Chapter 119. I’m Sorry, June

Hermes POV

“Hermes, let’s go. The doctors will attend to her,” My father’s assistant, Xavi’s voice echoed somewhere behind me, faint and distant through the ringing in my ears.

My eyes burned, tears blurring the sterile white of the VIP ward as he tried to drag me away. The sounds tangled together — the sharp cry of the monitor, the doctors shouting over each other.

“Charge to 90 joules!”

I jerked against Xavi’s grip, my arm stretching toward her pale, still face. “Mama!”

She had promised me she’d live. She said if I kissed her, she would live.

But she wasn’t opening her eyes.

The sound of the defibrillator cracked through the room — once, twice — before the long, shrill beep came, slicing straight through my chest.

I froze. The doctors stopped moving. Someone whispered, “Time of death…” but I didn’t hear the rest.

All I could see was her lips — cold, slightly parted — the same lips I’d kissed just minutes ago because she