THE HEIRESS VOW - Chapter 183

Chapter 183: The Return of the Past
Ava’s heart clenched as the Abyss cracked open before her, a violent shudder coursing through the crumbling landscape. Her body was rigid, frozen by the sight that slowly emerged from the wreckage. A figure cloaked in shadows, limping toward her, yet unmistakable. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t blink, as her past—thought buried forever—rose from the collapsing abyss, dragging her deepest guilt along with it.

It was him.

“Zander,” Ava whispered, the name clawing its way out of her throat, carrying all the pain, regret, and longing she had tried to forget.

His eyes, once familiar and kind, now glowed with a hollow fury, like embers scorched by years of torment. The chasm between them felt insurmountable, but he took another step, his gaze locked on her with a mixture of longing and hatred. Ava wanted to run to him, to erase the distance, but her feet were anchored to the ground, weighed down by the chains of her guilt.

“You left me,” Zander said, his voice a knife, every word slicing through her resolve. “You left me to die.”

The air around them vibrated with tension. His voice, though soft, held a power that rippled through her, unraveling the carefully constructed walls she had built around her heart.

“No…” Ava’s voice cracked. “I—I thought you were gone. I didn’t know. I—”

“Liar!” His shout reverberated through the void, filled with so much anger it seemed to shake the very earth beneath them. “You knew. You knew I was there, and you turned your back. You abandoned me.”

The accusation hit her like a physical blow. Ava staggered back, her mind spinning as the memories she had tried so hard to suppress began flooding back. The chaos of the battle. The moment she saw him fall. The choice she made.

She had chosen to survive.

“I had no choice!” Ava protested, her voice a mixture of desperation and self-loathing. “I couldn’t save you. I barely saved myself. It wasn’t—”

Zander stepped forward, closing the distance between them. His face was inches from hers, and Ava could see the pain etched into every line, every scar. “You didn’t even try.”

Those words, dripping with contempt, ripped through Ava’s soul. She had fought so hard to move forward, to bury the past, to convince herself that she had done everything she could. But now, face-to-face with Zander, those lies unraveled. She hadn’t tried. Not hard enough. Not when it mattered most.

“I thought you were dead,” she whispered, the guilt clawing at her insides, tightening around her heart.

“Death would have been mercy compared to what I endured.” His voice was ice, a coldness that seeped into her bones. “I was consumed by the Abyss, Ava. It tore me apart, piece by piece. I called for you, I begged for you to save me, but you—” He stopped, his chest heaving with emotion. “You never came.”

Ava’s chest constricted, the weight of his words crushing her. She had always wondered what had become of him, but she never allowed herself to dwell on it. It was too painful, too heavy. She had to move on, or at least, she had tried. Now, standing before him, she realized she hadn’t moved on at all. Zander’s reappearance hadn’t just reopened the wound—it had torn it wide open, exposing all the raw, festering regret she had tried to hide.

“I thought you were gone,” Ava repeated, but it felt hollow. Excuses sounded weak in the face of his suffering.

“And now I’m here,” he said, his voice quiet but charged with an unspeakable anger. “I’m here because of you. Because I wasn’t important enough to save.”

The air was thick with silence, the only sound the crumbling abyss around them, as if the world itself was echoing the fracture in their hearts.

Zander took a step back, his gaze unyielding. “You think you can make it right, Ava? That you can just explain it all away?” His words, cruel and cutting, hung in the air. “You don’t get to make excuses. You don’t get to justify your cowardice.”

Ava’s head snapped up at that. “I’m not a coward!”

“You are,” Zander spat, his eyes narrowing. “You always were. You were too scared to face the truth, to fight for those you loved. You ran from the battle that mattered most.”

Ava clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms as she tried to hold back the tears. She couldn’t break, not here, not now, not in front of him. But his words, each one, felt like they were unraveling her, tearing her apart from the inside.

“I had no choice,” Ava repeated, but even to her own ears, it sounded weak.

Zander shook his head, his expression hardening. “You always had a choice.”

