Natalia's hands trembled, the weight of her actions pressing against her chest like a vice. The air in the dimly lit room was thick with the scent of iron—sharp, metallic, and suffocating. Her breath came in ragged gasps as she stared at the lifeless body sprawled across the floor, the blood pooling beneath it a dark contrast against the pristine marble.
She hadn't meant for it to end like this.
Bradon had secrets. Dark, terrifying secrets that she had uncovered one by one, like peeling away the layers of a monster she never realized she had married. It started with whispers—hidden documents, late-night phone calls, the flicker of something cruel in his eyes when he thought she wasn't looking. Then, the pieces fell into place, and the truth had nearly shattered her.
Her husband wasn't the man she thought he was.
And now… now she had done something she couldn't undo.
Her vision blurred as the adrenaline coursing through her veins began to wane, replaced by a cold, creeping dread. She needed to run, to escape before his reach extended beyond the grave. But fate had other plans.
A presence loomed behind her, unseen but unmistakable. A slow, deliberate inhale, a whisper of movement against the silence.
"You always had a habit of getting yourself into trouble, Natalia."
The voice sent ice through her spine. Deep, smooth, and hauntingly familiar.
She turned slowly, her breath hitching as she met the piercing gaze of the one man she had feared and tried to forget. The man who had followed her, watched her, wanted her beyond reason.
Aaron.
His lips curved into a slow, knowing smirk as he stepped closer, his fingers grazing the edge of her trembling hand.
"Looks like fate finally brought you back to me."
And just like that, Natalia realized she had escaped one nightmare only to fall into another.