BRIANN P.O.V
The days after the hospital blurred into each other like smeared paint on a broken canvas.The doctors said I was healing,my wounds had started to close,my fever was gone,but the truth was,something else inside me had begun to ache in ways medicine couldn't touch.
Massilo stayed by my side through it all.He'd bring me breakfast I could barely eat,read the news even when my mind wandered elsewhere and pretend to be fine even when I caught him staring out the window too long,lost in a world I could never reach.
At first,I thought it was love.The way he'd hold my hand like it was the only thing keeping him alive.The way his voice softened whenever he said my name.The way he smiled.Oh,that smile,tired and aching,but still searching for light in me.
But as the days grew quieter,I began to feel it,that creeping shadow that always came after warmth.
Forever.The word had once sounded beautiful.It used to mean peace,stability,the kind of love Sua would have wanted for me.But now it sounded like a promise with chains attached.
Because forever with Massilo meant living with ghosts.Sua's ghost.His mother's ghost.His father's sins.My father's death.
Every time I looked at him,I saw them,all the people who had died for us to still be breathing.And sometimes,in the late hours of the night when he thought I was asleep,I would feel the bed shift and hear him whisper her name.
Sua's name,into the darkness.
He didn't mean to.And maybe he didn't even realize he did it.But each time,my heart cracked just a little more.
One night,I couldn't take it anymore.
I sat up slowly,watching him sleep,the moonlight catching the curve of his jaw,the faint scar near his temple,the rise and fall of his chest.I reached out,brushing his cheek lightly with my fingers.His skin was warm.Familiar.But the warmth didn't reach my heart this time.
He stirred slightly and whispered something,not to me,not to the present,but to the past.
"Don't go…Sua…"
The words broke me.I covered my mouth,trying not to sob.
Because how do you build a forever with someone who's still living in yesterday?
I slipped out of bed quietly,walking toward the window.The city lights flickered like dying stars below.My reflection in the glass looked hollow,he had pale skin,tired eyes, his lips were bitten raw from unspoken things.
I thought about Sua's words again. "Move on,Briann"
But she never said love would hurt this much.She never said that love could feel like carrying someone else's pain while losing yourself piece by piece.
Massilo stirred behind me,his voice was barely above a whisper. "Briann? What are you doing up?"
I turned to him slowly.He looked so fragile in that moment like if I spoke too harshly,he'd shatter.
"Just thinking" I murmured.
He sat up,running a hand through his hair,his eyes was still heavy with sleep. "About what?"
I hesitated. "About forever"
He froze.I saw the flicker of fear behind his eyes,the one he always tried to hide.He looked away.
"Do you…regret this?" He asked,his voice trembling. "Being with me?"
I walked back to him,sat at the edge of the bed and placed my hand over his.His skin was cold now like he'd been holding his breath for too long.
"No" I whispered. "But I'm starting to understand what it costs"
He met my gaze then those dark,sorrowful eyes that held more stories than I could ever read.
"What do you mean?"
"It means…" I paused,swallowing the ache in my throat. "To love you is to bleed,Massilo.It's to carry every shadow that follows you.Every sin,every memory.And I'm scared that someday,there won't be anything left of me,just pieces of what your world left behind"
His lips parted as if to speak,but no words came out.
Instead,he reached for me,his arms pulled me close until our foreheads touched.His breath mingled with mine,shaky and uneven.
"Then let's bleed together" He whispered. "If that's the cost of loving me…I'll pay it with you"
Tears slipped down my cheeks,silent and burning.I wanted to believe him.I truly did.But somewhere deep inside,I knew love built on tragedy had a price that never stopped collecting.
Still,I wrapped my arms around him.Because even if it hurt,even if it destroyed me,I couldn't let go.Not yet.
But he led me back to the bed.And as we held each other in that fragile silence, surrounded by ghosts,grief and love too heavy for our hearts.I realized something painful but true.
Forever wasn't always beautiful. Sometimes,it was survival.
And if being with him meant losing pieces of myself along the way…Then maybe that was a price I was willing to pay.
MASSILO P.O.V
The scent of antiseptic lingered in the air as I stepped out of the ward.For hours,I'd been sitting by Briann's side,holding her hand like a man clutching onto what was left of his soul.But when she finally drifted off to sleep,I felt the walls closing in.The quiet hum of hospital machines became too loud,too accusing,every beep echoing all that I had lost.
Sua.
My mother.
Even the man I once called Father.
