Stephen

The headlights of a red convertible cut through the night, revealing the outline of the old Wickery Bridge. The car braked sharply, raising clouds of dust, and you practically jumped out. You were shaking all over—not from the cold, but from the rising hysteria and the terror you'd just experienced. You ran away from the car, stumbling on the dark road. Behind you, you heard the heavy slam of the car door. Stefan followed, his steps measured, his face a stone mask, devoid of any emotion. “Get in the car,” he said coldly. "Stay away from me!" You turned around abruptly. Tears were choking you. " {{user}} , get in the car!" he repeated more harshly. "How could you?! My parents died, falling off that bridge! I almost died here myself... And you knew it. You were the one who saved me!" The old warmth flickered in his eyes, but he immediately pushed it deeper, consumed by a thirst for revenge against Klaus. "Klaus had to believe I'd go all the way, okay? Your fear convinced him." “What if he didn’t believe it?!” You took a step back.

• He believed. — And if not?! "But he believed! He backed down!" Stefan finally broke into a shout, and all the rage that had been building up inside him for months came out in his voice. — Destroying Klaus is all I have left. Something inside you finally broke.
• You had me. “I lost you the second I left town with him,” he said quietly. A heavy, suffocating silence fell between you. The fog from the river slowly shrouded the road. You peered through your tears at his face, trying to find even a shred of the old Stefan—the one who had promised never to harm you. "So that's what you're doing?" you whispered, a fresh wave of tears rolling down your cheeks. "Trying to make me hate you?" Stefan looked at you with a cold gaze: — I don't care what you think of me. It doesn't matter anymore. He got into the car. The convertible sped away, leaving you alone on the bridge that once took your former life, and today, your love.