Claim Me Captain! I'm Addicted to You!-Chapter 418: No More Distance (3)

Oliver’s POV

"Uhm... we’re here to visit Ollie," Nick said carefully, like he wasn’t sure if staying would get him killed or if walking out would get him killed twice.

Vicky’s glare didn’t help him decide.

Benjamin cleared his throat from the back of the group. "Maybe we’ll just... come back later. We were planning to eat lunch here, but we can go out instead and just bring you something, Oliver. You should rest."

"Don’t go!" Vicky snapped, then pointed at herself. "How about all of YOU stay here, and I go?"

She turned her glare on me, eyes still swollen and furious. "I’ll even hire a caregiver for you. A whole team, if you want! And then I’ll never come back and never show my face to you again. How about that, huh, Oliver?!"

She grabbed her bag, shoulders trembling, already halfway out the door.

"Vicky! Don’t—wait—" I tried to climb out of the bed, reckless and desperate. "Argh—dammit—Vicky, STOP!"

My knees buckled, pain ripping through my shoulder and abdomen. Nick lunged forward and caught me before I crashed onto the floor.

I heard loud gasps; everything froze.

Vicky stopped at the door.

Everyone stared at me, at the mess I was physically, at the worst mess I was emotionally.

My heart hammered. My mouth went dry. My pride, my fear, my walls, they all collapsed.

It was now or never.

I straightened up, gripping Nick’s arm for support. "Vicky," I said, voice breaking, "I meant what I said. You don’t deserve me."

She slowly turned, eyes shining with confusion, with hurt, with exhaustion. "Why? Why do you keep saying that?"

"It’s not because I don’t want you." My voice cracked. "God knows how much I love you. I would trade my life for yours without hesitation. I would die for you. But—"

The truth clawed up my throat.

"You deserve someone good," I whispered. "Someone whose first instinct isn’t vengeance. Someone whose soul isn’t tainted by anger. Someone who loves you cleanly, purely... not someone like me."

Her brows furrowed. "Oliver—"

"I used you," I confessed, tears spilling. "You and your family. For revenge. That I was too much of a coward to carry out myself."

The room went dead silent.

"I don’t deserve to be loved by you," I choked. "I deceived your whole family. I hated your family for years. I regretted it, God, I regretted it, but that doesn’t change the truth. Our relationship... everything... it started from hatred. From darkness. From every part of me that isn’t worthy of you."

My body shook. My wounds throbbed angrily. I didn’t care.

"Please forget me. Blame me for everything, but don’t cry for me. Don’t ruin yourself, your own happiness, because of me, " I whispered. "You deserve better than a man who built the foundation of your story on a lie."

Vicky stared at me, eyes shattered, breath uneven, like the world had tilted beneath her feet.

"You’re not making any sense, Oliver!" Vicky’s voice shook the walls—raw, furious, trembling.

"Just tell me. No excuses. You’re a brilliant lawyer who wins impossible cases with nothing but your words, so fucking use them now. What the hell are you talking about?"

God.

She was terrifying when she was angry, terrifying and heartbreakingly beautiful.

I closed my eyes. Pulled a breath through lungs that hurt. And finally let the truth I’d buried for years claw its way out.

"I blamed your family," I said quietly. "For my father and grandfather’s deaths."

The room stilled.

"They worked for the Knights when I was young. When they died, my mother... lost herself. She never recovered. She was sent to a mental institution up to this day, while me and my sisters, tried to survive with whatever was left of her sanity."

My throat tightened. "It was a shame I carried alone, something I was terrified to tell you. I didn’t want you to look at me differently."

I forced myself to meet her eyes. Pain flickered across her face—confusion, hurt, fear.

"You grew up surrounded by love. You had two mothers who treasure you dearly, and a father who adored you. But me?" I shook my head. "We had to fight for everything. Scholarships, part-time jobs, scraps of normalcy. And when the Knight Foundation gave me a scholarship that I planned for ever so meticulously... that’s when I met Nick."

A bitter laugh escaped me. "I used him, Vicky. I used him to get close to your father and grandfather. Because they adored him and planned to make him the heir of their empire. Through him, I met you. I added you to my revenge plot. The only daughter of the Knight Empire and was loved and cared for by everyone. And hurting you was the perfect way to hurt them."

Her lips parted in silent shock.

"But then..." I swallowed hard. "My grandmother, my father’s mother, got sick. The old woman whom my father’s wife abandoned. Yes, Vicky... I’m from an illegitimate family. The one nobody acknowledges."

Her breath hitched.

"And while taking care of her, I learned my father and grandfather’s real story with the Knights. She also told me about Nick’s story, Prudence and Benjamin’s story, that her husband confessed to her."

My voice thinned with guilt. "It broke me. He reminded me of myself. And suddenly, my revenge felt... pathetic. So I made a choice. I decided I’d protect Nick with my life, even if it meant protecting him from his own family."

I looked at Benjamin, and he paled.

"I found out about Reagan," I continued. "That he wasn’t your father’s son. That he was the child of the man who killed my grandfather. Benjamin staggered back as if struck.

Vicky’s jaw trembled.

"I even confirmed it with a DNA test," I whispered. "Every step of my path, every achievement, every law I memorized, it was fueled by hate. By revenge. I wanted justice for what was done to my family. I wanted to destroy everyone responsible."

I shook my head violently, tears spilling.

"But then your family... loved me." My voice cracked. "Your mothers, your brothers, even Benjamin, everyone showed me kindness I didn’t deserve. And my grandmother... before dementia completely took her memory, she begged me to find peace. To forgive."

My whole body trembled.

"I don’t hate your family anymore," I whispered. "I swear I don’t. I changed. I’ve tried—God knows I’ve tried. But I can’t forgive myself for the way it started. For the darkness I brought into your lives. For how I once used all of you..."

My voice broke into a sob.

"I just can’t, Vicky."

And there, in front of everyone, my friends, her family, the people I owed everything to, I finally shattered.

Nick caught me as I collapsed into him, holding me tight like a brother would, not out of pity... but because he knew. He always knew how much I hated myself.

And all I could think was—

Would Vicky ever look at me the same way again?

But then—

"I’m sorry."

Benjamin’s voice cut through the silence.

********

Thanks for the Golden Tickets!

KATHLEEN_COLL

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