Something cold slides into my chest.
I forget about the pain. The fogginess in my head.
“No,” I grit out through clenched teeth. “She’dneverchoose you over me.”
I hear the rattle of the chair legs behind me and her muffled voice through the gag. “Sebastian… help.”
“Ivy,” I breathe, turning my head to the chair. Tears streak down her pale face, but there’s a light in her green eyes.
She’s hurt, but she’s still fighting.
Silas uses the distraction to attack. Pain explodes in my side as he drives a fist into my ribs.
Ivy scrapes the chair closer. The sound mixes with our heavy breaths and my howl of pain.
Silas gets up, breathing hard, eyes never leaving hers. “You did this,” he tells her. “You made him come.”
My vision blurs at the edges as I roll to my side. I breathe through it as I get to my feet. “Let her go,” I say, voice rough from pain. “This ends with me.”
He turns on me, fury twisting his face. “No,” he snarls. “This ends with her understanding that she belongs with me.”
He grabs the chair she’s sitting on and shoves it hard. It slides across the floor, wobbles, and then she goes down.
The sound she makes—half pain, half fury—rips something primal out of me.
I move without thinking.
The next moments are chaos.
Silas and I crash together again, fists flying, bodies colliding, and blood spattering. He’s fighting like a man with nothing left, and for a terrifying second, I realize I may not win.
My knees buckle.
The world tilts.
I hit the floor hard.
Silas looms over me, chest heaving, something feral in his eyes. “You should’ve stayed away,” he says, raising his fist. “At least she’ll see me end your pathetic existence.”
Fuck, Ivy. I’m sorry.
Regret hits deep.I failed her. Just like I failed my father.
I brace for the hit... but it doesn’t come.
Instead, a sharp crack splits the air.
Silas freezes.
For a heartbeat, none of us moves.
Then a dark bloom spreads across his shoulder, and his face slackens from shock.
He stumbles back, confused, reaching for something that isn’t there.
Another voice cuts through the space. “You okay, Sebastian?”
Drew.
