Breaking Free, Loving Again -The Flash Marriage with Mr. CEO novel Chapter 185

"Zeke!" Ryan dropped to his knees and almost screamed the same as he had done at that time. Even after eight long years and countless desperate efforts to suppress it, the memory still clung to him like a shadow. The day Zeke fell —it played so vividly as if it had just happened the other day.

"It’s my fault," he whispered, his voice breaking. His chest heaved as the memory consumed him again. His hands trembled, still feeling the ghostly sensation of Zeke’s hand slipping from his grasp.

The guilt he had buried for years came rushing back, raw and unreadable. The present faded away, and he was no longer here; his mind had taken him back to the edge of the cliff.

He couldn’t feel the energy of the current world around him until he felt an arm drape feebly around his shoulders. The touch was startling, and for a fleeting moment, the hope of seeing Zeke again bloomed in his heart.

"Zeke!" he called out, his voice filled with desperation and longing as he turned to the side.

But the shine in his gaze dulled instantly when he saw Delyth’s face instead. Her brows were knitted in concern. She was speaking something but for a good while, he couldn’t process her words. In his ears, only the haunting silence of Cicus Valley was swishing.

"I didn’t kill him," Ryan murmured, his voice distant and pleading. "Don’t blame me for Zeke’s death. I–I didn’t kill him."

It wasn’t until Delyth cupped his face gently with her warm hands did he snapped back to reality.

"Don’t blame me for Zeke’s death, I–I didn’t kill him," he said and it was only when Delyth cupped his face, he came back to reality.

"Ryan, I am sorry," she whispered, her voice trembling as if she was trying hard to hold back her own pain. "I shouldn’t have brought that back."

Ryan blinked, still waiting for her to say that he wasn’t the one who pushed Zeke off that cliff. That he wasn’t the one to bring that cruel fate to him.

And Delyth knew well what he wanted for her, yet she took her time to make him realize well what he seemed to be forgetting.

Keeping her expression empathetic, she spoke again in a quivering voice as though struggling with guilt herself. "I shouldn’t have mentioned Zeke’s death. Not when I knew what it made you feel like. I am sorry. I was just ….I was just too lost in my own pain that I didn’t realize yours."

"I didn’t kill him," he said again, his voice more insistent than before.

Delyth nodded slowly, her face etched with sorrow. "I know," she said in a soothing tone. "It was purely an accident. How could you deliberately push him? You couldn’t. I don’t blame you for it, Ryan. I never did and neither would Zeke."