Chapter 1404:


    Jarrod pressed his palms against his face, pushing through his hair as though he could rip out the shame lodged in his heart. His chest throbbed like it was ready to burst.


    Memories rushed through him. Maia covering his parents’ hospital fees. Rosanna weaving lies like silk. His own blind anger almost striking down the wrong person.


    No longer able to hold it in, Jarrod lifted his hand and struck his own cheek with sharp force.


    A crack of impact echoed through the hallway.


    Heads turned. People cast quick looks in his direction, but none dared interfere.


    Jarrod hardly noticed. Their silence didn’t matter. The sting on his skin was the only thing grounding him, pulling him back into himself.


    Red-rimmed eyes narrowed with fury as he whispered through clenched teeth, “Rosanna Morgan… you ruined everything. The moment you came back, we pushed Maia aside, and every downfall followed in your wake. You should never havee home. Maia was the one who truly belonged in our lives.”


    Leaning back against the cold wall for support, Jarrod pushed himself upright and moved forward on shaky legs.


    A silhouette appeared ahead of him, one he recognized instantly.


    Ethan stood by the operating room doors. His face had gone pale, and worry clung to him like a shadow.


    Dread coiled in Jarrod’s stomach at the sight. Maybe Maia was behind those doors.


    He took a step toward Ethan, and every footfall felt like dragging lead across the floor.


    Jarrod moved as though heavy chains clung to his ankles, dragging at his every attempt to move forward.


    His footsteps sank deeper and deeper, as if he were wading through a suffocating mire.


    He advanced at a torturously slow pace, as though an unseen force kept yanking him backward, making even the smallest step forward feel like his lungs were being crushed.


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    The corridor lights glowed cold and pale, washing him in a bleak, frostbitten hue.


    Inwardly, Jarrod kept whispering Maia’s name like a plea. Memories of her flickered through his mind—sharp, uninvited, relentless.


    Every kindness she had shown him, he never valued.


    Every warning she had offered, he brushed aside.


    Every time Rosanna wounded her, he failed to truly shield her.


    Jarrod always believed he was fighting to bring Maia back into the Morgan family, yet he never acknowledged how mercilessly they had cast her out.


    Only now did he see it clearly—his efforts were nothing but pride masquerading as sincerity.


    All of this was retribution, the bitter fruit of the Morgan family’s arrogance and blind bias.


    Realizing that, Jarrod let out a hollow, self-mockingugh.


    He halted several steps before reaching Ethan, his chest tightening with a slow, tearing ache—as if his heart had been shredded and stitched shut again, leaving him sustained by nothing but a thin thread of despair.


    Jarrod bowed his head.


    He couldn’t bring himself to show up in front of Maia, nor Ethan—her real brother—crushed beneath the weight of his own guilt.


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