Addison POV:
His words hung in the air, absurd and cruel. A rare, mythical orchid? For a fabricated illness? My jaw clenched.
"Are you insane?" I hissed, my voice barely a whisper, laced with disbelief. "You're sending me, a neurosurgeon, to find some ancient herb? After everything you've put me through? My greatest crime, Clark, was ever saving Aurora's mother in the first place."
His face darkened, a storm brewing in his eyes. "You dare to question me, Addison? You've become venomous. Unreasonable." He pulled out his phone, a grim smirk on his face, and showed me a picture. It was a digital rendering of Anissa's urn, shattered, her ashes scattered, but meticulously arranged to form a crude, mocking symbol. A fresh wave of grief, hot and raw, washed over me.
My eyes burned, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of tears. I just stared at him, my teeth gritted so hard my jaw ached.
"You really believe in this... Moonpetal Orchid?" I choked out, trying to buy time, to make him see the ridiculousness of it all. "You, a tech mogul, would rather trust some fairy tale herb than actual medical science?"
"I don't need to explain myself to you," he said, his voice cold, final. "Go. And don't make me repeat myself."
A profound weariness settled over me. My heart ached with a hollow despair. I had no other choice. Not yet. I would go. But I would not come back.
They took me to a private yacht. As we sailed further and further from the shore, the city lights fading into the horizon, I saw Clark and Aurora in the lavish cabin below. They were laughing, clinking champagne glasses. A celebratory toast, no doubt, for my forced exile.
Aurora, seeing me, waved with a saccharine smile. "Do be careful, Addison! The sea can be quite dangerous this time of year." Her concern was as fake as her tears.
Clark, his eyes glazed with alcohol, raised his glass. "Remember, Addison? You used to love diving. So graceful, so strong. Such a shame those hands of yours are no longer capable of such finesse." He laughed, a cruel, mocking sound that echoed in the vast emptiness of the ocean.
My right hand, still a bandaged club, instinctively clenched. He had forgotten. He had utterly forgotten that my hands, the hands he had just mocked, were shattered because of him. The realization was a fresh stab of pain, a testament to his utter indifference.
The boat stopped in the middle of nowhere. A small, inflatable dinghy was lowered, along with a diving suit and basic equipment. They pointed to a spot in the churning waves. "Down there," one of his guards said, his voice flat. "That's where the orchid is said to grow."
I took a deep breath, the salty air filling my lungs. I plunged into the cold, dark water. The frigid embrace was a shock, a brutal welcome to the deep.
Below, the visibility was horrendous. A murky, green-tinged world. My damaged hand pulsed with an unfamiliar ache, making every movement a struggle. I kicked, propelled by a desperate need for survival, for escape.
Then, a sudden, powerful current churned around me. A dark, massive shape hurtled past, barely missing me. A shark. My heart leaped into my throat. I pressed myself against a jagged rock face, my breath coming in ragged gasps. I had to focus. I had to find that damned orchid.
Another, even larger shadow, moved in the periphery. A monstrous silhouette against the faint light filtering from above. This was no ordinary dive. This was a death trap.
My eyes scanned the seabed. And then I saw it. A faint, almost iridescent glow, nestled amongst a cluster of seaweed. The Moonpetal Orchid. Right beneath my feet.
Anissa's scattered ashes. The reporters' cruel taunts. Clark's cold, indifferent eyes. They flashed before my eyes, fueling a desperate, burning rage. If I was going down, I would take at least one more piece of him with me.
I pushed off the rock, lunging towards the orchid, my damaged hand screaming in protest. I ripped it free from its rocky bed, clutching the delicate flower tightly.
Just as I turned, a massive bulk collided with me. A shark, its jaws agape, a terrifying maw of razor-sharp teeth. It was heading straight for me.
My mind raced. Desperate. I ripped off my oxygen tank, raising it like a club, and swung it with all my remaining strength, hitting the shark' s snout. It recoiled, startled, buying me a precious few seconds.
But the force of the impact sent a fresh wave of agony through my right wrist. It crumpled, the bones grating, a fresh wave of pain making my vision blur. My hands. Broken again. Forever.
My lungs burned. My head spun. The water, once a refuge, now felt like a suffocating shroud. I was sinking. Down, down into the cold, black abyss. I was going to die here.
And then I saw him. Clark. His face, distorted by the water, his eyes wide with a frantic terror, plunging into the depths, reaching for me. He looked frantic, almost insane.
A bitter, hollow laugh bubbled up, escaping my lips in a stream of silver bubbles. He looked so desperate. So ridiculous. The man who had condemned me to this fate, now playing the hero. It was an act. All of it.
I wished I had never met him. Never loved him. Never saved him. Let him drown.
