I didn’t have the strength to argue anymore. I forced a smile that felt sharp and painful, like blades pressing against my gums, and dragged my exhausted body toward the kitchen.
The pot was already bubbling when I scooped the soup out and placed it on the dining table. My arm trembled from the weight, my wrist aching as I set the bowl down.
She barely glanced at it before curling her lip in disgust. “This is it?” she sneered. “This is what you call food? It looks revolting. Do you even know how to cook?”
Something inside me cracked. I ground my teeth and muttered, “Then don’t eat it.”
Her eyes flashed with something dark and vicious. Before I could react, she seized my wrist and slammed my hand straight into the boiling soup.
Agony exploded up my arm, white‑hot and unbearable, like fire tearing through my veins. I screamed and struggled, but she shoved harder, forcing my hand down as the bowl rattled wildly. It tipped, smashed against the floor, and shattered. Scalding liquid splashed everywhere.
When I finally tore free, I clutched my wrist, gasping. The skin was already swelling, blistering, red and raw. My hand didn’t even feel like part of my body anymore.
Footsteps thundered in as the crash echoed through the room. Before I could even speak, Lilith raised her hand and burst into fake tears. “Thorne! She threw the soup at me! She lost her temper and did it on purpose! My hand hurts so much…”
Thorne didn’t hesitate. His expression darkened instantly as he grabbed my injured wrist with brutal force.
“Aria! What is wrong with you?” he snapped. “Apologize to Lilith right now!”
Pain shot through me and I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. I yanked my hand away and shoved it toward his face. My palm was blistered, swollen, burned raw.
“You want me to apologize?” I said hoarsely. “Look at this. Look properly. Tell me who got burned. Tell me who really did what.”
For a split second, he froze. His gaze flickered between my ruined hand and her pale, trembling figure. Doubt crossed his face—just briefly.
Then she suddenly doubled over, clutching her stomach and crying out, “Thorne… my stomach hurts so bad. There were peanuts in the soup. You know I’m allergic to peanuts!” She gasped dramatically. “I only asked her one thing, and she exploded.”
She clung to him, sobbing louder. “If you don’t believe me, check the cameras. I would never lie to you, Thorne!”
“Ah… it hurts… it really hurts…”
I stared at her in disbelief. “I didn’t put peanuts in anything,” I said. “Whoever’s lying, the cameras will prove it.”
But Thorne’s hesitation vanished as if it had never existed. His face hardened, his eyes turning icy.
“I told you she’s allergic,” he said sharply. “How could you be so careless?”
She buried her face against his chest, her voice weak and pitiful. “Please don’t be angry at her. I know she hates me. I don’t blame her… she just wants me gone. Maybe I really should leave.”
“No,” he said immediately, tightening his arm around her. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Then he turned on me. “Aria. Apologize. Now.”
“Thorne, I swear I’m telling the tru—”
“That’s enough,” he cut me off coldly. He lifted her into his arms like I wasn’t even there. “I don’t want to hear another word from you.”
Then he looked at the butler. “Take her to the basement. Lock her in. She’s not coming out until I say so.”
My knees nearly gave out. The basement. That damp, foul place where he kept those snakes for her. I backed away, shaking uncontrollably.
“No… please. Not there. Don’t do this to me.”
I fought as they dragged me away, but it was useless. The door slammed shut behind me, and darkness crushed down on my chest.
The silence was broken by soft, terrifying hissing. My skin crawled. Something brushed against my ankle. I screamed and slapped at the floor, panic exploding inside me.
“Open the door! Please! Let me out!” I pounded until my fists burned and split. No one answered.
The air grew thick and suffocating. My skin erupted in rashes, itching and burning until I clawed at myself without realizing it. Hours passed. My throat went raw from screaming, and eventually I slid into the corner, shaking and gasping for breath.
When the door finally opened, I thought I was saved.
Light flooded in. I pushed myself upright, barely standing. Thorne stood there, backlit by the hallway. For one fragile heartbeat, I thought he might pull me out.
Then his voice cut through me, colder than anything I’d ever heard.
“Hold her down.”
Before I could react, two bodyguards rushed me. My arms were pinned, my jaw forced open. A bitter liquid was poured down my throat. I choked, coughing violently until blood splattered onto my clothes.
“What… what did you give me?” I croaked as fire spread through my chest.
Then it hit me.
My skin flushed red in blotches. My throat tightened, every breath slicing like knives. I knew this pain. I was allergic to seafood.
Thorne’s voice came calmly through my panic.
“You put peanuts in Lilith’s food. She’s in the hospital now. I warned you not to touch her, but you never listen. This is what she felt.”
He just stood there watching me writhe on the floor. No anger. No regret. Just cold indifference.
“I didn’t…” I tried to speak, but the words fell apart as pain ripped through me. No one cared. No one listened.
The last thing I saw was his face—calm, distant—as darkness swallowed me whole.
---
“Aria. Wake up.”
His voice pulled me back from the dark. My eyelids felt impossibly heavy, but when I finally opened them, Thorne was standing beside the bed. He exhaled deeply when he saw me conscious and reached out to brush my hair away.
I turned my head without thinking.
He froze. Then he pulled his hand back, as if I were the one who burned him.
