Chapter 7

Emerson POV:

"She's lying, Axel!" I screamed, my voice raw with desperation. "She's trying to frame me! She's the manipulative one! She's the one who fakes illnesses, who plays the victim, who steals other people's work!" My team. My loyal, talented team. He had believed it was them who sent the emails. "They would never do anything like that!"

His face darkened, his jaw clenching. "Don't you dare speak about Alicia that way! She's been through enough!" He raised a hand, and for a terrifying second, I thought he was going to hit me.

He stopped, his hand hovering in the air, trembling. He closed his eyes, taking a deep, ragged breath. When he opened them, the raw fury was replaced by a chilling calm.

"I won't argue with you, Emerson," he said, his voice low and menacing. "You will go to Alicia, and you will apologize. You will beg for her forgiveness."

My eyes widened in horror. "Apologize? Beg? For what?"

His grip tightened on my arm, his fingers digging into my flesh. "For threatening her. For upsetting her. For making her sick." His eyes were like chips of ice. "You will get on your knees, Emerson. You will beg her to stay. For everything she sacrificed. For her mother."

My breath hitched. My throat constricted, a bitter, metallic taste filling my mouth. My vision blurred. This wasn't just humiliation. This was spiritual annihilation. To grovel before the woman who had stolen my life, my identity, my husband's heart.

"No," I rasped, my voice barely a whisper. "Never. I would rather die."

He grabbed my shoulders, shaking me violently. "You will, Emerson! You will! Her mother died saving my family, saving me! She deserves this, and you will give it to her!"

"You want to repay her?" I spat, my voice hoarse. "Then go do it yourself, Axel! Don't drag me into your twisted sense of obligation! We're divorced, remember?" I pulled away from him, my heart a cold, hard stone.

He stared at me, then sighed, a weary, exasperated sound. "Don't be childish, Emerson. This isn't a game. You're just saying that because you're angry." He still believed I loved him. He still believed I was just throwing a tantrum. He believed my love for him was an insurmountable force, stronger than any hurt he could inflict.

I ran to the nightstand, fumbling for the divorce papers. My rage, my pain, fueled my movements. I had to prove it to him. Had to make him see.

He grabbed my arm again, his grip iron-tight. "Where do you think you're going?" he snarled. "You're not leaving this house." He looked at me, a cruel glint in his eyes. "If you so much as step outside that door, I'll make sure every single member of your beloved 'team' is blacklisted from this industry. Forever. Their careers will be over."

My blood ran cold. My team. The only thing I had left. He knew my weakness. He would use it. I sank back onto the bed, defeated.

"I won't apologize," I whispered, my voice barely audible.

He smirked, a cruel, triumphant smile. "Fine. You have three days to think about it. Three days to decide if your pride is worth their livelihoods." He turned to the door. "Guards! Take her to the isolation room. No food, no water, no light."

My eyes widened in horror. The isolation room. A cold, damp bunker in the basement, used by his ancestors to punish rebellious servants. I had seen it once, briefly, and the memory still sent shivers down my spine.

"Axel! No!" I screamed, lunging for him. But it was too late. Two burly guards grabbed me, their hands like steel bands. They dragged me, kicking and screaming, down the winding staircase, past the shocked household staff, to the dark, oppressive silence of the basement.

The door clanged shut, plunging me into absolute darkness. The air was thick with the smell of damp earth and stale fear. A primal terror seized me. I hated the dark. Ever since I was a child, a fear of the dark had haunted me. Axel knew this. He used to hold me, whispering promises that he would always be there, that he would never let the darkness touch me.

And now, he had thrown me into it himself. The betrayal was absolute.

I screamed, a raw, animalistic sound, until my voice gave out. Then, I curled into a ball, shaking, sobbing, my body wracked with tremors. He had done this to me. The man who had promised to protect me.

Three days later, the door creaked open. A sliver of blinding light. My eyes, unused to any illumination, burned. I was dragged out, my limbs numb, my body weak and trembling, like a broken doll. They threw me at Alicia's feet.

Axel stood there, his brows furrowed. He looked at me, then at Alicia. "What happened to her?" he asked, his voice rough. "Why is she so weak?"

Alicia averted her gaze, a faint smirk playing on her lips. "I don't know, Axel. She's just being dramatic. Trying to gain sympathy."

Axel's eyes, a flicker of concern in their depth, hardened again. He turned to me, his voice cold. "Apologize, Emerson. Now."

I tried to speak, but my throat was raw, my voice a croak. I couldn't form the words. I wouldn't. My eyes, defiant, met his.

Alicia, seeing my refusal, smiled sweetly. "Axel, darling, why don't you leave us? Emerson and I need to have a little chat. Woman to woman."

Axel hesitated, then nodded, a complex expression on his face. He glanced at me one last time, a flicker of something unreadable in his dark eyes, before turning and leaving the room.

The moment the door closed, Alicia's sweet facade crumbled. Her eyes, filled with a venomous hatred, narrowed. She grabbed my hair, yanking my head back, her face inches from mine.

"You bitch!" she hissed, her voice dripping with malice. "You think you can just waltz in here and take everything from me? My Axel? My life? I hate you! I always have!" Her fingers clamped around my throat, squeezing. "He was mine! Before you! He always loved me! He was only with you because you were convenient! A distraction! Don't you dare think for a second that he ever truly cared about you!"

My vision blurred. Air. I needed air. My hands clawed at her, but I was too weak.

Suddenly, a loud crash. The window shattered, glass raining down. Figures in black masks swarmed into the room.

Axel! I heard his shout, his presence. But the room was already empty.