“Not exactly, yet yes.”
Renzo had prepared a proposal ring for me, but he died before I could wear it. So, I’d had an identical one made so it looked like I’d accepted his proposal.
“You actually have a grudge against Margaret? If you hate me, take it out on me. She’s only my sister. She won’t stop me from marrying you.” He tried to reason, voice strained. “Besides, you said you were going to marry him, didn’t you? Renzo and I look exactly the same. Marrying me is like marrying my brother.”
I stroked his face with a near-greedy touch. “Yes, exactly the same. If it weren’t for your hoarse voice, I might almost mistake you for him.”
But I knew Renzo wouldn’t have treated me like this. He was clean and pure, not the kind to become a crime boss, not the kind to keep a sheltered girl as a pet, not the kind to sneak from my room into Margaret’s to satisfy himself, not the kind to have one eye stabbed out by me.
“Cade.” I sneered and grabbed a nearby bottle, smashing it down on his head. The glass shattered across his skull.
My voice was soft but sharp as it rang out, “Cade, I got close to you to have you pay for it.”
He staggered, nearly split open by the blow, but he stayed on his feet.
The private doctors gasped and rushed forward to steady him.
“Phoebe!” Blood trickled from the corner of his eye. “Tell me, why did you come to me, only to refuse to bear my child? What do you actually want?”
My gaze cooled until it was ice.
Phoebe's POV
“Where’s Renzo?” I asked.
“At his grave,” Cade answered.
All I knew was that the night before he planned to propose, Renzo had gone back to thier family home. He said his parents were gravely ill and there was urgent business. But he never came back after that.
Afterwards, the eldest son, Cade, became heir, and Renzo seemed to vanish into thin air. It took me a long, exhausting search to learn the truth.
On the day the Olivers ‘mourned,’ Cade had murdered his own brother to secure the inheritance.
“Phoebe, give it up. You’ll never see him again,” Cade said, standing unafraid and sneering. His voice was cold and certain. “I buried him alive. I burned him to ash. I didn't even write his name in his tombstone or light a candle for him.”
“You’ll rot for this, Cade!” I snapped, blood burning behind my eyes. “Aren’t you afraid of karma? He wanted nothing, didn’t plan to compete with you. Why couldn’t you leave him alone?”