The truth of his words slammed into her. He was right. She had made a choice, and that choice had cost her everything. Now, faced with the consequences, she had no defense.

“I tried to forget,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “I tried to live with it. But it’s haunted me every day.”

“Good.” Zander’s voice was harsh, unforgiving. “You deserve to be haunted.”

Ava flinched, the sting of his words more painful than any physical blow. Her legs threatened to give out beneath her, but she stood her ground. She had no right to collapse under the weight of this guilt, not when Zander had carried the burden of her choices for so long.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. The air between them simmered with unspoken anguish, accusations unsaid but understood. Ava could feel the anger, the grief, the betrayal emanating from him, and she didn’t know how to reach him, didn’t know if she ever could.

The Abyss around them groaned, cracking and crumbling, but Ava’s attention was focused solely on Zander. The pain in his eyes was unbearable to witness, but she forced herself to look, to face the suffering she had caused.

“What do you want from me?” Ava finally asked, her voice trembling. “How can I make this right?”

Zander laughed, a sound devoid of humor, bitter and broken. “You can’t.”

The finality in his words shattered the last remnants of hope within her. There was no redemption here. No forgiveness. Only the stark, cold reality of what she had done—and failed to do.

“I never asked for much,” Zander continued, his voice raw. “All I wanted was for you to be there when I needed you. But when the Abyss swallowed me, you were gone. You left me to suffer.”

Ava swallowed, her throat dry. “I can’t change what happened, but I never wanted to hurt you.”

“That’s the thing, Ava,” Zander said, his voice low. “You didn’t even think about it. You didn’t think about me. You only thought about yourself.”

Those words, more than anything, hurt the most because they held a grain of truth. She had acted on instinct, survival driving her decisions, but in doing so, she had left him behind. She had chosen to live, but at what cost?

Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back. She wouldn’t cry. She didn’t deserve to cry. Zander’s pain was greater than her own, and she owed him more than that.

“What happened to you?” she asked, her voice barely audible. “After… after the Abyss took you?”

Zander’s face twisted into something dark, something haunted. “The Abyss didn’t just take me. It consumed me. It tore me apart, piece by piece, mind and soul. I was nothing but a shadow, lost in the darkness, screaming for someone to find me, but no one came. I was alone.”

Ava’s heart clenched, the weight of his words suffocating her. She had failed him in every way imaginable.

“And now?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“And now I’m here, but I’m not the same person I was.” Zander’s eyes bore into hers, filled with a mixture of anger and sorrow. “The Abyss changed me, Ava. It twisted me into something else, something I barely recognize.”

Ava took a step forward, reaching out. “Zander, I’m so sorry—”

He recoiled, stepping back, his face contorting with pain. “Don’t. Don’t you dare try to comfort me now.”

Her hand fell to her side, her heart breaking all over again. She had hoped—foolishly, perhaps—that seeing him again would bring some kind of closure, some way to heal the wounds of the past. But all it had done was open them wider, exposing the raw, festering truth.

“I can’t forgive you,” Zander said, his voice quiet but resolute. “Not now. Maybe not ever.”

Ava nodded, tears finally spilling down her cheeks. She had expected that, but hearing it still hurt more than she could have imagined.

The ground beneath them trembled violently, and Ava’s gaze snapped to the Abyss as it began to collapse even further, the edges crumbling into nothingness.

“We have to get out of here,” Ava said, urgency creeping into her voice. But Zander didn’t move.

“I’m not leaving,” he said, his voice empty.

Panic surged through Ava. “Zander, please. Don’t do this.”

But he just shook his head. “This is where I belong now. In the Abyss.”

“No,” Ava said, her voice breaking. “You don’t belong here. I’m not leaving you again.”

Zander’s expression softened, just for a moment, and in that brief flicker, Ava saw the man she had once loved. But it was gone just as quickly, replaced by the cold, distant gaze of someone lost to the darkness.

“Goodbye, Ava,” he said, turning away as the Abyss swallowed him whole.

And this time, there was no saving him.