I walked down the cold corridor,the lights above flickered faintly like dying stars.My legs felt heavy,but I didn't stop.I needed air.I needed silence.
When I reached the end of the hallway,I pressed my back to the wall and buried my face in my hands.It was strange,how grief didn't come like thunder anymore.It came in small tremors now,quiet and constant like my heart had forgotten how to beat without pain.
For a long moment,I just stood there,breathing,trembling and breaking silently.
Then my phone buzzed.
At first,I ignored it.But when it rang again and again,I pulled it out with shaking hands.The caller was Xavier.
I hesitated before answering. "What is it,Xavier? I'm not in the..."
His voice cut in,sharp and breathless. "Massilo…turn on the TV.Now"
My stomach dropped. "What?"
"It's about Mr Mason " He said,his voice was trembling. "About Mr Mason.He's...he's been arrested in Toronto"
The air left my lungs. "What do you mean arrested?"
"For murdering Mrs Mason" Xavier said quietly. "The late Mrs Mason...Mr Massilo"
The words didn't make sense.They spun around me like shards of glass,cutting through every fragile piece I had left.
Before I even realized it,my legs were moving.I ran back down the hallway,pushing past startled nurses,my heart pounded like a storm trapped in my chest.
I burst into the ward.Briann startled awake at the sound and i rushed to the flat-screen TV mounted on the wall.My fingers fumbled for the remote and when I finally turned it on,the world stopped.
There he was.
Mr Mason.My father.
Dragged out of a police car like a common criminal.His once-impeccable suit was torn,blood staining the collar.His hair disheveled,his face swollen from what looked like a beating.Handcuffs gleamed around his wrists,cold and merciless.
Reporters shouted questions; cameras flashed.He looked up once and in that brief second,I saw something I'd never seen before.
Fear.
The great Mr Mason,the man who once commanded rooms with silence,who spoke like the world owed him its attention was now a hollow shell of disgrace.
The newscaster's voice trembled over the broadcast:
> "Breaking news.Business magnate Mr Mason has been arrested by the Toronto Police for the murder of his late wife,Mrs Lydia Mason.After years of speculation surrounding her mysterious death,new evidence links Mr Mason to the crime.Authorities claim he staged her sickness and fled the country.The Mason family,once an empire,has now fallen into complete ruin…"
My breath caught in my throat.
Beside me,Briann pressed a hand over her mouth.Tears shimmered in her eyes,but she couldn't speak.Neither could I.
The screen shifted again,showing him being led into the courthouse.He stumbled once and the officers yanked him back to his feet.His face turned toward the camera for a brief,excruciating moment.
He looked old.Broken.Like the sins had finally caught up to him.
And in that moment,I didn't know what to feel.
Anger?
Relief?
Hatred?
Pity?
All I knew was that the man I had spent my entire life trying to please…was gone.Not dead...no,that would have been easier but stripped of everything that once made him untouchable.
The newscaster continued,voice echoing faintly in the sterile ward:
> "The Mason empire,once one of the wealthiest families in the country,collapsed following years of scandal and tragedy from the death of the Adrienno's daughter Sua Adrienno to the downfall of their patriarch.This case marks the final chapter of a family torn apart by greed,secrets and grief"
Briann turned to look at me,her lips trembling. "Massilo…"
But I couldn't hear her.Her voice was distant like it came from the other side of glass.
Because I was staring at that screen,at him and all I could see was the child I used to be.The boy who once believed his father could fix everything.The boy who thought power meant safety.
Now that boy was dead too.
The remote slipped from my hand and clattered to the floor.
I took a shaky breath,but the air felt too heavy.I pressed a palm to my chest as if trying to hold myself together.
Briann reached for me,whispering my name again and this time,I looked at her.Her eyes were red,glistening with the same grief that lived inside me.
"It's over" She whispered. "It's finally over,Massilo."
But it didn't feel like it was over.
It felt like the end of something I could never get back,the end of my family,my past,my name.
And as I stood there,watching the screen fade to the image of my father being dragged into the prison gates,I realized that forever didn't always mean love.Sometimes,it meant pain that refused to die,passed down like an inheritance no one wanted.
Tears blurred my vision and I whispered, "He took everything,Briann.Everything"
She wrapped her arms around me,holding me as if she could keep me from collapsing,but the truth was,I already had.
Because in that moment,I wasn't the heir of the Mason family anymore.I was just a broken son mourning ghosts.
And all the money,all the names,all the empires...meant nothing.
Only silence remained.