“Don’t worry, Lilith. I’m right here… I’ve got you,” he said, panic lacing every syllable—but it wasn’t for me.
He only glanced back because of the sound of my body hitting the wall. Then he waved two interns toward my father’s room. “Your father will survive. I’ll honor that promise,” he said, icy and detached. “But nothing will stop me from saving Lilith.”
The world spun black.
Before unconsciousness took me, one thought echoed: I had to escape. I had to vanish from his life forever.
---
When I woke, a card sat on my bedside table, a note tucked beneath it. “Your father’s surgery will have to wait a little longer.” That single line spoke volumes. For Lilith, Thorne could pause the world. For me and my father, we were always secondary.
My chest ached so fiercely I could barely inhale. Then laughter erupted—bitter, broken, the kind that emerges when your heart is in pieces. Clutching my chest, I grabbed my phone and called Thorne’s grandfather, the one who had always wanted me gone.
“I’ll do it,” I said. “I’ll divorce him. But I need your help. Help me fake my death. I want my father and brother with me. I want us gone. Forever.”
Two days later, after discharge, the divorce papers were ready. My lawyer had everything in order.
When I returned to the villa, Thorne was just leaving to fetch Lilith. He froze when he saw me. “You’re back? You look… pale,” he said, a flicker of concern crossing his face.
Pale? Of course I was pale. My father lay in a hospital bed like a vegetable, my brother was in prison, and he thought I could look vibrant? I didn’t answer.
I handed him the papers flatly. “Sign this.”
He blinked. “What…?” he began, but his phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, frowned, then, without hesitation, scribbled his signature and shoved the papers back at me.
“Lilith’s waiting. If it’s another work document, leave it in my study next time,” he said, already striding toward the door.
I stared at the signature, at how easily he let me go. He ended our marriage as if I were nothing. Pathetic.
I tucked the papers under my arm and walked straight to the courthouse.
---