Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates
Chapter 636-The Final Goodbye

Chapter 636: 636-The Final Goodbye

Helanie:

"You will be missed," Sydney wrapped up her eulogy, crying the entire time. Her father was a mess. Everyone was deeply upset at the loss of someone like Salem. I hadn’t been able to come to terms with losing her. It had only been two days, far too soon to move on anyway.

Gavin stood in a black suit, wearing black sunglasses to hide the bags under his eyes. After I started getting my dreams and hopes back, I visited Gavin. He never said a word, just stared out the window the whole time. All of his friends stayed in his apartment. We tried our best to make him feel better, but it wasn’t possible. All of us understood that.

"Why are you here?" After Salem was laid to rest, Sydney turned to question me. I had come with my mates, all dressed in black, grief heavy in our hearts.

"Not today," Norman hissed at her, holding up his palm.

"Why not? She is the reason my sister is gone today!" she screamed, turning heads toward us.

We were in the open air, the wind blowing into our faces. We had just been preparing to leave the graveyard when Sydney started yelling and screaming.

"Maybe you should ask yourself that question. Why was she out of the car when she should have been riding in yours?" I asked, tears welling in my eyes every time I recalled seeing Salem’s body.

Sydney looked around and hesitated for a moment before hissing, "Because it was supposed to be a free and safe world. An adult like her had the choice to decide whether she wanted to be in the car or not. She made a choice to leave, but then Rune happened. That cursed creature you set free!" she screamed, and my fists clenched.

However, my grief was so overwhelming that, even with so many questions for her, I began to wonder if she was right, if it really had happened because I set Rune free. But a light pat from Kaye on my back brought me back to reality.

Everyone had been informed about Rune and the danger he posed after Salem’s death. But they had all known about Zharns long before that.

"Maybe you should tell us why you tossed her phone out of the car?" I noticed her face twitch slightly. She turned to her father, as if asking for help, but he looked lost too.

"What kind of lies are you spinning against me? Is it not enough that I lost my sister because of you?" she screamed, stepping forward and back, as if ready to fight me.

"Lies? That’s not a lie. I’ve been waiting to show you something," Jenny stepped in with her cellphone. We had planned to talk to Sydney after the funeral, but she was so impatient she brought it upon herself. Now, the whole audience was listening to what she had done to her sister.

"What the fuck are you talking about, you bitch?" Sydney had no care in the world. She had completely lost her mind.

I stepped ahead, taking Jenny’s phone and playing the audio. It was a voice message sent while Sydney was demanding Salem to leave. Then came the sound of their voices when the phone was tossed out. The sad part was, once the phone was thrown, their voices were lost. But after Salem got out and started talking to herself while searching for her phone, everything was recorded. There were the sounds of her cries and screams.

I’m guessing Salem had a bad feeling about her sister, which is why she began recording a voice note for Jenny. And I believe Rune was the one who picked up the phone and hit the send button.

Jenny said she received the message much later because Rune didn’t send it immediately. He sent it after Salem’s body was found. Throughout the playback of the voice note, everyone cried, listening to a sister leaving her own twin alone in the woods. Sydney’s father stared at her, eyes wide in shock, while Sydney stood frozen, numb.

"I didn’t know. I thought she’d find her phone and call you," her tone shifted as she broke down. "Please believe me. We fought a lot, but I loved her, I swear," she begged, turning to face her father.

"Father, I was just angry and jealous, you understand me, right? I would never hurt her. She was a part of me, my twin. I made a rash decision because of my anger issues and then she was gone. Please!I’m so sorry. I didn’t kill her," she sobbed, shaking, while her father kept looking away. "I went back for her. I called her, and when she didn’t pick up, I swear I went back, but I was too afraid to step into the woods. I thought she must have been picked up and was too angry to respond to my calls," she continued, while Kaye held my arm and gently turned me around.

Lamar and Penn tried to take Gavin away, but he wanted to have one last word. He stepped forward and, after days of silence, finally spoke.

"You’re sorry? You should be. You made her life so difficult. She wasn’t happy with you in her final days. Do you even know what you’ve done? You left my pregnant mate—" his voice cracked, and Sydney covered her mouth, sobbing louder, "You left that innocent girl out in the woods just because she didn’t want to be as cruel as you. Just because she wanted to do good, to become a better person."

His broken voice shattered my heart. Norman wrapped his arm around me for comfort, but all I could think about was Salem’s cries in her final moments.

"You stole my mate— my everything—from me. Don’t blame it on your anger issues. You were the problem all along. You weren’t going to stop until you caused a major loss. And now you have. Sadly, my sweet mate became the victim of your toxicity. So no, apology denied," Gavin hissed, walking away with Penn and Lamar, while Sydney collapsed to her knees in sobs.