83. High (Luke POV)

Deep in the brightly lit hospital room, I sat alone with my thoughts, my emotional state as chaotic as a hurricane.

There was a split-second moment when my teeth clenched around my father's throat. The point of no return. An abyss that seemed to stretch for eternity yet collapsed in the blink of an eye.

The surge of his life force waned, flickered out, and extinguished.

In that second, I felt the weight of a life ending under my hands. Adam may have been a monster, but he was still my father, and I had just ended his existence.

A flood of conflicting emotions consumed me. Elation battled with repulsion. Satisfaction waged war against a deep, unsettling anxiety. Yes, I hated the man for what he had done—to me, Lexi, and countless others. But to kill him? To see the light leave his eyes, knowing that I was the one who had extinguished it? A new abyss seemed to open within me, a dark void questioning the kind of man I had become.

I despised myself in that moment. I despised the fact t