I blinked hard, my head still foggy, my thoughts lagging behind the moment. “W‑What are you even saying?”
Something flew straight at my face. Pain snapped against my cheek. I gasped and looked down.
A necklace.
My necklace.
The one I thought I’d lost the night the man in black attacked me.
“Aria!” Thorne snarled, jaw locked so tight I could hear his teeth grind. “Start talking. Now.”
My hands trembled as I picked it up, the chain cold against my fingers. “This… this belongs to me. But I don’t know how—”
“She messaged me last night,” he cut in sharply. “Just two words. Help me. When I rushed to the hospital, her bed was empty. This was all that was left.” His eyes burned into me, sharp and accusing, like he’d already decided my guilt.
My mouth went dry. “This has nothing to do with me.”
In a blink, he surged forward. His fingers clamped around my throat, crushing the air from my lungs. His face twisted, rage spilling out unchecked. “You told me yesterday that Lilith hurt you. And now she’s vanished. You expect me to believe this isn’t revenge?”
I clawed at his wrist, choking, but forced myself to meet his eyes. “I don’t know where she is,” I rasped. “I swear. I didn’t do anything.”
But Thorne never believed my words. Not once.
Instead, he gestured coldly.
Tristan was dragged forward like he weighed nothing, his arms bound behind him in that humiliating, exaggerated way meant to make a spectacle of him. They dumped him onto the asphalt directly in front of a car.
“Tristan!” My heart dropped so fast it hurt.
The headlights flared, blinding. I barely had time to inhale before the engine revved.
The car rolled forward.
There was a sickening crack.
“AHHH!” Tristan screamed, his body jerking violently. “Aria! My leg—my leg!”
My entire body shook. “Brother!” I screamed until my throat burned. “Thorne, stop! What are you doing to him? Are you insane?!”
His voice was calm. Too calm. “I warned you. From now on, the car moves every minute. We’ll start with his limbs.” His gaze locked onto mine. “If you don’t tell me where Lilith is within three minutes, the next stop will be his head.”
“Please—no!” Tears streamed down my face, blurring everything. “I don’t know anything! Why can’t you believe me? Just once—please believe me!”
I had never felt so helpless in my life.
Tristan writhed on the ground, his face ashen, sweat soaking through his clothes. “Aria…” he gasped. “Don’t listen to him… save yourself…”
Thorne scoffed. “One minute gone.”
He lifted his hand.
The car jerked forward again.
This time, it crushed Tristan’s hand.
The scream that tore from him ripped straight through my chest. “My hand! Aria—I can’t feel my hand!”
“No—stop! Please stop!” I collapsed to my knees in front of Thorne, grabbing at his coat. “I’m begging you. Don’t hurt him anymore. If you think I did this, punish me instead. Kill me if you want. Just—please—don’t touch my brother. Please… believe me.”
There was no mercy on his face. Only irritation.
He raised his hand again.
The headlights flared brighter.
I shook my head wildly. “No—please—don’t—”
The engine roared.
The car surged forward.
I didn’t think. I didn’t hesitate.
I tore myself free from the guards and ran.
“Aria, don’t!” Tristan screamed, his voice already breaking.
I threw myself over him, covering his body with mine.
I heard Thorne shout my name, panic cracking his voice—but it was already too late.
Everything exploded into white.
Pain slammed into my waist. Something snapped inside me. Hot blood flooded my mouth, metallic and choking. The world tilted, blurred, fell apart.
“Aria!” Thorne’s voice sounded distant as hands grabbed me. His fingers brushed the corner of my mouth, wiping away blood as if that could undo anything. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” he kept repeating, like the words alone could save me.
Then the secretary burst in, breathless, all urgency and performance. “Sir, we found her,” she said brightly. “She’s in the suburbs. Injured and terrified. No one can get close, but she keeps calling your name.”
Thorne froze.
Like someone had flipped a switch.
They rushed Tristan and me into an ambulance, sirens screaming as we sped toward the hospital. But halfway there, chaos exploded at the ER entrance. Shouting. Stretchers crashing. Alarms shrieking like a countdown.
“Lilith needs immediate attention,” the secretary whispered urgently, eyes glossy with just the right amount of concern. “She’s in pain—she says her hand might be ruined. One ER doctor is already with Mr. Gu’s son, and the other—” She paused, watching Thorne closely. “We can send someone, but it’ll take at least thirty minutes.”
I saw it then.
That moment where he weighed me.
My broken, bleeding body.
Against her hands.
My lips almost curved into a laugh. I was dying, and he was deciding the fate of fingers. I tried to smile, but blood spilled faster, warmth draining from me as the ceiling swam.
Then Lilith’s voice cut through the noise, fragile and practiced. “W‑Thorne… please. I’m a surgeon. My hands are everything. If they’re damaged, I’m finished. I’m so sorry… I should have died today. I was just lucky to escape.”
She cried perfectly.
That was enough.
Thorne turned without hesitation. “Save her first,” he ordered. “She can’t lose her hands.” Then, like an afterthought, “Aria, hold on a little longer.”
Like my life was an appointment that could be delayed.
I tried to speak. I didn’t do anything. The words dissolved into slurred sounds. The room spun. His eyes flicked to mine for half a second—pity, calculation, maybe both—then he walked away, following the stretcher carrying Lilith.
They wheeled me somewhere else, but I heard his footsteps fade in the opposite direction.
The ceiling tiles blurred above me, and I thought, How can someone’s conscience be bought so easily by tears and timing?
I had nothing left to fight with. Time crawled. Every breath felt borrowed. I truly believed I would die on that table—until stubborn instinct dragged me back from the edge.
Six hours later, I woke up in a ward I knew far too well.
My throat burned. Pain screamed through my body. But I was alive.
The phone beside my bed vibrated.
When I answered, Thorne’s grandfather’s voice came through—steady, heavy, final. “Aria. Everything is prepared. This is the last step. You won’t regret it.”
I swallowed, forcing my voice to steady. “No. I’m ready to leave. Book three tickets. Once it’s done, I want to disappear immediately.”
I was about to ask him to confirm the details—
When the door slammed open.
My blood turned to ice.
“Aria,” Thorne said quietly, leaning against the doorway, eyes locked onto me. “Where do you think you’re going?”
