“Aria,” he said slowly, “Lilith and I grew up together. That surgery… it was an accident. Maybe your father wouldn’t have survived, even if she hadn’t lost control. The media’s tearing her apart. You need to be reasonable. Record the video. Explain it clearly. Then this ends. The doctors are waiting, and afterward, I’ll free your brother.”
He spoke as if it were optional, but his eyes said otherwise.
Could I refuse? Could I risk saying no? If I did… would I end up in prison like Tristan? Or worse… like my father?
My heart felt like it shattered. I had trusted Thorne. For five years, he had given me everything. Every gift, every indulgence, every luxury—he made them mine. He never raised his voice, never scolded. I thought he was my safe place.
But since my father’s failed surgery, every plea for help was met with hesitation. And now I knew: he had never been my sanctuary. He was the blade.
At first, he acted indifferent. “Inconvenient,” he said, pretending it wasn’t his concern. But the moment Lilith’s name came up, his whole demeanor shifted.
“If you refuse,” he said, “your father dies today. Your brother stays in prison. Don’t blame me for cruelty, Aria. Lilith saved my life once, from that car accident. I promised I would protect her forever. Even if it’s you standing in the way, you won’t stop me.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than my father convulsed in his bed. Alarms screamed. Doctors rushed in and wheeled him away without even looking at me.
“Dad!” I screamed. I tried to run after him, but Thorne grabbed my arm.
“Record the video, and he can have surgery,” he said.
I stared at him like he was a stranger. “Thorne… are you even human?”
He shoved my hand aside, looming over me like a wall I couldn’t breach. “Thirty seconds. That’s it,” he said.
In that moment, a chill ran through me. For the first time, I was truly terrified of him. Those years of love—maybe they were never real.
I had been his secretary once. I remembered how he pursued me relentlessly: 199 letters, 999 bouquets, everything to make me smile. After two years of dating, he did everything to keep me.
He shielded me from the rich heiresses who mocked me for being poor. He defended me at auctions, made public declarations, abandoned billion-dollar projects just to stand by me. He flew thousands of miles to care for me when I was sick.