Chapter 4: One Hundred Regrets

No one moved.

The basement felt as though time itself had stopped.

Ryan remained on his knees beside my body, his hands trembling uncontrollably.

His eyes never left my pale face.

"No..." he whispered again.

"You're just cold... that's all..."

He reached toward my cheek, desperately trying to warm it with his palm.

But death had stolen every trace of warmth from me.

I watched him silently.

Only now did he touch me so gently.

Only now did he look at me as though I mattered.

If only he had done that yesterday.

Mom slowly walked down the basement stairs.

"Ryan?" she called nervously.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

The moment she reached the bottom step, she froze.

"Sophie..."

The color drained from her face.

"No..."

"No, this isn't real..."

Her legs gave out beneath her.

She collapsed onto the dirty concrete floor, staring blankly at my body.

"Wake her up..." she whispered.

"Someone wake my daughter up..."

Dad stood behind her like a statue.

The man who had always seemed so strong suddenly looked decades older.

His lips trembled.

His eyes slowly filled with tears.

"She... she called us..."

He remembered the notification on his phone.

He remembered dismissing it.

He remembered blocking the Pack Bond because he thought I wanted attention.

His shoulders shook violently.

"What have I done..."

Conner rushed downstairs after hearing Mom scream.

The smell hit him first.

Then he saw me.

"Soph..."

His voice broke.

He stumbled backward until his back slammed against the wall.

"No..."

"No... this can't be Sophie..."

His phone slipped from his fingers and crashed onto the floor.

It was the same phone he had used to leave me a voicemail demanding I bake cookies for Ella.

Now it lay forgotten beside my blood.

Detective Marcus remained calm despite the heartbreaking scene.

"Nobody touch anything," he ordered.

"This is now an active homicide investigation."

The investigators continued photographing every inch of the basement.

One officer carefully collected my broken phone.

"Detective," he said quietly.

"The victim made multiple emergency calls before she died."

Marcus nodded.

"Recover every message and every call log."

"I want a complete timeline."

Ryan suddenly grabbed the investigator's arm.

"Give me the phone."

"Please..."

Marcus looked at him for a long moment before handing it over.

Ryan unlocked the cracked screen.

The final outgoing calls filled the display.

Mom.

Dad.

Conner.

Ryan.

Ryan.

Ryan.

His breathing became uneven.

"She called me three times..."

"Three times..."

He opened the last voice recording automatically saved before the battery had died.

The basement filled with my weak, trembling voice.

"Ryan... please..."

"It hurts..."

"I'm scared..."

"Please come home..."

"I don't want to die..."

A loud sob escaped Ryan's throat.

He covered his face with both hands.

"I thought..."

"I thought she was lying..."

"I thought she wanted attention..."

Nobody answered him.

Because there was nothing anyone could say.

Mom burst into tears.

"I texted her..."

"I told her to stop pretending..."

"I told her we'd cut off the Pack Bond..."

She clutched her chest as though she could no longer breathe.

"She was really dying..."

"And I abandoned her..."

Dad slowly sank to his knees beside her.

His hands shook so badly he couldn't even wipe away his tears.

"She trusted us..."

"She called her family..."

"And we all ignored her..."

Conner suddenly remembered the notebook lying on my bedroom floor.

The single number written inside.

Ninety-nine.

"The journal..." he whispered.

"That's what it meant..."

"It wasn't random..."

"It was every time we let her down..."

His eyes widened in horror.

"Yesterday..."

"Yesterday became the hundredth time..."

Upstairs, the front door opened again.

More Pack officers entered the house.

Behind them came the Alpha himself.

The strongest werewolf in the region rarely appeared in person.

The moment he stepped into the basement, complete silence fell.

He looked at my body.

Then his gaze slowly shifted toward the unopened award case resting on a nearby shelf where Dad had left it.

One officer picked it up and handed it to him.

The Alpha opened the wooden box.

Inside rested the silver Distinguished Service Medal engraved with my name.

He closed the box again.

His voice was heavy with sorrow.

"Yesterday, this medal was supposed to be placed around Sophie's neck."

"Instead..."

"We're identifying her body."

No one dared meet his eyes.

The Alpha turned toward Ryan.

"Captain Ryan."

"As her mate..."

"Did you know she called for help yesterday?"

Ryan couldn't answer.

His silence was answer enough.

The Alpha's expression darkened.

"A mate bond exists to protect one another."

"You abandoned yours."

Those words struck Ryan harder than any physical blow ever could.

He lowered his head until it nearly touched the floor.

"I know..."

"I'll regret it for the rest of my life..."

Standing beside my own body, I watched every one of them drown in guilt.

The regret I had dreamed of seeing for years was finally here.

Yet it brought me no satisfaction.

Because regret could never bring back the girl lying on the cold basement floor.

As investigators continued searching the room, one officer suddenly called out.

"Detective Marcus..."

"You need to see this."

He carefully lifted a small silver bracelet from beneath the broken table.

Attached to it was a tiny wolf-shaped charm.

Marcus narrowed his eyes.

"Bag it as evidence."

"It doesn't belong to the victim."

I recognized it instantly.

I had seen Ella wearing that bracelet just two days before my death.

For the first time since discovering my body...

Hope flickered inside me.

The truth wasn't finished revealing itself.

Someone had made a mistake.

And that single forgotten bracelet was about to destroy everything Ella had built.