His expression darkened, and he stepped closer, suffocating me. “You think you can divorce me and just move on?”
I refused to flinch. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Marco grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. His grip wasn’t painful, but it was a warning.
“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” he murmured. “If you leave me, I will ruin you.”
My heart pounded, but I glared at him. “Go ahead. Do your worst.”
He smirked, but it wasn’t amusement.
“Oh, I will.”
Then his voice dropped, laced with something close to fear.
“You don’t get it, do you?” He chuckled bitterly. “My grandfather chose you for me. You think he’ll just let you go?”
I froze.
Marco’s grandfather. The man who controlled the Rivera empire. The man who had forced Marco to marry me.
The memory hit me like a freight train.
I had met Marco as a patient, a car accident victim I’d cared for. I’d fallen for him. And when his grandfather decided I was perfect for Marco, I didn’t resist.
Marco courted me after he healed. A year later, we married. I thought it was love.
But now, I realized… it had never been his choice.
His grandfather held the strings.
And if he found out Marco was cheating? That Marco wanted me gone?
The old man would destroy him.
I could see it now, the flicker of real fear in Marco’s eyes. He couldn’t lose me. Not because he loved me, but because if he did, he’d lose everything.
And that… gave me power.
For the first time since Celeste’s death, hope sparked in my chest.
I had nothing left to lose. But Marco? He had everything to lose. And I was going to make sure he did.
—
And that night, I picked up my phone to call Marco’s grandfather, my hands trembled.
This was it. My way out.
My thumb hovered over the screen, heart pounding in my chest. One call, and everything would change. I could be free. I could finally breathe again.
But before I could dial, my phone buzzed in my hand.
Marco.
A sick feeling curled in my stomach. I hesitated, then answered. “What?”
His voice was tense, clipped—so unlike his usual arrogance. “Grandfather had a heart attack. He’s in the hospital.”
The world tilted beneath me.
I clutched the phone tighter. “What?”
“He collapsed an hour ago. He’s in a coma.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. The man who had unknowingly kept me safe, the only leverage I had over Marco… was now unconscious. My last hope, slipping through my fingers.
My throat felt tight. “Is he going to wake up?”