"I didn't mean to, I swear it wasn't on purpose—"

"That's not enough for me Iris. It's been a month since we saw each other, and you didn't even bother to apologise for the hell that you put me through. You knew that you were the only girl that I had ever loved but you still left. You took away the only solace I ever had. You broke my heart without a second thought right after I threw my entire life away to be with you, I never thought I'd ever encounter someone as heartless as you."

"Stop—"

"No, it's your turn to hear the truth. You're a monster for what you've done. You deprived me of getting to know my son and watching him grow up for three years. You deprived him of his biological father's love and attention, you robbed him of his childhood and lied to him his entire life. You robbed me of a family, a child, a child that I gave you. You kept him away from me and made me think he was your fiancé's child," my voice raised by a fraction as her body shook with each sob she made.

"And now, you allow that fucking bastard to beat my son to a pulp. You allow him to make my son's life a living hell. For fuck's sake how could you?! How could you let him lay a hand on MY child, my seed, a Valdivieso heir? Are you stupid? Do you hate me so much that you're letting this man murder my son? Do you take pleasure in seeing him cry, or does it make you feel better to see him so bruised?" I was now screaming at her with so much venom, she flinched away in fear.

"I love Rylan—"

"To hell with that bullshit! If you loved him you wouldn't let another man hit him. Do you want to get rid of him the same way you did me, huh? Is he such a burden to you, you'd rather watch him suffer a slow death from being severely hit by Scott to the point of hospitalisation? I'd say you are the monster, a hideous one, and I hope you burn in hell for your actions. You don't deserve any love, I don't understand why you were ever granted the role of a mother." I threw her words right back in her face as she dropped to her knees, crying so hard she could barely breathe.

"P-Please don't say that, you- you don't mean it—"

"I mean every single thing I just said. I hate you so much Iris, so much it hurts." I shook my head as a pained whimper escaped her lips.

"I hate you for what you did to me. I hate you for what you did to my son, he's such an innocent soul and he's paying for your sins, for your mistakes. He couldn't even enjoy his father's love, instead he went through abuse from a stranger who he believed to be his father because you have no heart." I furiously wiped my tears away.

I wasn't okay; this discovery had shaken me badly and the fury within me was so dangerous, I feared for Scott. It was about to get very ugly.

"I may be a psychopath, but I'm mot heartless. I'm giving you a few days to say your final goodbyes to Rylan and enjoy his company for the last time before I take him. You're a danger to him, and I promise you, your fiancé is going to pay a grave price." I walked past her, standing by the doorstep while she choked on violent sobs.

"No, please no—"

"Yes, it's final. You might want to say goodbye to Scott too, he has dug his own grave. I'm afraid it's too late to save him, or me." And with that, I stormed out of the house.