The Scorned Heiress: No More Mercy novel Chapter 735

Aunt Kellen approaches Tara, her eyes softening. "Tara, I'm so glad you came. I honestly thought you wouldn't."

It is a tragic occasion, but seeing her niece here brings Kellen a profound sense of comfort. If Charles is watching from somewhere, knowing Tara came to say goodbye must mean she has finally forgiven him. He would be at peace.

"I didn't think I would either," Tara replies softly, keeping her devastating sorrow locked tight behind her ribs.

Her cryptic response leaves them guessing, but no one pushes her. The simple fact that she is standing here is a massive turning point, regardless of her reasons.

The rest of the service proceeds smoothly, draped in the heavy silence of grief. Tara doesn't speak to the brothers again. Given the suffocating atmosphere, it isn't the time for dramatic apologies or drawn-out conversations. There are only quiet sighs, muffled tears, and murmured condolences.

Eventually, the guests begin to filter out, leaving only the immediate family in the hall.

"You should all head out. Tara needs a moment alone," Danny says quietly but firmly, stepping in like a shield as the brothers tentatively approach her.

She steps closer to the black-and-white portrait of her father. The crushing weight of his loss—an ache she has been fiercely suppressing—finally claws its way to the surface. She has a million things she wants to tell him, a lifetime of suppressed conversations raging inside her chest, but her throat is tight.

She reaches out, her fingertips tracing the cold edge of the picture frame as if she could somehow feel the warmth of his skin. Memories flood her mind. She remembers him swinging her through the air until she was dizzy with laughter. She remembers him waiting by the school gates with her favorite candy apples, and how he used to clumsily wipe her tears when she was upset.

Those fragmented, beautiful memories now slice through her like shattered glass. Every breath burns. She parts her lips to speak, but the words choke in her throat, escaping only as a muffled, broken sob.