Chapter 79 Chapter 79
Hailey’s POV
I sat beside Benita on the hotel bed, holding her hand as she stared blankly at the wall. Neither of us had spoken for what felt like hours. What was there to say?
Marco was dead. Shot multiple times defending us. His body left behind at the compound while we escaped to safety.
The guilt was crushing. If we hadn’t needed protection, if the attack hadn’t happened, if Sophia hadn’t brought Tyler into our lives…
Benita’s hand was cold in mine, her face pale and expressionless. She’d cried herself out earlier, her sobs so violent I’d worried she’d make herself sick. Now there was just… nothing. Empty silence.
“You should try to sleep,” I said softly, squeezing her hand.
She didn’t respond. Just kept staring at that wall like it held answers we desperately needed.
Eventually, exhaustion pulled me under despite my best efforts to stay awake for her. The emotional toll of the day, combined with my pregnancy, made my body shut down whether I wanted it to or not.
——
I woke hours later to darkness, my neck stiff from sleeping at an awkward angle in the chair beside Benita’s bed.
“Benita?” I called out softly, reaching toward where she should have been.
My hand met empty sheets.
I sat up quickly, ignoring the wave of dizziness that accompanied the sudden movement. The bed was empty, the blankets thrown back like she’d left in a hurry.
“Benita?” I called again, louder this time.
No response.
Panic started to build in my chest. After everything that had happened today, after losing Marco, I couldn’t lose her too.
I stood and moved toward the door, opening it carefully and peeking out into the hotel suite’s main living area.
The lights were dimmed, and I could see guards stationed at various points, but no Benita.
I padded down the hallway, checking rooms as I went. The bathroom empty. The kitchen empty. My mother’s room door closed, presumably sleeping inside.
Then I heard voices. Raised voices, one of them unmistakably Benita’s, coming from down the hall.
Sophia’s room.
I moved quickly toward the sound, my heart pounding.
The door was ajar, and I could see into the room where Benita stood over Sophia, who was sitting on the edge of her bed looking disheveled and miserable.
“….spoiled brat with no regard for human life!” Benita was shouting, her voice raw with grief and rage. “You killed him! Marco is dead because of you!”
“I didn’t kill him,” Sophia said, but her voice was weak, lacking its usual defiance.
“You might as well have pulled the trigger yourself!” Benita screamed. “You brought that monster into our home! You gave him everything he needed to destroy us! And Marco died trying to protect us from YOUR mess!”
“I didn’t know,” Sophia whispered, tears streaming down her face. “I didn’t know what Tyler really was. I thought…”
“You didn’t think at all!” Benita interrupted. “You were so busy being jealous, so busy trying to hurt Hailey, that you didn’t care who else got hurt in the process!”
I stepped into the room. “Benita, come on. Let’s go back to…”
“No!” Benita whirled on me. “No, she needs to hear this! She needs to understand what she’s done!”
Sophia looked up at us, and despite everything, I saw genuine anguish in her eyes. She was devastated, drowning in guilt and grief.
“Just leave,” Sophia said quietly, her voice hoarse. “Both of you. Get out of my room.”
“Oh, you want us to leave?” Benita’s voice dripped with venom. “You want to be left alone with your guilt? That’s too bad, because Marco doesn’t get to be left alone. He’s DEAD!”
Sophia’s face crumpled, and she made a small sound like a wounded animal. But then her expression hardened, and she did something that shocked me.
She hissed at Benita. Actually hissed, like a cornered cat, her face twisting with anger.
The sound was so unexpected, so dismissive and cruel, that it broke something in Benita.
“You BITCH!” Benita lunged forward with a speed and strength I didn’t know she possessed.
She grabbed Sophia by the hair and yanked her off the bed, throwing her to the ground like she weighed nothing. The raw energy fueling Benita was terrifying grief transformed into pure physical rage.
Sophia screamed, trying to fight back, but Benita was on top of her, hitting, scratching, screaming words I couldn’t make out through the chaos.
