Angry tears fill my eyes at the thought of what Alicia went through. That must be what they did to me, too. Those voices I heard the morning after I thought I was suffering from hallucinations were hers and Tom’s doing. These monsters made my sister believe she was insane. “She did that to protect me.”

“Yawn. And what’s so special about you, Clarissa? Aside from the fact that you’re the final chink to Maxim’s armour? I admit, you’re not as easy to break as Alicia was. Shelby paid your previous building concierge to turn a blind eye on all the packages we sent, but you still wouldn’t give up.”

Fuck. Shelby. I should’ve known there was something off about the standoffish old man who used to live next door to me.

“Why didn’t you kill me eleven years ago?” I glare at Tom. “Does she have to answer that for you, too?”

“You didn’t suffer enough,” he says in a monotone voice. It’s probably the first time I’ve heard him speak, and his tone is as quiet as his silence.

“Besides, no offence, but you’re not important. The role you play in Maxim’s life is.” Margot clicks on the camera. “We’re going to record you being killed by Tom. It’ll be live and an insider will show the footage to Maxim. Once he loses his final muse, it’ll be his downfall and the best revenge Megan could’ve gotten.”

Despite the heaviness of my head and my tongue, I meet both their gazes. “I’m sorry you lost a sister and a mother, but that doesn’t give you the right to blame it on me. I’m a victim, too. I turned him in, even though he was everything I had.”

“Shut up.” Tom reaches me in a few steps and slaps me so hard, I reel in my chair. “She was my world. He took her and I will take you.”

“Use the knife, Tom.” Margot motions at the glinting blade on the counter and he retrieves it.

My chin trembles, and I start seeing the ending, but I don’t lower my gaze.

I did nothing wrong.

But as he brings the knife to my throat, a shudder goes down my spine. Regrets rush to the forefront of my mind. Most of them are about how I haven’t really lived, and now that I’m ready to, it’ll be taken away.

It’s about how I can’t say goodbye to Lay, her family, and my family. Because, in a way, Aiden, Levi, Elsa, and Astrid have warmed their way into my life and become my family.

But most of all, thought, it’s about Jonathan.

I regret not saying the words I’ve felt for so long but have denied or thought I was no longer worthy of feeling.

There’s a need to close my eyes, but I don’t. I’m going to die with my chin held high.

A tear slides down my cheek as I realise it’s over before it even started.

It took eleven years, but it’s finally over.

Just when I’m about to surrender to my fate, the door barges open.

 

 

32

 

 

Aurora

 

 

Jonathan is here.

The moment my eyes fall on him, a sudden urge to cry hits me out of nowhere.

I didn’t know how much I needed to see him in my final moments until now.

His tall frame nearly blocks the entrance as he breathes harshly, and just like when I was a kid, he looks exactly like a god. Only, I’m not scared of him now. Was I even scared of him back then?

A forgotten memory hits me straight in the chest.

 

My small hand tugs on Alicia’s full wedding dress. She smiles down at me, her dark eyes nearly closing with the motion. “You don’t have to hide from Jonathan, Claire. He’s family now.”

“Family?”

“Yes.”

“Cuz you’re marrying him?”

She nods.

I pull on her dress some more, which is our secret signal for her to come down to my level.

Alicia is so tall, and I can barely reach her thighs. She says I’ll grow up to be tall like her one day, but that’s obviously not happening.

She crouches and gives me her ear so I can whisper, “When I grow up, can I marry him, too?”

She laughs, the sound making Jonathan stare at us, and I hide behind Alicia again, my cheeks flaming.

My sister ruffles my hair and whispers back, “If I’m not here, you have my permission.”

 

I’m thrust back to the present with tears hanging on to my lashes. Oh, God. I can’t believe I asked Alicia that. Jonathan is right to call me a wild one.

My gaze follows him as he slowly approaches the scene, his attention set on the knife Tom is holding to my throat.

He might’ve shown up, but it’s too late. Margot and Tom have no care for the consequences of their actions. That’s what happens when you live only for revenge. It becomes your start and your end. Everything else is collateral — their own lives included.

They don’t care if they die at the end of this.

“Let her go.” Jonathan’s voice is clear, hard, and leaves no room for negotiation.

Margot stands in front of him. “This has nothing to do with you, Mr King. Leave and we won’t hurt you.”

Jonathan’s guards follow after him, their tall, broad frames filling the entrance. Some of them have guns, but they’ll make no difference to my fate, considering that Tom’s knife is already slicing through my throat. A hot liquid trails down my neck.

Jonathan’s face turns into granite as his stormy eyes fixate on Tom. “You’re going to die.”

“Not before her.” Tom’s voice is as expressionless as his face. It’s like he lost the ability to feel when he was young.

“Go,” I whisper in a barely audible voice at Jonathan. “Aiden and Levi need you.”

“Shut up, Aurora.”

“I’m lucky I found you again — or you found me. Y-you gave a different meaning to my life and taught me how to rise above myself, and I’m so thankful for that, Jonathan.”

“Stop saying your goodbyes,” he snaps.

“Try to compliment the boys more often. They don’t show it, but they love your approval. Try to forgive Ethan. I know you need his friendship as much as he needs yours. Take care of Layla, and tell her I love her and I’m so lucky to have found her.” My voice breaks at the end as tears fall unchecked down my cheeks. Blood soaks the hem of my jacket and I try to ignore how I’m shaking all over. How tiny shocks of fear wrap like thorny wires around my heart.

No matter how brave my words are, I don’t want to die.

I fought with death for eleven damn years. Why does it get to win now, when I’m so close to beating it?

Jonathan approaches me, his jaw clenching under the stubble. Tom tightens his hold on the knife and Jonathan stops in place, his lips thinning into a line.

“You’re not going to die,” he says with so much conviction, I almost believe him.

I almost think that I’ll come out of this chair and I’ll be able to hold him again. I’ll be able to tell him what I haven’t been able to all this time.

“You’ll watch her die.” Margot levels him with her haughty glare. “Just like Maxim.”

“My men are on their way to Shelby.” Jonathan’s gaze drifts from Margot to Tom. “If you don’t remove that knife right now, I won’t hesitate to kill your father, Tom. So what’s it going to be?”