Chapter 282 The End of Sin
Elodie's scream was so piercing that it cut straight through the solemn organ music.
The music stopped abruptly.
The guests' warm, joyous smiles in the church froze at once as they looked around in confusion.
For a heartbeat, the whole world seemed to fall silent.
In that frozen air, a man wearing a baseball cap suddenly sprang into action from within the crowd.
He moved with lightning speed. With one arm, he seized the still-stunned Elodie and locked her tightly against his chest.
A cold gleam flashed in his other hand.
In an instant, a sharp dagger was pressed against Elodie's exposed throat.
"Nobody move!"
The man lifted his head, revealing a face so gaunt it was almost unrecognizable, with sunken eye sockets burning with sheer madness.
It was Rufus.
"Ah!"
Someone in the crowd let out a terrified scream, and panic spread like wildfire.
The guests scattered in all directions, knocking over chairs and toppling the champagne tower. The once pure and holy wedding scene was plunged into chaos.
"Do not come any closer! Or I will kill her!"
Rufus let out a low, animalistic growl, pressing the blade down. A thin line of bright red blood immediately welled up on Elodie's neck.
"Ah!" Elodie screamed in pain. "Rufus! You lunatic! Let me go!"
"Shut up!" Rufus's eyes were vicious. "You dared to betray me!"
He had never expected that this cowardly, vain woman would turn on him at the most critical moment.
Around the church, the police and Hensley family bodyguards disguised as guests reacted quickly.
They immediately dropped the pretense and, in the blink of an eye, formed an airtight circle around him. More than a dozen gun barrels were trained on him from every direction.
"Rufus! Drop your weapon! You are surrounded!" the lead officer shouted.
Rufus ignored the guns, a twisted smile even tugging at his lips.
"Do you dare to shoot?"
"I have a hostage! Everyone, back off!"
He dragged the struggling Elodie step by step toward the altar.
Stefan instantly pulled Cecilia behind him, his eyes cold as ice and filled with undisguised disgust.
"Rufus, give it up. You have no chance." His voice held no warmth.
"You?" Rufus's gaze burned with deep, festering hatred. "Stefan, who the hell do you think you are?"
"Today, I am going to take my woman right in front of you."
"I will make you watch her come back to me."
He moved closer and closer to the altar.
The air was stretched to the breaking point.
Rufus's gaze shifted past Stefan's shoulder and fixed on Cecilia with greedy, tormented intensity.
"Amelia... I have come for you."
His voice trembled with excitement.
"You look so beautiful in your wedding dress. This is the wedding I owe you. Come with me. Let us start over."
He spoke the most insane words in the gentlest tone.
But Cecilia only felt a wave of nausea.
"Rufus, stop dreaming." She stepped out from behind Stefan, looking straight at Rufus's crazed face.
"I will not go with you."
"Not in this life, not in the next, not for all eternity will I have anything to do with you again."
All color drained from Rufus's face.
"No... that is not true..." He shook his head in pain. "Amelia, I love you. Everything I have done is because I love you."
"Love?"
Cecilia let out a cold laugh, her laughter filled with endless mockery.
"Your so-called love is imprisonment, harm, forcing your will on others."
"Your love killed our child, drove my grandfather to his death, and destroyed my family."
"Rufus, you do not understand love at all. You only love yourself, and the feeling of completely controlling someone."
Stefan took Cecilia's icy hand and stepped forward to stand beside her.
"Rufus, you do not even love yourself," he said quietly, with a hint of sorrow.
"What you love is nothing but a shadow in your imagination, someone who obeys you completely. The moment she shows any resistance, you will not hesitate to destroy her."
"Your love is worthless. You do not deserve to talk about love."
Stefan's words were calm yet merciless, ripping away Rufus's last shred of dignity.
Cecilia went on, her voice soft but cutting straight to the bone.
"So stop that act. It only makes me sick. Rufus, look at yourself. You have already lost, completely and utterly."
The light in Rufus's eyes went out, leaving behind only a darkness that wanted to swallow the world.
"If I cannot have you..."
"Then let us all be destroyed. All of you can die with me!"
He roared, the dagger at Elodie's throat suddenly pressing harder, trying to use one life to trigger even greater chaos.
At that very moment—
A dull gunshot rang out.
All the noise in the church was cut off in an instant.
Rufus's body jerked violently, the strength surging out of him.
A bullet had pierced his head.
From a hidden sniper.
Elodie seized the chance and scrambled away.
Rufus's body swayed, unable to support itself any longer, and fell straight backward.
The last glimmer of light faded completely from his pupils.
The nightmare that had haunted Cecilia for two lifetimes — the madman who had dragged her into hell — had finally come to an end.
Cecilia stared at Rufus lying in a pool of blood, his lifeless eyes still fixed on her.
She felt the massive weight that had pressed on her heart for two lifetimes suddenly shatter, breaking into dust and scattering on the wind.
It was over.
Truly over.
The moment that thought appeared, everything before her eyes began to spin and blur, and the sounds around her quickly faded away.
Her body was swallowed by an overwhelming exhaustion.
"Amelia!"
Before she plunged into darkness, the last sound she heard was Stefan's panicked, terrified cry — and then she fell into a solid, warm embrace.
Her consciousness floated and sank in endless darkness.
So warm, so peaceful.
Cecilia felt as if she were having a very, very long dream.
In the dream, there was no Rufus, no Ember family, none of those people and things that had caused her pain and suffocation.
She returned to that flower-scented alley.
Patrick was still alive.
He sat under the old locust tree in the courtyard, fanning himself, looking at her with a smile.
"Amelia, you are back? What do you want to eat today? I will make your favorite beef stew, all right?"
She laughed and threw herself into Patrick's arms, acting spoiled.
"Yes, yes. I want to eat Grandpa's best beef stew."
Sunlight filtered through the branches of the locust tree, casting dappled shadows. The air was filled with the aroma of cooking and a faint floral scent.
Everything was so peaceful.
This was the warmth she had longed for but could never truly have.
Cecilia did not want to wake up.
She just wanted to stay immersed in this beautiful dream forever.