“Stop!” I shouted, rushing forward to pull them apart. “Benita, stop! This isn’t helping!”
I grabbed Benita’s arm, trying to pull her off Sophia, but she shoved me away without even looking.
The force of the shove sent me stumbling backward. I tried to catch myself, but my pregnant belly threw off my balance.
I fell.
Time seemed to slow as I went down, my back hitting the floor hard, my head snapping back and cracking against the corner of the bedframe.
Pain exploded through my skull, and suddenly I couldn’t breathe. The room spun violently, and nausea rolled through me in waves.
I tried to call out, but all that came out was a weak gasp.
Through my blurring vision, I saw the bedroom door burst open. Kai appeared first, his gun drawn, his eyes scanning for threats. Then my mother, her face going white when she saw me on the floor.
And then Damien, his expression shifting from confusion to absolute fury in an instant.
“HAILEY!” My mother’s scream was piercing as she dropped to her knees beside me.
Damien was there a second later, his hands gentle but urgent as he checked me over. “Don’t move,” he ordered. “Stay still. Where are you hurt?”
“My head,” I managed to whisper. “Hit the bed frame. Feel… sick…”
Kai had already pulled Benita off Sophia, both girls now separated and panting, their faces scratched and bruised.
And then Isabella swept into the room like a dark storm.
“What is the meaning of this?” she demanded, her voice sharp enough to cut glass. “Fighting like animals? In my granddaughter’s room? Have you all lost your minds?”
Her eyes landed on Benita, and her expression turned venomous. “You,” she hissed. “You common trash. You dare lay hands on an Alejandro? After everything we’ve done for you? After giving you protection and shelter?”
I expected Benita to shrink back, to be cowed by Isabella’s intimidating presence and fury.
Instead, something in Benita snapped completely.
“FUCK YOU!” Benita screamed at Isabella, her voice so loud and raw it echoed off the walls. “Fuck you and your precious Alejandro name! Your granddaughter is a murderer! She killed Marco! She killed the only person who ever really loved me!”
Isabella’s face went pale with shock. No one spoke to her like that. Ever.
But Benita wasn’t finished. The grief, the rage, the trauma it all came pouring out in a torrent of words.
“You sit there in your expensive clothes with your superior attitude, looking down on everyone who isn’t ‘good enough’ for your family! But you know what? Your family is POISON! Your granddaughter nearly got us all killed because she’s a spoiled, jealous stupid useless brat who you’ve enabled her entire life!”
“How dare you…” Isabella started.
“NO!” Benita roared, actually taking a step toward Isabella like she might physically attack her. “You don’t get to ‘how dare me’! Marco is DEAD! He died protecting your family! And you haven’t even asked about him! Haven’t even acknowledged that he’s gone! Because why would you? He was just hired help, right? Just another disposable guard!”
Kai moved to restrain Benita, but she whirled on him too.
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed. “Don’t any of you fucking touch me! You’re all complicit! You all enabled her!” She pointed at Sophia, who was cowering against the wall. “You let her get away with everything! And now Marco is dead because none of you could control her!”
The room fell into stunned silence.
Benita stood there breathing hard, tears streaming down her face, her whole body shaking with rage and grief.
And Isabella powerful, commanding Isabella looked genuinely shaken for the first time since I’d known her.
“Benita,” my mother said softly, still kneeling beside me but reaching a hand toward her. “Honey, come here. Come away from them.”
But Benita just shook her head, her eyes wild. “I can’t,” she whispered. “I can’t breathe. I can’t… he’s gone. Marco’s gone. And it’s all her fault.”
She looked at Sophia with such hatred that I felt cold.
“I hope you never sleep again,” Benita said, her voice dropping to something quiet and deadly. “I hope every time you close your eyes, you see his face. I hope the guilt eats you alive from the inside out. Because that’s what you deserve and and your family didn’t deserve to smile until you leave this world and join him.” She pointed toward Sophia who took a step back. “I won’t back down until I see the end of you. I’m going to make sure you feel every pain Marco feel before he stopped breathing.”