Chapter 165: Bloody Wedding Day
The blade sank in with a sickening sound. Theo’s body jolted, his breath catching as pain ripped through him. For a heartbeat, he stood frozen, eyes wide in disbelief. His hand shot down, gripping the knife’s hilt, trying instinctively to stop it from driving deeper, only for the man to twist and shove harder.
A raw gasp tore from Theo’s throat. His knees buckled, but he forced himself to stay upright, blood already soaking through his shirt in a spreading warmth.
"Theo!" Richard’s roar cracked the air, his face twisting with horror as he lunged forward.
Liam, who had just arrived after sending Evelyn to safety, froze for half a second before his instincts kicked in. His vision blurred red.
Owen’s lips curled into a cruel smile. "This... is my revenge. You think it’s about money? About the company you bled me dry of when you tipped off the government?" He shook his head, voice low and venomous. "No. What I hate you for, Richard, is what came after. You broke my son. Matthew worked day and night, desperate to save the Kennedy name, desperate to fix what you destroyed. And do you know what he got for it?" Owen’s voice cracked with a bitter edge. "A shattered mind. My brilliant boy, reduced to madness."
His cane tapped once against the floor as his glare bore into Richard. "That’s the wound I’ll never forgive you for."
Richard’s breath caught. The memory slammed into him with brutal clarity. After that year, after Kennedy’s collapse, Matthew had simply... vanished. No public appearances, no meetings, no photographs in society columns. A man who had once been groomed to inherit everything had disappeared from sight, as if the earth had swallowed him whole.
Richard’s eyes widened. He whispered, almost to himself, "That’s why he never showed his face again..."
Owen’s bitter laugh cut through the tension like a blade. "Ah, so you finally see it. While your sons grew strong, while your family thrived, mine crumbled. My boy... locked away, hidden like a disgrace, because he no longer knew how to tell night from day. And you..." his cane jabbed toward Richard, venom dripping from his words, "you still dare look me in the eye as though you haven’t ruined everything I built."
Owen’s words lingered like poison in the air. He turned with a cruel flourish of his cane. "Now... feel the pain I’ve carried all these years." He looked slightly over his shoulder to Theo, "Make sure you didn’t wake up, or I will kill Daisy next."
Richard’s legs buckled, and he dropped to his knees, the weight of his son’s blood and Owen’s words pressing him down like chains.
With a sickening sound, the knife was yanked free from Theo’s abdomen. Blood gushed in a hot, red stream, soaking his clothes and the floor beneath him.
"Theo!" Liam’s voice cracked, raw and desperate. He caught his brother before he could collapse fully, his own hands instantly drenched in crimson. "Doctor! Somebody—doctor!" he bellowed, his voice echoing down the sterile corridor.
But Owen only walked on, calm and unhurried, as though the chaos behind him were nothing more than noise. His men closed ranks at his sides, blocking doctors and nurses with silent, menacing precision. The sharp click of his cane echoed down the corridor, steady and deliberate, like the beat of a war drum.
In that moment, it was as if he stood above consequence, untouchable, a man who could spit in the face of the law and walk away untouched. And no one, not Richard, broke on his knees, not Liam, screaming for help with blood on his hands... could stop him.
"Hurry up!" Liam’s voice cracked as he barked at the frozen doctors. He pressed both hands down on Theo’s wound, desperate to stop the flood of blood seeping through his brother’s shirt. His palms were slick, his chest heaving, but he refused to let Theo slip. "He’s losing too much... move!"
Richard staggered forward, his hand trembling as he reached for Theo’s shoulder, but the sight of his son’s pale face nearly undid him. "Stay with us, Theo... stay..."
"Dad... call the police!" Liam’s voice thundered, raw and desperate, as his hands pressed harder on the wound. He tried to snap Richard out of the fog, forcing him to act, but Richard remained frozen, his eyes locked on Theo as though sheer will alone could keep his son alive.
The doctors finally broke past the wall of fear, rushing forward with a gurney. One of them barked, "Step back... now!" but Liam didn’t move until another pair of hands pulled him away. His palms were slick with blood, shaking as he stumbled back, watching helplessly as Theo was lifted onto the stretcher.
Theo’s lips parted, a faint whisper escaping, "Daisy..." before his head lolled to the side.
"No! Stay awake, Theo!" Liam lurched forward again, but the doors of the emergency room swung shut between them with a final, merciless slam.
While Daisy and Evelyn had been waiting inside the car, protected by Kingsley’s men. The wedding dress clung to Daisy’s frame like a cruel reminder of her happiness cut short, and her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. She barely registered her mother-in-law’s attempts to comfort her until voices drifted in from outside, the guards tense and had been whispering with each other.
"...blood everywhere..."
"...stabbed—bad..."
She frowned and her heart plummeted. Without a second thought, Daisy shoved open the car door. "No, wait—" one of the guards tried to stop her, but she was already running, Evelyn hurrying behind her, their skirts tangling around their legs as panic fueled their steps.
When they burst into the emergency hallway, Daisy froze. The sharp tang of iron filled the air. Blood smeared across the sterile white floor, across Liam’s trembling hands, across Richard’s shirt. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe.
Her gaze darted wildly, searching for the person she hoped was not the owner of the blood that was spilling but he was nowhere in her sight.
"Theo..." Daisy’s voice cracked, so thin it was barely sound. She tried to move, but her knees gave out, and Evelyn caught her just in time, her own face stricken with horror at the bloody trail leading away from her son.
Evelyn’s grip on Daisy tightened as if sheer will alone could hold them both upright. "No... no, this can’t be..." she whispered, her eyes following the streak of red vanishing through the swinging doors at the end of the hall.
Daisy swayed, her face draining of all color. The world spun, voices muffled as though swallowed by water. "Theo..." she breathed one last time before her body gave out.
Evelyn caught her as she collapsed, cradling her against her chest, her own tears spilling freely now. In the background, Liam’s shouts and Richard’s ragged breaths filled the bloodstained hallway, but for Evelyn, all she could feel was the weight of Daisy going limp in her arms.
The hallway fell into a stunned silence, broken only by the distant echo of hurried footsteps.