“I suppose the cleanest solution is to eliminate her father,” Luther murmured, so casual it made my stomach turn. “Once he’s gone, getting rid of her will be simple.”
Ice flooded my veins.
I stood rigid outside his office door, lungs frozen mid-breath. My hand tightened around my bag strap until the leather dug into my palm. I didn’t move. I couldn’t. Every instinct screamed at me to run — but I was rooted there, absorbing his words like blows.
He wasn’t bluffing. Or raging.
He meant it.
I thought I had already seen the deepest part of his cruelty. I was wrong.
He chuckled, dripping arrogance. “Can you imagine? She really believed I saved her family. Me.” He snorted. “I destroyed everything they had.”
My knees buckled, and I leaned against the wall to stay upright.
His voice dropped — satisfied, proud. “Our companies were competing. Then came the talk of merging — everyone thought it’d be a win for both sides. But she wasn’t paying attention. Too busy playing princess instead of learning the business.”
I remembered those days — vague conversations about partnerships, a brief meeting with him at a charity gala. Something about him unsettled me even then, but my father always shielded me from corporate battles.
Until he couldn’t.
“Her father never suspected a thing,” Luther continued. “I engineered the investor withdrawal. The collapse. And when he ended up in that coma? I simply played the savior.”
Brielle laughed softly beside him. “And she clings to you like you’re her only hope.”
“She used to be,” he said. “But I don’t need her anymore. I own everything now — their company, their reputation. Her father’s medical bills are leverage until the last investors sign off.”
Brielle’s tone sharpened. “And what about me, Luther? Why haven’t you divorced her? Our son’s growing — don’t you want him to have a real father publicly?”
He kissed her. I heard it. My stomach churned.
“Be patient,” he murmured. “Once this deal closes, she’s gone. I still need her name — the investors believe in her family. But when the ink dries…”
He didn’t finish. He didn’t need to.
Their laughter followed — grotesque, triumphant.
And just like that, whatever pain I had left — evaporated. No tears. No rage. Just a hollow, quiet numbness.
Five years. My devotion. My silence. My vows. All for a lie.
I wasn’t loved — I was used. A pawn in his long-planned scheme.
I turned away and walked — not trembling, not breaking. Empty.
Later that day, I sat beside my father’s hospital bed, my fingers around his still hand. His breaths were steady, peaceful, untouched by the chaos that ruined us.
“Papa,” I whispered, voice trembling but determined, “I failed you. I should’ve listened in those meetings. I should’ve paid attention. Maybe I could have stopped him.”
His chest rose and fell, steady, quiet.
“I will fix this,” I swore. “Even if I have to burn everything down to do it.”
My phone buzzed.
A message from Nikolai.
Everything is arranged for you and your father. Three days from now. You're mine now, Claire — and I won’t ever release you.
Nikolai. My university rival. Brilliant. Cold. Relentless. And the man I turned to in desperation a week ago — the one who always said I would come to him one day.
And here I was.
When I returned home, it felt like stepping into a nightmare that hadn’t finished unfolding.
Brielle was in the living room. And with her — a toddler. A boy, barely three, happily running around as if he lived there. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him; she had brought him before, saying, “He belongs to a friend — I’m watching him.”
And a year ago, Luther started having me shop for baby presents.
“For a client,” he’d said. “Her son’s adorable.”
I had believed him. I had trusted her.
How pitiful.
Brielle vanished overseas right after my wedding — gone for months. Returned with a child. No explanation. I never asked.
Because I thought she was my friend.
But I had been purchasing gifts for her son. For their son.
My thoughts spiraled as the boy dashed past me, bumping into the altar in the center of the room.
My mother’s urn tipped. Fell.
Shattered.
A raw scream tore out of me. “What have you done?!”
The child stared, startled — then burst into frightened tears and ran.
Toward the staircase.
“Wait — stop!”
I lunged — too late. His foot slipped. He tumbled down the wooden steps, small body hitting rung after rung before collapsing at the bottom.
The house went silent.
I stared between the shattered urn — my mother’s remains — and the child lying still on the floor, shock sealing my breath inside my chest.
