Chapter 42 – The Things We Carry
Rain fell. Steady, quiet, like the world was trying to wash itself clean.
Adrian stood alone at the edge of the cemetery, his coat soaked through but his shoulders unmoving. Evelyn had offered to come. He had told her no. This was something he needed to face on his own.
Gravestones stretched before him like a sea of silence. Names he'd long forgotten. Names he would never forget. And at the center of it all — one stone, newer than the rest.
Nathaniel Hale.
Beloved Brother. Loyal Friend.
Adrian's eyes didn't waver.
He hadn't come for closure. There was no such thing.
He came for truth.
For the first time in years, he let himself speak.
"I lied to you."
The rain didn't pause. The wind didn't answer. But the words hung heavy in the air.
"I told you I'd come back. That I'd keep us safe. But I didn't. I let them take you. I let them win."
A flicker of memory. Nathan's laugh. The way he used to nudge Adrian's shoulder when they disagreed. The way he believed in people — in Adrian — even when he shouldn't have.
Adrian's fists clenched at his sides.
"But I'm still here. And I swear — everything I do from this point on, it's for you. For the ones they silenced."
A voice broke the silence behind him.
"You don't have to carry it alone."
Evelyn. Of course.
She stepped beside him, not saying more, just standing there.
And Adrian, for once, didn't push her away.
Because maybe grief didn't have to be silent.
Maybe the burden wasn't meant to be carried alone.
He looked at the gravestone one last time.
Then turned away.
Together, they walked back into the rain.
The past would always follow.
But for the first time — it didn't lead.