it

nd that echoed off the cold concrete walls of the visitation room.

, a scent that clung to Aria' s clothes and skin since the moment she' d been shoved through its gates. The fluorescent

cks and hands that looked like they were made for crushing things. Their faces were impassive, but their

se cornered by predators, and the man she had loved for a decade was the one who had led them to her. She was accu

were a fragile plea in the oppressive silence. "It wasn't me

a point on the wall just above her head, as if she

floor. One grabbed her left arm, the other her right, their grips like ir

eet scrabbling for purchase on the smooth concrete. She kicked and twisted, her bod

was u

t open. The sound of tearing fabric was loud and violent in the small room. A wav

ing to cover herself. Her hands were pinned. She was utterly exposed, her dignity strippe

ly. One guard held her down while the other' s rough hands began to roam her body, a vile, invasiv

rom her throat, laced with desperation and disbelief. "

onflict, only a deeper, more profound disgust. It was the look

, venomous sneer. "That title means nothin

ung to, the foolish belief that his love for Kendall was a temporary madness, th

per. "I want her to remember this day for the rest of her mis

eas became frantic sobs. She thrashed wild

ificial altar, her struggles only tightening the ropes t

er eyes on him, trying to find a flicker of the man she thought she kne

ontrast to the filth of the room and the ugliness of the act he was presiding over. He watched as the guards

rything was over. The ten years of silent devotion, the secret sketches of his face she kept hidden

d her. He had onl

ering in the depths of his dark eyes. He wanted to see he

You see, Aria? This is what happens when you overreach. Did you re

lips twisting into a crue

llain. He remembered the wedding night, the bitter taste of rejection he felt when Kendall told him Aria had thrown him out

pers, had found its target. He saw Aria as the source o

e words barely audible. "Kade, she

a convenient fiction where she was the monster and Kendall was the victim. For ten years, she had loved

nly as a liabilit

d whisper against her skin. He grabbed her chin, his fin

her name," he hissed.

nce. "How much did they pay you? Was it worth

out, her body trembling with a

hat sent a shiver down her spine. It wa

ess. Confess what you did, and maybe

p, his shadow looming over her. He gestu

al, as if he were discarding a piece of trash