Three

KAIDA REED POV 

"I told you not to fucking touch her!" He roared, grabbed my arm, and yanked me up from the floor. "Your father is no longer here to protect you, and in case you forgot, I own everything now. Everything," he said, then shoved me. Hard.

I stumbled, my hand reaching for the wall to steady myself. 

The silence that followed seeped into my bones like ice. I couldn’t believe it, but it was reality. Lucien had really hit me.

"I don’t deserve this," I whispered, my teeth sinking into my lip. "All I’ve done is love you...so why am I being punished like this?"

He scoffed, then leaned in. "Because you forced a love that wasn’t meant to be."

I died a little inside. "I forced it?" I met his eyes. "You said you loved me. You asked me to marry you. How did I force anything?"

Helena jabbed a finger into my chest. "Are you really asking that question. You gave his sister your kidney. You literally forced him to love you!"

"I didn’t do it for him." My chest burned as I spoke. "Nessa was my friend long before she was his sister."

"Please," Helena scoffed, "The only reason you saved her was that you knew Lucien would have no choice but to pick you if you played the martyr."

"That is not true." My hands fisted in my hair as panic clawed up my throat. "You were all there at the hospital. I only agreed to donate because the doctor said any delay and she’d have died."

They both stared at me like I was out of my mind.

It was no use. They were going to blame me until the very end to cover up their own guilt. They could only be saints if I were the sinner.

"No matter how you try to paint it, Kaida, the truth is that you only did what you did to get me to marry you. You were obsessed with me. You made sure nothing stood in your way".

"Stop lying to yourself, you bastard. The real reason you’re doing all this is that you want to take over everything I have."

"Yes!" He thundered, the veins on his neck bulging. "After sacrificing so much of my time, I at least deserve that much. And just so you know, if Helena hadn’t proposed to kill you slowly, I would have done it a long time ago." 

He took a deep breath and pointed at my face. "I have to admit, it was pretty satisfying watching you suffer. Watching you being so pathetic made all the years I spent by your side fucking worth it."

I blinked back tears, my hands curling into fists. "Well, I hope it was fun while it lasted because it’s all over now. Even after finding out that you were poisoning me, I was ready to die at your hands because I loved you so much. You are right, I’ve been foolish, but you have to be a bigger fool if you think you two will ever be together."

"What are you going to do?" he scoffed, then gripped my chin, tipping it up so I was staring into his dark, cruel eyes. "Are you going to report me to the cops? Will you finally tell them that I was the one who killed those men on the night of our engagement..."

I blinked, swallowing the ball lodged in my throat. How did he know? On that night, I thought he hadn’t seen me. 

He grinned, all dark and evil. "Look at those eyes, Kaida. You can’t hide your emotions to save your life."

My nails dug into my palm. "I don’t know what you are talking about."

"Yes, you do." He leaned closer. "I won’t let you destroy everything I’ve worked so hard to build, Kaida."

Fear slithered down my spine.

"What are you going to do? If you kill me, you won’t get anything."

He laughed, then scoffed. "Is that what you think?"

"It’s what I know, so don’t do anything stupid."  

I turned to leave and cried out in pain as Lucien grabbed me by the hair. His grip was so tight, it felt like my hair was being ripped out of my skull.

"Where the hell do you think you are going?" his eyes bored into mine. "You don’t think I am going to let you leave here alive, do you?" 

Pain exploded as his fist slammed into my stomach. 

I doubled over, then collapsed to the floor, my hands scrabbling uselessly against the tiles as I tried to breathe and failed.

"You should have fucking stayed home as I told you to!" 

A kick landed against my ribs. Then another. I cried out, vision blurring as something cracked deep inside me.

No. Anymore and I was really going to die.

I tried to crawl away, my knees giving out at every attempt.

Mason.

I needed to scream for Mason. He was the only one who could help me.

But I was so weak.

"You look so fucking pathetic. Where do you think you’re crawling to, huh?" he stomped hard on my ankle.

I screamed, my vision darkening. 

I must have passed out for a second because when I blinked, there were red stains on the tiles. Blood?

It was my blood. I was coughing up blood.

"What the hell are you doing" Helena screamed. "You can’t kill her here. All our plans will be ruined!"

"I don’t care!" Lucien’s roar tore through the haze in my head. 

Feeling a surge of energy, I pulled myself to my feet and stumbled into the kitchen.

"Fucking hell, you just can’t stay down, can you," he snarled as he came after me.

Reaching out with a shaky hand, I grabbed the knife on the counter and turned, holding the blade in front of me.

A swift kick from him had me crashing to the floor. The knife skidded out of my hands.

I lay still, my vision hazy as more blood poured out of my mouth.

All the good times we shared flashed in my head, but this time, Lucien’s face was all dark and gnarly. Everything I thought had been love was all tainted, and it hurt so bad that I wanted to die.

"You shouldn’t have done that, Kaida," he sneered, leaned down, and picked up the knife. He inspected it, the dark grin on his lips stretching. "You should have drunk the poison I gave you and died like a good little girl." 

He knelt over me and grabbed my neck. "If you did, you wouldn’t have had to die like this."

I clawed at his arm, my vision dimming, my chest burning. 

"Please," I gasped, tears slipping down the side of my face. "Please, Lucien. Don’t kill me. Don’t...I won’t say anything—I swear."

He leaned in, his voice a cold whisper. "You used to tell me you’d die for me, so why are you begging for your life now? Was it all a lie? We both know I fucking hate liars!" he roared and before I could brace for it, he drew his hand back.

Something sharp drove into my chest.

The room went silent.

Ba-dump.

Ba-dump.

I blinked once. Twice.

Lucien’s face blurred as darkness swallowed the room.

"Everything is mine now," he whispered, pressing his lips to mine. "Don’t be such a fool in your next life, okay?"

I opened my mouth, but only blood spilled out.

He got off me, wiped my blood against his pants, and grinned.

"Great," Helena huffed, throwing her hand up. "Now we have to get rid of her body."

"Don’t worry. Mason will take care of it."

Mason? Was Mason in on this, too?

Lucien must have said something, but I didn’t catch it. 

My eyes slowly slipped closed. 

I was dying.

I was dying and they were going to get away with everything.

No. It can’t end like this. 

It can’t.

I need another chance.

Darkness closed in, the thought burning brighter than the pain.

I needed another chance to take back everything that was stolen from me.

Just one more chance, and I swear I’ll destroy them.

Every last one of the people who hurt me.