Chapter 427
Chapter 427:
“Skye,” he whispered, the name tasting like ash.
He reached up and ripped the IV out of his arm. Blood trickled down his skin, warm and sticky, but he didn’t feel the sting. He tried to sit up.
Agony exploded in his leg. His shattered femur, held together by pins and rods, screamed in protest. It felt like a hot iron was being driven into the marrow. He gasped, falling back against the pillows, sweat instantly beading on his forehead.
He couldn’t walk.
He was a cripple.
Through the small glass pane in the door, he saw his grandmother, Matriarch Beatrice. She stood in the corridor, impeccable in her tweed suit, looking at him with a mixture of pity and disdain.
“You are ill, Liam,” she said, her voice muffled by the glass. “You need rest p>
“Where is she?” Liam screamed, his voice cracking. “Where is Skye p>
“She left you, Liam,” Beatrice lied smoothly. “She resigned. She ran away with another man. She is gone p>
“Liar!” Liam slammed his fist against the mattress. “I saw her jump! She jumped to save me p>
Beatrice sighed. She signaled to someone out of view.
“He is agitated,” she said. “Administer the protocol p>
The door beeped and opened. Two large orderlies entered, carrying restraints. A doctor followed, holding a syringe filled with a milky white substance.
“No!” Liam fought. He swung his fist, connecting weakly with an orderly’s jaw, but he was overpowered instantly. They pinned him to the bed, strapping his wrists to the rails.
“This is a high-dose neuro-sedative,” the doctor explained to Beatrice. “It will reset his synaptic pathways. Help him forget the trauma p>
“Do it,” Beatrice ordered. “It’s for the family legacy p>
The needle pierced Liam’s neck.
“Skye!” he screamed one last time.
The drug hit his system like a sledgehammer. The world spun violently. The white ceiling dissolved into fractals of color. But instead of erasing his memory, the chemical overload breached a dam in his mind.
The barriers between his conscious mind and his subconscious memories—the deep, repressed ones from the timeline that never should have happened—shattered.
𝖱𝘰𝗺aո𝗰e ոо𝘷е𝗅ѕ o𝗇 𝘣𝗲𝗅𝗻𝗈𝘃еl𝘴.𝘤o𝗆
He didn’t fall asleep.
He fell into the past.
The nightmare was lucid, high-definition, and agonizing. Liam watched as the past unfolded. He was a spectator in his own life, forced to witness his greatest sins in brutal clarity.
He saw himself at the hospital in the past timeline.
He saw Skye lying in the bed, broken, dying. Her skin was gray, her eyes dimming. She reached for him, her hand trembling.
“Liam,” she whispered. “Please believe me. Seraphina did this p>
And he saw his past self—arrogant, blind, stupid—pull his hand away. He saw the sneer on his own face.
“Stop lying, Skye,” Past-Liam said coldly. “Seraphina is an angel. You’re just jealous because you can’t give me an heir p>
Ghost-Liam screamed into the void. “No! Look at her! She’s telling the truth! Look at the evidence p>
But Past-Liam turned his back. He walked out of the room, adjusting his tie.
Ghost-Liam watched him go, then turned back to the bed.
He saw Skye’s hand fall.
He saw the light fade from her eyes, the single tear tracking through the dust on her cheek.