Chapter 3: The Final Ascent

The new skyscraper stood tall against the black evening sky. Silas took Elena to the very top floor of the unfinished building. The walls were made of clear glass, and the cold wind rushed through the open concrete areas. The entire floor was covered in hundreds of beautiful white roses. Candles flickered everywhere, casting long shadows on the floor. Silas looked at Elena with a warmth she had never seen before. His cold glass eyes were soft. He held her hands tightly. He pulled a velvet box from his pocket and opened it to show a massive diamond ring. He got down on one knee. He confessed his deep love for her. He begged her to truly forget the past and start a brand-new life with him. He was completely vulnerable, offering her his heart and his entire empire.

Elena looked down at him, but her face did not change. Her eyes were completely icy. She slowly reached inside her silk dress and pulled out a heavy black pistol she had stolen from his safe. She pointed it directly at his forehead. Silas froze in absolute shock. The ring slipped from his fingers and rolled across the concrete floor. He looked at the gun, and then he looked up into her eyes. For the first time in a year, Elena dropped her fake smile. She told him the brutal truth. She told him she had hated every single second of her life with him. She told him she remembered the small of the gasoline and the sound of her little brother screaming in the flames every single day. She told him she had built this entire year on a lie just to get close enough to see him die.

The truth hit Silas harder than bullet. His face crumbled in deep, agonizing sorrow. He realized that the only love he had even known was completely fake. He saw the pure, unyielding hatred in her eyes, and his heart broke completely. Tears rolled down his face as he looked at her. He know he deserved to die for what he did to her family. But as Elena's fingers tightened on the trigger, a loud noise echoed from the private elevator. Silas loyal bodyguards had realized somthing was wrong and were bursting through the doors with their weapons drawn. Silas knew that if Elena shot him right here, his men would instantly tear her to pieces or she would spend the rest of her life in a dark prison.

Elena did not care. She pulled the trigger. A loud gunshot shattered the silence of the rooftop. The bullet ripped violently through Silas's shoulder, spraying blood across the white roses. Silas gasped in intense pain, stumbling backward toward the edge of the building. His men raised their guns to shoot Elena, but Silas screamed at them to stop with all his remaining strength. He looked back at Elena, blood pouring down his chest. He wanted to save her from his men and save her from the crime of his murder. He staggered backward until his boots hit the very lip of the ledge. The wind howled around them, whipping his coat as he locked eyes with her for the final time.

He leaned back into the endless drop, gravity catching the edge of his clothes. Tears mixed with the crimson staining his white shirt. He reached a trembling, bloody hand out to her, his fingers shaking in the cold wind. He didn't try to grab the ledge; he just wanted to reach for her one last time.

"I spent my whole life making people bleed, Elena," Silas whispered, his voice cracking into a ragged, fragile sob as blood filled his throat. "But when I met you... I actually through God had sent me an angel to save my broken soul. I didn't know you were the ghost I created to destroy me. It hurts so much, Elena. Not the bullet... But knowing that every time you smiled at me, every time you held my hand this year, you were wishing I was dead."

He looked down at the velvet ring box on the floor, covered in his own blood, and let out a broke, choking laugh. "I built this entire skyscraper just to give you the city at your feet. I wanted to give you the world. But I see it now. I can never buy back the warmth I burned away. If my death finally puts out the fire in your heart, then take my life. If it stops your nightmare, I will gladly fall into the dark. My beautiful, cold phantom... I am so sorry I couldn't be a man you could love. Don't look down when I fall. Just walk away, and finally be free."

With those final words, Silas smiled a truly heartbroken smile and let himself fall backward over the edge of the eighty-story skyscraper. Elena gasped and rushed forward, her boots kicking through the crushed white roses. She slammed her hands against the edge and learned out into the wind watching his body plunge down through the dark air until it hit the hard pavement below. The death brutal, loud, and instant.

Elena slowly fell to her knees among the blood- stained petals, her hands shaking violently. She stared into the empty night sky and finally began to cry heavily. The tears were a violent, suffocating mix of relief for her family and a deep, crushing sorrow for the monster who had destroyed her life, completely adored her, and chose a terrible death just to keep her safe. The mountain storm rolled into the city, pouring rain over the rooftop to wash the blood away, leaving Elena sobbing into the cold morning air. Completely avenged but entirely broken.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***