His Untamed Rose novel Chapter 44

Lumina didn’t care whether he was angry or not. She simply rubbed her sore wrist where he’d grabbed her, turned, and climbed into her car. With a single motion, she pulled away, speeding off into the twilight.

She drove around Banyan Town aimlessly for a while, letting the streets blur past. Eventually, the car rolled to a stop at the cemetery.

Whenever her thoughts grew too heavy, there was only one place that offered her a sliver of peace—where her brother rested.

She picked up a bouquet at a nearby florist, clutching a photo in her hand as she took the familiar path beneath the old trees. But as she approached her brother’s grave, she saw someone was already there.

A woman knelt at the headstone, her hair streaked with gray, shivering in the chill of the evening with nothing but a thin jacket draped over her shoulders. She traced the engraved portrait with trembling fingers, whispering words that the wind quickly carried away.

Lumina stopped short, unable to take another step forward.

After hesitating, she finally called out, her voice barely above a whisper, “Mom.”

The woman froze, then slowly raised her tear-stained face toward Lumina. Her red-rimmed eyes instantly flashed with anger. She staggered to her feet, rage twisting her features.

“What are you doing here? How dare you show your face?” Tiana’s voice was sharp, trembling with hatred. “Hugo wouldn’t want to see you. You’re nothing but a curse, you brought death to your own brother—get out!”

Every time she saw someone from the Jardin family, the exchange was the same. Over the years, Lumina’s heart had grown shields of steel.

But now, after so long without hearing it, her defenses felt fragile and thin.

A bitter sting filled her chest, but Lumina held her ground, meeting her mother’s furious gaze. “He was my brother. Why shouldn’t I be here?”

She bent to lay the flowers on the grave, but Tiana kicked them aside with a forceful sweep of her foot.

The white petals scattered across the grass, torn and trampled, their beauty ruined—just like whatever bond remained between mother and daughter.

Lumina slowly lifted her head, her eyes turning cold. “It’s true. He died because he was driving to pick me up late that night. But all these years, you never looked for the real driver, you just blamed me. Is that fair?”

She hadn’t meant to use so much force, but Tiana stumbled backward, lost her footing on the uneven ground, and fell hard. Her head hit the stone steps with a sickening crack.

It happened in an instant—blood began to pool beneath her.

Tiana let out a faint, broken moan, then slipped into unconsciousness.

“Mom!” Panic seized Lumina as she rushed to her mother’s side, shaking her and calling out, but there was no answer.

Her hands trembling, Lumina dialed emergency services. “Please! You have to come quickly! My mom’s hurt, please help her!”

“Mom, please…”

As she waited for help to arrive, Lumina knelt in the dirt, clutching her mother in her arms. Between sobs, she tried to wipe the blood from Tiana’s forehead with trembling tissues. “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault that Hugo died. Blame me, hate me, do whatever you want, just—just let you and Dad be okay…”