Chapter 148 Unspoken Promises

Chapter 148 Unspoken Promises
Liam POV

The morning air was biting, but my mind was too loud to care.

Today was supposed to be significant. A visiting professor was giving a guest lecture at our school, an event I had been looking forward to for weeks. But as my boots struck the cold pavement, none of it mattered. My thoughts were stuck on last night. On the basketball court. On Daniel’s bloodshot, unforgiving eyes.

I was so buried in my head that I barely noticed Elena walking beside me. She had been matching my pace for blocks, her eyes darting toward me every few steps, filled with a quiet, persistent worry.

She stepped directly into my path, turning around to walk backward in front of me.

Slowly, deliberately, she reached out and took my hand, wrapping her warm fingers around mine.

I stopped in my tracks.

I looked down at our joined hands, feeling the heat of her touch against my freezing skin.

Every instinct in my body begged me to hold on, to let her carry a piece of the weight crushing my chest. But a sharp wave of guilt pulled me back. I slowly pulled my hand from her grip and stepped around her to keep walking.

"Don't hold my hand, Elena," I said softly, keeping my eyes fixed on the road ahead. "If I'm falling, and you try to hold on... you'll just end up going down with me."

Elena didn't back down. Instead of retreating, she planted her feet right in front of me again, forcing me to halt. She looked up at me, her eyes burning with fierce determination.

"Then let us fall together," she said, her voice unwavering. "If we go down together, at least I'll be there to help catch you before you hit the ground."

I closed my eyes, letting out a heavy, ragged exhale. My chest ached with a deep, silent gratitude, but I couldn't let her get dragged into this disaster.

"I don't want you getting scraped up by the ugliness of my life, Elena," I whispered, opening my eyes and looking at her gently. "Some falls... you have to take alone."

"But falling together is less embarrassing," Elena said, a small, stubborn smile breaking across her face.

I stared at her for a second, caught completely off guard, before a short, quiet laugh escaped my throat. She laughed softly too, the heavy tension between us breaking just enough for us to keep walking side-by-side toward the school gates.

An hour later, the lecture hall was packed. The visiting professor stood at the front, speaking on human behavior and moral choices. I sat near the middle of the room, my pen hovering blankly over an empty notebook.

"Are there any questions before we wrap up?" the professor asked.

A hand went up near the front row.

Daniel.

The professor nodded. "Yes, go ahead."

Daniel stood up slowly, his face pale and dark circles bruising the skin under his eyes. He turned his head slightly, his hollow gaze drifting backward until it locked directly onto me.

"Professor," Daniel began, his voice eerie and flat. "In cases of family trauma, what happens when a parent abandons their biological child and replaces them with another? Is the replacement child expected to carry that guilt, or is the biological child broken beyond repair?"

A few students whispered, confused by the strange question.

The professor adjusted his glasses. "It depends on the situation. Trauma doesn't have a single formula, and how guilt is shared depends entirely on whether people choose to hide from the truth or face it."

My blood ran completely cold.

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the edge of my desk, my chest tightening until I couldn't breathe. He was dropping our explosive family secret right into the middle of a crowded room, weaponizing it right in front of me.

The moment the professor dismissed the class, Daniel immediately stood up and walked out the side door toward the quiet, isolated hallway behind the science wing.

I shoved my notebook into my bag and followed him.

I caught up to him in the narrow, dead-end alcove by the back exit stairs—a dark corner of the school where no students ever went.

I grabbed Daniel by the collar from behind, spun him around, and slammed him hard against the concrete wall.

"What the hell was that back there?!" I growled, stepping into his space, my teeth gritted in pure fury. "Are you completely out of your mind?! Bringing that up in front of everyone?!"

Daniel didn't flinch. He just looked at me with a twisted, hollow smirk. "Did the question make you uncomfortable, Liam? Does it bother you that your sweet little secret is bursting at the seams?"

Blind rage snapped something inside me. I pulled my fist back and slammed it straight into his jaw.

Daniel's head cracked back against the wall. He stumbled, wiping a streak of blood from his lip with the back of his hand. But instead of fighting back, he let out a dark, broken laugh.

"Hit me again!" Daniel spat, glaring at me. "Do it! It won't change what she did!"

"Shut up!" I yelled, my voice cracking as I grabbed his jacket and pinned him harder against the wall. "You think I wanted any of this?! You think I asked her to come back into my life?!"

Daniel's jaw tightened, his breathing heavy.

"I didn't want a mother, Daniel," I rasped, my hands shaking violently against his chest. "I was fine on my own! But you... I actually thought about you. Before all of this exploded, I was going to change my university application to match yours. I thought... maybe in college, away from all this noise, we could sit down. Have our first real drink together. Be actual brothers."

Daniel froze.

The bitter smirk completely vanished from his face. His eyes widened, staring at me as if I had just plunged a knife straight into his chest.

"I had a whole life planned out too," Daniel whispered, his voice suddenly cracking as tears welled in his eyes. "I gave years of my life trying to trust Mrs. Olivia after my real mother left me! I opened my heart to her! I thought we were a real family... and then I found out I was just a placeholder for you!"

He shook his head wildly, pressing his back against the cold concrete as tears spilled down his pale cheeks.

"I can't live like this, Liam," Daniel whispered, his tone dropping into a terrifying, unhinged tremble. "I won't let her sit in that house pretending everything is fine while my life is completely destroyed. If she wants her real son so badly... I'm going to end my life, and every single drop of my blood will be on her hands!"

The air completely left my lungs. My grip slipped off his jacket as my hands began to tremble violently. My throat locked up, my chest heaving, but no sound came out—I could only stare at my brother in total, paralyzing horror.

"What... did you just say?" a voice trembled behind us.