son

ve one! She's the one who fakes illnesses, who plays the victim, who steals other people's work!" My team. My l

ut Alicia that way! She's been through enough!" He raised a han

closed his eyes, taking a deep, ragged breath. When he o

ce low and menacing. "You will go to Alicia, and yo

horror. "Apologiz

upsetting her. For making her sick." His eyes were like chips of ice. "You will get on yo

. My vision blurred. This wasn't just humiliation. This was spiritual annihilation.

e barely a whisper. "Ne

, Emerson! You will! Her mother died saving my family, s

lf, Axel! Don't drag me into your twisted sense of obligation! We're di

re just saying that because you're angry." He still believed I loved him. He still believed I was just throwin

ce papers. My rage, my pain, fueled my movement

his house." He looked at me, a cruel glint in his eyes. "If you so much as step outside that door, I'll make sure

I had left. He knew my weakness. He would

" I whispered, my v

it. Three days to decide if your pride is worth their livelihoods." He turned t

he basement, used by his ancestors to punish rebellious servants. I had

their hands like steel bands. They dragged me, kicking and screaming, down the winding st

. A primal terror seized me. I hated the dark. Ever since I was a child, a fear of the dark had haunted me. Axel knew th

me into it himself. The

, I curled into a ball, shaking, sobbing, my body wracked with trem

s, unused to any illumination, burned. I was dragged out, my limbs numb, my

at me, then at Alicia. "What happened to her?"

ng on her lips. "I don't know, Axel. She's j

r depth, hardened again. He turned to me,

my voice a croak. I couldn't form the wor

l, darling, why don't you leave us? Emerson and

. He glanced at me one last time, a flicker of something unre

Her eyes, filled with a venomous hatred, narrowed. She grabb

My life? I hate you! I always have!" Her fingers clamped around my throat, squeezing. "He was mine! Before you! He always loved me! H

eeded air. My hands clawed

attered, glass raining down. Figures

, his presence. But the