A primal scream built in my chest. I pushed through the crowd, my eyes locked on her.
"You killed her!" I shrieked, my voice echoing in the suddenly silent ballroom. "You admitted it! You killed my Lily!"
Ethan was by my side in an instant, his face a thundercloud. "What are you talking about? Sarah, you're hysterical."
"She told me!" I sobbed, pointing a shaking finger at Olivia. "She just told me!"
Olivia's face was a mask of shocked innocence. "Ethan, I don't know what she's talking about! I think she's finally lost her mind."
The crowd murmured, their faces a mixture of pity and morbid curiosity. "Poor woman," someone said. "Grief has made her delusional."
"She's trying to ruin Olivia's reputation," another whispered. "It's pathetic."
Ethan grabbed my arm, his grip like iron. "You are embarrassing me," he hissed, his voice a venomous whisper. "You are embarrassing yourself."
He dragged me from the ballroom, through the corridors, and into the service elevator, his fingers digging into my flesh. He didn't speak. The silence was more terrifying than any shouting. He shoved me into the back of his car and we sped away, leaving the city lights behind.
He took me to one of his more remote properties, a sprawling, modern mansion by the sea. The house was cold and empty, a monument to his wealth and his detachment. He dragged me into the master suite, a vast room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the turbulent, grey ocean.
He threw me onto the floor. "You will learn to control yourself," he said, his voice dangerously calm. He went into the enormous bathroom and came back with a bucket of ice water.
"You need to cool down."
He dumped the entire bucket over my head. The shock of the freezing water stole my breath. I gasped, shivering, my thin black dress clinging to my skin.
He stood over me, a dark, menacing silhouette against the stormy sky. "Did that help?"
I just stared at him, my teeth chattering.
He called his security guards into the room. Two large, impassive men. "Hold her," he commanded.
They grabbed my arms, forcing me to my knees. Ethan knelt in front of me, his face inches from mine.
"You are mine, Sarah," he said, his voice a soft, terrifying caress. "Your body, your mind, your soul. Everything about you belongs to me. And I will not have my property misbehaving."
He gestured to the guards, and they forced my head underwater in the infinity pool on the balcony until my lungs burned. They pulled me up, choking and sputtering, only to push me back under again. And again.
Through the distorted lens of the water, I could see him on the phone, pacing, his voice calm as he arranged business. Then Olivia arrived. He greeted her with a kiss, his arm wrapping around her waist as they looked down at me, a piece of driftwood in their perfect, placid sea.
I thought of the first time he'd seen me cry. He had held me so gently, wiping away my tears, promising that as long as he was there, no one would ever hurt me again. It was the most bitter memory of all.
I knew then, with a terrifying certainty, that the Ethan I had loved was well and truly dead. This creature wearing his face was a monster, and he would never let me go. I stopped struggling. I let my body go limp, a silent surrender.
They finally pulled me from the water, dumping me on the cold tile floor. I lay there, a shivering, broken heap.
He knelt beside me again. "Have you learned your lesson?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't.
He sighed, a sound of profound disappointment. He scooped me up in his arms, his touch no longer gentle but proprietary, and carried me to the bed.
"Let me go," I finally whispered, my voice a ragged breath. "Please, Ethan. Just let me go."
He looked down at me, a strange light in his eyes. "Never," he said, his voice a vow. "You are mine. Forever."
And in the cold, empty darkness of that room, I finally understood. Escape was not enough. To be free of him, I would have to die.