Black Rose in the Abyss Chapter 14

The noise of the celebration was scattered by the sea breeze.

Bianca walked alone to the edge of the pier, gazing at the pitch-black ocean.

Roxy followed her and handed her a cold can of beer.

"What are you thinking about?" Roxy asked.

Bianca took the beer. Her fingertips absently traced the cold can. Her voice was very quiet. "This ocean looks exactly like the one I fell into back then."

Roxy was stunned. Bianca continued.

"While I was recovering in the safe house, Maria asked me if there was someone in New York who broke my heart."

She paused. "I said yes."

"Maria asked again, 'Does he know he was wrong?'"

The sea breeze brushed past, lifting the hair from her forehead.

Bianca's profile looked exceptionally calm under the moonlight, yet also exceptionally fragile.

"I said, probably not." She tipped her head back and took a sip of beer. "He might think I'm the one who changed."

In the shadows of a shipping container not far away, Dante’s hand holding his drink tightened violently.

He had followed her figure, wanting to look at her from a distance, but was caught off guard by these words.

Bianca's gaze rested on the bottomless sea, as if piercing through time to see that desperate cliff two years ago.

"Actually, at that time, I didn't really expect him to choose me."

Her voice sounded like it would disperse in the wind at any moment. "My heart had already gone cold, hadn't it?"

"But later, Maria looked at my poor health and sighed. She said, 'Child, this illness has dragged on for so long not because of your body, but because of your heart.'"

"She said I still had expectations of him. That's why being personally abandoned by him hurt so deeply. For a whole year, it was like my soul hadn't come back."

Bianca forced a very faint, bitter smile. "At first, I argued with her. I didn't think that was it."

"But later I understood. Maria was right. What I couldn't accept wasn't his choice, but the fact that I actually still held hope for him."

Her fingertips curled slightly, denting the beer can.

"Recently, I keep dreaming of that scene. Standing on the edge of the cliff, listening to the countdown, watching his lips."

"I wonder, if at that time, he had chosen me... even if he just hesitated for a second, or shouted my name... would everything be different?"

She tilted her head back and downed the remaining beer. The cold liquid slid down her throat, but it couldn't suppress the rising bitterness in her heart.

"But Roxy," she turned her head to look at the only sister who knew her roots. Her eyes were desolate with total clarity. "There are no ifs."

In the shadows, Dante felt as if someone had grabbed his heart and squeezed. A dull pain spread to his limbs.

He almost rushed out. He wanted to tell her it wasn't like that!

His men were almost there at that time. He thought he could stall for time. He thought the Sterlings would choose their biological daughter no matter what, which would leave him a chance to choose again.

He was too greedy, too arrogant. He deluded himself into thinking he could save both.

But he miscalculated the human heart and underestimated Rocco's cruelty.

In the end... he lost her forever.

He gritted his teeth so hard that the taste of blood filled his mouth, forcing back all the explanations and regrets churning inside him.

What was the point of saying this now?

It would only seem more ridiculous and pale.

He watched her toss the empty can accurately into a distant trash bin, give Roxy a reassuring smile, and walk back into the light and noise.

Dante remained hidden in the darkness, as if he had been left behind on that cold, desperate cliff two years ago, never having left.