“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.