Chapter 4

Every tender moment, every apology, every make-up gift. All of it was staged for the outside world, so they could rut behind my back in peace.

They were doing it on my bed, in my ward, with my comatose daughter right beside them.

In the dark, my tears dried up.

I don't know how long it was. Eventually the ward went quiet.

I heard the door close. Only then did I push the closet open, little by little.

Cold air rushed into my lungs. I crawled out, clinging to the bed, gasping.

Fiona. Damien.

I was going to collect every debt. One by one.

A nurse pushed the door open just then. She saw me tied up and ran over to untie the strips at my wrists.

My eyes went straight to Evie on the bed.

The heart monitor had been unhooked.

No beeping.

My breath stopped. I lunged at her.

"Evie?"

My throat was dry. I reached for her nose to feel for breath.

The next second, the bottom fell out of the world.

"Healer! Healer!"

I was screaming, shaking. The nurse slammed the emergency call button. A team rushed in with the crash cart.

The moment the probe touched Evie's chest, the doctor slowly shook his head.

"The patient's heart stopped more than half an hour ago. I'm sorry."

"No. No."

I shook my head. My lips wouldn't form the words. I threw myself over her cold body and screamed until my voice broke.

The nurse cried. She gently pulled me back so the staff could take care of the body.

I was standing there, hollow, when a familiar figure walked into the room.

Damien wrapped his arms around me like nothing had changed.

"It's all right. I've already booked the finest hall at the crematorium. We'll give Evie a proper, dignified service."

"She'll come back in the next life."

He was calm. Like Evie had just had a fever. Not died.

I could smell Fiona's perfume on him. Inch by inch, my eyes went cold.

The heart monitor had been pulled while they were doing it.

I didn't say anything. I pushed him off me, disgusted.

His fingers twitched. He felt something wrong and didn't know what to say about it, so he said nothing.

Fiona was standing behind him. She smiled faintly and tugged down the collar of her dress.

Red marks crossed the pale skin underneath. Bite marks.

I stood frozen, looking at the victorious set of her face, my fingers clenched so hard they were turning purple.

They cremated Evie fast. When I walked out of the crematorium holding the small urn, my hands were blue from cold.

I didn't dare let go. This was all that was left of her.

Damien was next to me, still on the phone arranging the service.

I didn't answer him.

I held the urn tight and quietly went back to the Hart estate.

Because I was acting so normal, Damien didn't notice where I'd gone.

The family wasn't home. I walked straight into the study. My old backup phone was still in the drawer.

I pulled up my lawyer's contact and sent him every piece of evidence.

【Is this enough to put Fiona away?】

He replied instantly. 【More than enough to open a case. Abuse resulting in death of a minor, intentional murder. She'll spend the rest of her life confined.】

I pressed my temples and took a breath.

【Then please draw up the Severance papers. Have them delivered to the medical wing.】

Damien didn't notice anything wrong until he couldn't find me.

"Where did Selene go?"

No one answered him. He called a dozen times. Every line was busy. He realized I'd blocked him.

His face changed. He ran all the way back to the ward.

The bed was empty.

The nurse gave him one look and pushed a document across the table to him.

"Ms. Hart asked me to give you this before she left."

He took it. His eyes went red, instantly.

It was a set of Severance papers. Drawn up somewhere, sometime, without him ever knowing.

Damien stared at the Severance papers, reading each line. The pages were creased where he'd gripped them. His knuckles had gone white.

【The Bond is broken. Continued cohabitation is impossible.】

The words cut into him.

He couldn't understand it. How could I leave this cleanly? Not a crack for him to slip back through?

He tried to call me again.

【The number you have dialed is turned off.】

He stood up and called his assistant. "Track Selene's movements. Every flight, every train, every hotel. Don't miss one."

His assistant didn't waste a second.

Half an hour later, she was back.

"Alpha Kane, there's no record of her boarding a flight or buying a ticket. No hotel check-in. She last appeared on surveillance at two in the morning, getting into an unmarked black car."

"So she drove out." Damien's hand tightened around the phone. His voice was rough.

"Yes. The car headed southbound. We believe she went back to the Hart estate."

The Hart estate.

After we'd been Marked, I'd barely mentioned it to him. He'd almost forgotten I was an Alpha's daughter. He regretted that now. If Hart Pack was drawn into this, things would get much harder.

He stared at the papers. In his head, he kept seeing my back as I walked away. A tight, dull pain settled in his chest.

Like something precious was slipping out of his hand.