Chapter 2

The sound of Mason's voice sent a chill through Lily's entire body. It was like hearing something call to her from the depths of hell, and every instinct screamed at her to run.

Before she could move, a warm hand closed around her throat.

"What's wrong? Gone deaf? Can't you hear me?"

His breath brushed her skin, the intimacy of his touch making it feel all the more sinister. Lily's heart twisted painfully as the truth finally sank in. The explosion that had cost her the hearing in her left ear hadn't been an accident after all. Mason really had been behind it.

Sensing her trembling, he spoke in an even sweeter voice. "Why are you shaking? Is that any way to greet an old classmate? I even arranged this job for you. Aren't you going to thank me?"

What?

Lily parted her lips, overwhelmed by a despair so crushing she could barely think.

She'd worked hard to earn an early release from prison, hoping that if she found a job at some obscure club and kept her head down, Mason would forget she existed.

Now she realized she'd never escaped him at all. He'd been waiting for her from the moment she walked out of prison.

Terrified, Lily finally dared to look up at the man she hadn't seen in three years. The last traces of boyishness had vanished from Mason's face. He was taller and more mature now, with an imposing elegance that only made him seem colder.

Looking at the man she'd once loved, she pleaded, "Mason, I've already spent three years in prison. Please, just leave me alone."

She'd lost her father, served three years behind bars, and been left deaf in one ear. Even if she'd actually committed the crime he accused her of, surely she'd suffered enough.

All she wanted was for him to let her go.

Mason ignored her plea. Instead, he slipped an arm around Grace and regarded Lily with casual malice.

"Here I am, going out of my way to find you a job, and you act like I'm making your life difficult. Tell you what, why don't I transfer you to the club's entertainment department? You'd make a great dancer. No more scrubbing toilets."

Lily opened her mouth, but no words came out.

"What? Don't like the idea?"

Of course she didn't!

She spun around, suddenly finding her voice. "I quit! I'm not working here anymore!"

She hurried toward the exit, only to find two bodyguards dressed in black blocking her way. The thought of staying here, completely at Mason's mercy, terrified her. There was no telling what else he might do to her.

To her surprise, Mason merely said, "Let her go."

Relief flooded through Lily as the guards stepped aside. Just as she was about to leave, she heard Mason murmur behind her.

"Don't say I didn't warn you. You might regret this."

She kept walking.

As long as she could get away from him, she could always find another job.

Unfortunately, finding work without Mason's interference was difficult enough.

For nearly two weeks, Lily scraped by on odd jobs, lowering her standards with every rejection until she finally found work hauling construction waste at a building site.

The foreman was a rough, sleazy-looking man who gave her a warning before she started.

"Listen up, sweetheart. This scrap is all going to be sold, so don't go dropping anything. You break it, you pay for it. Wages are paid daily, by weight. Once you're done loading, come find me and I'll weigh it and pay you."

The pieces were large and heavy, and Lily wasn't particularly strong. Still, she worked carefully, making trip after trip until all the scrap she'd been assigned was safely stacked on the transport truck.

By the time she finished, she was drenched in foul-smelling sweat.

She went to find the foreman so he could weigh her load, only to discover that the scrap she'd stacked so carefully was now lying in shattered pieces all over the ground.

"You little bitch! You broke the whole damn lot?" the foreman roared. "Do you have any idea how much this stuff is worth? You've cost me tens of thousands!"

Before Lily could respond, he kicked her.

"What a jinx! I never should've hired you!"

He glared at her. "You're paying for every last bit of it!"

Lily went rigid with shock. She had no idea how the perfectly intact scrap had ended up in pieces, much less how she was supposed to deal with the furious man demanding compensation.

Just then, a tall figure approached and tossed a thick stack of cash at the foreman.

"A hundred thousand. Get lost."

The foreman scooped up the money, his anger instantly giving way to a broad grin, and hurried off.

Lily sank to the ground, staring blankly at Mason. Despair washed over her as she realized he still had no intention of leaving her alone.

"You did this."

Mason crouched in front of her, his handsome features settling into a mischievous smile.

"Silly Lily, I have better things to do with my time. That foreman broke the scrap himself so he could extort money from you."

Silly Lily.

She hadn't heard him call her that in so long.

Back when they were teenagers, Mason used to playfully tap her nose whenever he caught her admiring the boys playing basketball. "Silly Lily, keep checking out those guys and your boyfriend's going to get jealous."

She'd tease him right back. "Who's the silly one here? Let's see you beat me on the next exam."

Those memories belonged to a time before everything went wrong.

Later, when she'd been locked in a school bathroom and bullied, Mason had used that same affectionate tone to torment her.

"Silly Lily, how do you like the hell I made just for you?

"If the law won't punish you, I will."

Now, crouching in front of her at the construction site, he spoke as though he were doing her a favor.

"See? No one but me is willing to put food on your table."

There was an almost generous air to his words, a cruel contrast to the despair consuming Lily.

"Come back to the club. Since you like scrubbing toilets so much, you can keep doing that. And don't even think about running away again. You know what I'm capable of."

With that, Mason rose and walked away without a care in the world.

Lily watched his tall, handsome figure recede into the distance, and a bitter laugh escaped her lips.

She kept laughing until her face suddenly contorted, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, mingling with the blood as she tilted her head back and laughed bitterly.

"Mason Whitmore, you're really something.

"With all that you're capable of, how have you still not found out that I'm dying?"