Natalia’s eyes, bleary with pain, shifted slowly. She followed Heath’s pointing finger, past Nathan, to the heavy stone suspended high above and the lonely plank beneath it. The realization of Heath’s plan hit her like a physical blow.“Don’t, Nathan!” she cried, her voice ragged. “Just go! Get out! It’s a trap! He wants to kill you with that!”Heath smirked, not denying it. “She’s somehow right,” he admitted, his thumb stroking the remote. “But get on it anyway. I’m sure you’d rather be squashed flat than have poor, innocent Natalia boiled alive. Right? That’s the kind of noble idiot you are.”He looked up at Natalia, then back at Nathan, his smile turning conspiratorial. “You see, my whole point in getting her abducted was mainly to get you, Nathan. Don’t ruin my hope and my fun.” His thumb moved, hovering meaningfully over the button on the remote. “Or…”Nathan watched the thumb. He calculated the distance, the mechanics of the winch, and the fragility of Natalia’s position. He co

Natalia scoffed, the sound weak but defiant. “I don’t regret any of it, Heath. I thought I had a friend. Someone I could trust. But you… you’re far from a friend. You’re a monster.”Heath’s smile was chillingly serene. “Yes, dear. I am a monster. I never wanted you to see this part of me. I kept him locked away, on his best behavior, just for you. But you forced the door open. You unlocked the cage.” His voice took on a petulant, wounded edge. “How could you think you could just… leash me? Put me in the ‘friend zone’ like some harmless puppy? After everything I offered you? After the world I was ready to lay at your feet?”He started pacing, his words becoming a rambling stream of bitterness. “I gave you devotion! I gave you exclusivity! I was going to make you the queen of this city! And you threw it all back in my face for what? For a ghost of a marriage? For a man who didn't want you back? You chose a has-been over a king! You made me look like a fool! You humiliated me in the quie

Nathan’s head snapped around. His eyes, still glowing, darted in a blink. He didn’t think. Something else took over. His legs, powered by that impossible energy, moved.He didn’t run; he became a streak of motion. He crossed the distance to the cauldron in a flash. As Natalia fell, he leapt, his body arcing through the air. He caught her in his arms just as the tips of her hair would have touched the boiling oil. He landed on the other side of the room with a heavy thud, cradling her limp, poisoned body against his chest, the cauldron bubbling harmlessly behind them.The world had gone soft and blurry at the edges for Heath. His own breath came in ragged, wet heaves. Through the narrow slits of his partly shut eyes, swollen from Nathan’s fist, the scene before him refused to make sense. Nathan was just… standing there. The man who had moved like a ghost, a whirlwind of brutal, efficient motion, was now still. But the air around him hadn’t settled. It crackled. It felt heavy, like the

Thelma and Joyce could only gape. Young master? Their shock deepened into utter confusion as Liera stopped beside Nathan and gave a slight, but unmistakably respectful, bow of her head toward him.Then Liera turned the full force of her attention back to Thelma. “You can see the stamp. It is from Narvo Bank. It is not fake. Nathan is the top-tier client of the bank, a status you could not begin to comprehend.”“What?” Thelma breathed, the cheque trembling in her hand. “How is that possible… he was my destitute son-in-law… he fed off my daughter, so…”“Enough,” Liera repeated, the single word leaving no room for argument. “Now, get out of this place. Before I call security to have you both removed for harassing and insolence.”Joyce gulped audibly. They knew the name. Liera Dolph. Everyone in the city and beyond had heard stories of the ruthless, formidable woman who managed fortunes and made powerful men hesitate. The last thing they wanted was to be scapegoats.Joyce grabbed her mot

Amelia took an involuntary step back, the air around him suddenly feeling several degrees colder. She understood then. Trust was a shattered vase on the floor between them. Trying to piece it back together now, with her lies still hanging in the air and no real answers to give, was impossible. He was walled off, protecting the only thing he had the energy to care about—the woman in the room behind the glass.She had to do what was important now. For herself. She gave one last, long look at Natalia’s window, then a shorter, more complicated one at Nathan’s bowed head. She nodded, a stiff, resigned motion. “Okay,” she whispered to no one. She turned and walked back down the hallway, the sound of her retreating footsteps swallowed by the carpet.Stepping out of the hospital’s automatic doors, the cool night air hit her like a slap, a stark contrast to the stale, clinical warmth inside. She took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to clear her head.“Amelia!”She turned. Leo was leaning ag