“Stay if you want, but he will tell you lies. But as you wish,” she sighed as though each word pained her. “I just want to protect you from this sickening monster.”
Her plea clashed with the memories of her written words, the pages that spoke of love once fierce and consuming.
“But, Mom, your journals say you loved him despite everything and wanted to help or fix him to be a better person. Now, you despise him. I’m confused.” My voice wavered, betraying my turmoil.
“Monsters can’t change. They grow hungrier for power,” she replied, her tone resolute, her eyes dark pools of conviction.
Balthazar’s scornful laugh cut through the air.
“You wanted those blades to rule the world with darkness. That’s all you cared for,” he said, his accusation a sharp jab at her polished armor of righteousness.
The chamber seemed to contract, the walls pressing in as the weight of their shared past bore down on us. Lies, love, and the lust for power tangled before my eyes, leaving me to sift through the wreckage for shards of truth.
Mom’s silhouette spun with a viper’s quickness, her eyes narrowing into slits as she faced Balthazar. “You dare speak to me this way?”
“I never loved you,” Balthazar spat, the poison in his cell nothing compared to the vitriol in his tone. “You spread your legs to every fucking man. You killed my Scarlett because you were jealous that I moved on with my life.”
His accusation hung heavy in the air, an invisible fog that seemed to weave through the iron bars to wrap around us all.
“You know the secrets of Olivia’s destiny,” he said, and the ground beneath my feet turned cold. “You’re afraid she will learn of it and destroy you all. But she will learn, and there will be no turning back.”
A look of shock passed between Roman and me, a silent understanding that the scene unraveling before us was more than just a clash of past lovers—it was the collapse of history itself. My hand flew to my stomach as it tightened, a sharp contraction seizing me. My knees buckled, and I crumpled onto the cold stone floor, gasping, the world tilting dangerously.
“Take care of her.” Balthazar’s voice carried through the air, raw and jagged with pain, each word drenched in anguish. “Before her mother tries to kill her again.”
Roman’s arms wrapped around me with unwavering strength as he lifted me from the cold, unyielding stone that had broken my fall. His gaze locked onto mine, a storm of worry swirling in his eyes before he turned and began navigating the labyrinthine corridors of the estate. Every step he took carried us farther from the chaos behind us in Balthazar’s cell.
“Everything… it’s all unraveling,” I whispered, my trembling fingers clutching the fabric of Roman’s shirt as if it were my last anchor. My voice wavered, struggling to rise above the suffocating fog of pain and confusion. “Balthazar… he was crying for his son. They say poison forces the truth to spill from even the most guarded tongues.”
Roman’s jaw tightened, a flash of steel in his expression as we ascended the echoing staircase, each step a whisper against the cold marble.
Each step echoed beneath our weight, a grim reminder of the fragile ground we were treading—literally and metaphorically. “You shouldn’t have gone down there, Olivia. You need rest,” he murmured.
“He told me that Raul and Mathias are working together,” I continued, my mind racing as much as my heart. Each breath fanned the flames of doubt that Balthazar’s words had sparked.
“Rest now,” Roman said, brushing a strand of hair from my forehead as he laid me down on the softness of my bed, a striking difference from the challenging reality we had departed from. “We’ll sort through these things later.”
As he turned to leave, I reached out, my fingers wrapping tightly around his hand. “Do you believe any of it, Roman?”
A storm of emotions flickered across his face—doubt, fear, something else I couldn’t name—but instead of hiding behind his usual mask, he exhaled softly and sat back down. He didn’t let go of my hand.
“I don’t know, Olivia,” he admitted, his voice quieter, rougher. “But whatever it is, I’m not letting you face it alone.”
The weight of uncertainty pressed against my chest like a stone, heavy and suffocating. “Stay,” I whispered. “Just for a little while.”
He didn’t hesitate. Shifting beside me, he stretched out on the bed, his warmth chasing away the icy dread curling inside me. His arm slid around my waist, pulling me closer and grounding me in something real. I pressed my face against his chest, feeling the steady, unshaken rhythm of his heartbeat—a stark contrast to the storm raging inside me.
In the hush that followed, one truth burned through the chaos: I believed Balthazar's words deep down beneath every doubt and desperate hope. Every single one.
And that belief terrified me more than any blade, battle, or poison.
As sleep crept in, the chilling realization settled like a shadow over my soul—whatever came next would shatter everything I thought I knew about my family and myself. And there would be no turning back.
CHAPTER SEVEN
MALIK
Istormed toward the exit of Mathias’ estate, my wrath a living thing clawing at my insides.
