CHAPTER 190

ELLA'S POV

The world around me exploded into chaos, but I barely registered it. Sirens wailed, their piercing screams cutting through the air like knives.

Red and blue lights flashed, painting the walls in a twisted dance of colors. But none of it mattered. Nothing mattered except the lifeless body in my arms.

"Please, don't leave me," I sobbed, shaking him desperately. "Trent, please. Wake up!"

I shook him gently, then more forcefully, willing his eyes to open, for his chest to rise and fall with breath. But he remained still, his skin growing colder by the second.

Police officers swarmed the room, their voices a distant hum in my ears. "Richard Donovan, you're under arrest," one of them shouted, his words barely penetrating my fog of grief. "For child abuse, illegal use of drugs, attempted murder, kidnapping..."

The list went on, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Let them arrest him. Let them lock him up and throw away the key. It wouldn't bring Trent back.

Mom lay crumpled on