The Heiress's Comeback-Chapter 270: [ Volume 1] Chaper - Food

The weight of his words crushed her, and she felt as if the air had been sucked from the room. Her hands trembled as she reached for Ray, her fingers brushing against his cold hand. "I didn’t... I would never..." she whispered, but her voice was drowned out by the storm of emotions swirling around her.

Ryan stood abruptly, his face a mixture of rage and heartbreak. "You don’t get to cry, Esme," he said coldly, his voice devoid of any warmth. "Not after what you’ve done. Look at him. Look at him! This is on you."

He turned and walked toward the door, his movements stiff with barely contained anger. "I hope it was worth it," he said bitterly before slamming the door behind him, leaving Esme alone in the suffocating silence of the room.

The only sound was the faint beeping of the monitors and the soft sobs that escaped her lips as she knelt beside the bed, her hand clutching Ray’s lifeless one as tears streamed down her face.

The room was suffocating, the silence pressing against Esme like a vice. She sat frozen beside Ray’s bed, her trembling hand still clutching his. His cold, unmoving fingers felt like a distant echo of the warmth she once knew.

Her tears had stopped, replaced by a numbness that seeped into her very soul. She could barely hear the muffled whispers of the servants outside the door, their hushed voices a reminder of how far her world had crumbled.

Esme’s gaze flickered to Ray’s face, pale and serene in the dim light of the room. She reached out with her other hand, brushing his hair away from his forehead with trembling fingers. "I’m so sorry," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I... I didn’t mean for this..."

Her words trailed off as her chest tightened, the weight of guilt and despair threatening to crush her. But before she could drown in her emotions, the door creaked open slightly. She tensed, her body instinctively curling closer to Ray as if to shield him.

It was Kai. His tall frame filled the doorway, his expression unreadable. He stepped inside without a word, closing the door behind him. For a moment, he simply stood there, his piercing gaze locked on her.

"You’re still here," he said coldly, his voice void of the warmth it once held.

Esme flinched at his tone but didn’t move from her spot. "I... I can’t leave him," she said softly, her voice barely audible.

Kai’s jaw tightened, and he took a step closer, his fists clenched at his sides. "You don’t get to pretend you care now," he snapped. "Do you have any idea what you’ve done? You destroyed him, Esme. You destroyed all of us."

Her eyes filled with fresh tears, but she forced herself to meet his gaze. "I didn’t betray him, Kai," she said, her voice trembling but resolute. "I swear I didn’t. Please, believe me."

Kai let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head. "Believe you?" he scoffed. "After everything that’s happened? After what Ryan found out? Do you think your tears can undo the damage?"

The tension in the house was palpable, thick enough to cut with a knife. Kai’s words from earlier echoed in Esme’s mind like a haunting refrain: "It was you. We all saw it. Don’t think you can escape just because you’re our wife." The venom in his tone had left her reeling, her heart heavy with a mixture of despair and determination.

She had tried explaining, tried pleading with them, but their distrust had already rooted too deeply. Kai, Ryan, and Jay had forbidden her from entering Ray’s room, their protective stance as unyielding as stone. The servants avoided her, their eyes filled with pity and suspicion. The once harmonious household now felt like a battlefield, and Esme was on the losing side.

That night, the air was heavy with silence. No one had touched their food, the unease spreading like a sickness through the household. Even the servants seemed hesitant to speak, their movements careful as though afraid to disturb the fragile tension. Esme, left to her own devices, stayed in her room, staring at the ceiling as the hours crawled by.

When the servants timidly knocked on her door to offer her food, she declined. Her appetite had long since disappeared, replaced by a gnawing anxiety. She couldn’t just sit and do nothing while Ray lay unconscious and her brothers-in-law grew colder toward her with every passing moment. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

As the night deepened, Esme made her decision.

---

Inside Ray’s room, the brothers sat vigil by his side. The dim light from a single lamp cast long shadows across their tired faces. Kai sat stiffly in his chair, his eyes locked on Ray’s face as though willing him to wake up. Ryan paced back and forth, his frustration evident in the sharp movements of his hands. Jay sat slouched, his head resting on the edge of the bed, silent but tense.

The soft knock at the window was unexpected, breaking the oppressive stillness of the room.

Everyone’s attention snapped to the window, and Jay’s eyes widened in disbelief when he saw Esme, perched on the edge of the windowsill, her legs dangling as she balanced precariously.

Without missing a beat, Jay shot up from his seat, his voice ringing out in mock outrage. "You! How dare you enter through the—"

But Esme, ever the troublemaker, held up a bag stuffed to the brim with food, cutting him off mid-sentence. The familiar scent of freshly baked bread and roasted meat wafted into the room, filling the air and almost making Jay’s eyes sparkle. His expression shifted in an instant from surprise to utter delight.

"Oh my god, where have you been?" he exclaimed, his voice filled with relief and joy as he rushed toward her, snatching the bag from her hands like a lifeline. His fingers barely touched the bag before he was pulling it open, his eyes eagerly scanning its contents.