Chapter 3

Mila's POV

The moment the warehouse door swung open, the stench of rust and damp hit me in the face.

Leander was tied to a chair. He looked up and saw me, and something in his eyes loosened for a split second before turning tight again. "Mila, why did you come?"

It was a good performance. He sounded exactly like a fiancé who never wanted the woman he loved anywhere near danger. If I had not seen those documents, I probably would have thrown myself at him in tears and asked if he was in pain.

I stood in the doorway and looked at him.

His face was pale, and blood sat at the corner of his mouth, but I knew the blood was fake. The ropes were loose. If he wanted to, he could stand up at any time.

He did not, because he was waiting for me to walk forward. He was waiting for me to complete the final sacrifice he had arranged.

One of the kidnappers stepped out of the shadows and tossed a knife at my feet. "Mila Carver, do you want him alive? It is simple. Stab yourself once, then jump off the dock."

Leander thrashed against the ropes. "Do not touch her!"

The kidnapper sneered. "Mr. Croft, is it not a little late to play the concerned lover?"

The color drained from Leander's face.

I looked at him, and he looked at me. In that instant, every other sound in the warehouse seemed to fall away.

I thought of my mother right before she died. When that blade came at me, she had thrown herself in front of it.

Her blood hit my face. I held her and pressed my hands over the wound, but no matter how hard I pushed, the bleeding did not stop. She looked up at me, and her lips moved for a long time before she managed a single word.

"Run."

I did not run. Because Leander held me and said, "You still have me."

So I stayed by his side. I stayed with the man who was truly responsible for her death.

I bent down and picked up the knife.

Leander's pupils contracted sharply. "Mila, put the knife down."

I asked quietly, "Leander, if I actually died today, would you finally be satisfied?"

His throat moved, and his voice came out strained. "I will not let you die."

"You only want to see whether I am willing to."

Every trace of color left his face. The men posing as kidnappers finally sensed that something was wrong and exchanged uneasy glances.

Katrina stepped out from the shadows. Her eyes were rimmed red, and she still wore that same fragile and helpless look.

"Mila, do not misunderstand. Leander has been in so much pain. He has been caught between you and the Croft family's grudge all these years. It has not been easy for him either."

I turned to her. "So watching my hand get destroyed, my mother die, and my child disappear made things easier for him?"

Katrina went white.

Leander's voice shook. "Mila, what did you find out?"

I smiled faintly. "Everything."

The warehouse went silent.

Leander looked as though that single word had nailed him to the chair.

I walked toward him, one step at a time. "Every staged accident you planned over the past seven years was because you believed the Carver family owed you a life, was it not? Then today, I am giving you that life."

Leander's breathing turned ragged. His eyes went red, and his voice dropped to a snarl. "That is not what this is."

I looked down at him. "Then what is it?"

He opened his mouth, and it took him a long time to force the words out. "After today, I genuinely want to marry you. As long as you pass my test, I am willing to let go of everything between our families."

It was laughable. He had broken my dream with his own hands, destroyed everything I had, and dragged me from a normal life into a living hell. Yet he still sat there, looking up at me from his throne, convinced that marrying me would be enough to make up for all the damage he had done.

I tightened my grip on the knife and asked quietly, "Leander, do you honestly believe that one 'I love you' from you is enough for me to forgive everything? To forgive what you did to my family, to forgive you?"

He searched my eyes for something to hold on to, but when he saw the finality in them, the last shred of hope in him shattered completely.

Leander began thrashing violently. The ropes that had been hanging loose snapped taut under the force, and blood appeared on his wrists within seconds.

"Untie me!" He turned on the men beside him with a roar.

"I said untie me!"

The men posing as kidnappers looked at each other, clearly unprepared for things to go this far.

Katrina reacted first. She rushed over and pressed down on Leander's shoulders. "Leander, calm down. She already knows. What are you going to do, run up to her? Mila is never going to forgive you."

Leander's bloodshot eyes locked on her, and he shoved her aside. "Get away from me."

Katrina stumbled backward, and humiliation covered her face.

I watched the two of them struggle and felt an exhaustion so deep it reached my bones. There was a time when nothing terrified me more than seeing Leander stand next to Katrina. I was afraid he would take her side, afraid he would go soft, afraid I would lose to her again.

Watching him shove her away, I did not feel a single moment of satisfaction.

Love that showed up this late meant nothing.

I pressed the tip of the blade against my white dress. Leander saw the movement and froze.

"Mila, do not do this." His voice dropped low, and desperation filled it.

"I was wrong. I know that now."

I smiled. "Leander, are you afraid of me dying, or are you afraid that I found out the truth before I died?"

Something blocked his throat, and for a long time he could not speak.

I answered for him. "It is the latter. Because if I had died for you without knowing any of it, you could have lied to yourself. You could have told yourself I loved you, told yourself the Carvers' debt was paid, told yourself you had finally earned the right to marry me.

"Too bad. I know exactly how you destroyed me."

I stepped backward, one step at a time, until I reached the rear door of the warehouse. The dock waited on the other side, and rain and crashing waves folded together like some grand farewell.

Leander finally tore the ropes from his wrists and charged toward me, but I was faster.

The back door flew open, and the cold and wet sea wind rushed in.

"Leander, the Carvers' debt to you is paid."

In the instant I fell, I caught sight of the rescue swimmer I had positioned in the distance long before any of this began. I also saw Leander lunging toward me like a man losing his mind.

"Mila, do not!"

I looked at him and spoke softly. "Live well. I want you to spend the rest of your life drowning in guilt and begging for forgiveness you will never get."

The freezing water swallowed me whole.

I heard Leander's scream tear through the air. "Mila!"

It sounded like it ripped him apart, but I did not look back.