The woman who never flinched felt the sky collapse. Panic stripped her of her logic. She followed the kidnappers' demands blindly, walking alone into the trap to deliver the ransom.
Predictably, they planned to kill her too.
I didn't think. I drove into the chaos, disregarding my own life to negotiate, buying just enough time for the police to breach the perimeter.
The kidnappers didn't go easy on me. They beat me within an inch of my life.
When I woke up in the ICU, Natalie and her parents were at my bedside.
Her mother smiled, though her eyes were wet. "Liam, I heard you gave up your career, your future, everything... just for our Wanshin. We've been watching you."
She took my hand. "And now, you've almost died for us. This is a debt we can never repay. We approve. You and Wanshin should be together."
When her mother said those words, Natalie's face went pale.
But she didn't argue. She nodded, accepting her fate.
If Dominic Gilbert hadn't appeared, perhaps I would have continued to delude myself. I might have believed that I had actually chipped away the ice around her heart.