Chapter 6

I hid in a filthy alleyway, shivering in the cold, my hospital gown offering no protection. The city lights blurred through my tears. I was lost, alone, and publicly shamed. It was in that stinking, trash-filled darkness that he found me.

Aidan.

He stood at the mouth of the alley, his expensive suit looking absurdly out of place amidst the grime. He stared at me, his face a mixture of shock and something else I couldn't identify. Pain?

"Kloe," he said, his voice rough. He stepped over a pile of garbage, his usual fastidiousness gone. He reached for me, his hand closing around my arm. "What are you doing here? Let's go home."

I looked up at him, into the eyes of the man who had systematically destroyed my life. The love I once felt was gone, replaced by a cold, hard anger.

"Home?" I asked, my voice flat. "Are you satisfied now, Aidan? Is this what you wanted? To see me like this? Broken and humiliated?"

His grip tightened. I could feel the heat of his skin through the thin fabric of my gown. I met his gaze, and for the first time, he saw it. The emptiness. The light in my eyes, the light that had always shone for him, was gone.

A flicker of panic crossed his face. "What are you talking about? That video... I didn't want that to get out."

"I believe you," I said, and the strange thing was, I did. He was cruel, but he was also controlling. He wouldn't have wanted our private moments exposed like that. "But you could have stopped it. You're powerful enough. You let it happen. It was part of the punishment, wasn't it?"

I was too tired to care about his motives anymore.

"It was always about revenge, wasn't it?" I stated it as a fact, not a question. "For what you think my father did to your family."

His jaw tightened, but he didn't deny it.

"Well, congratulations, Aidan," I said, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. "You won. You've destroyed me. Are you happy now?"

He didn't look happy. He looked... confused. Lost. The triumphant victor looked anything but.

"You knew?" he whispered, his voice hoarse.

"Gisele was very thorough," I said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go. I can't leave the country without my passport and visa, and since you had me committed, all my things are still at your house."

I had let him find me on purpose. It was a desperate, risky gamble, but it was my only way out.

"I don't know what lies Gisele told you about my father," I continued, my voice gaining strength, "but I know he is a good man. He loved your family. He took you in, Aidan. He raised you, treated you like his own son. He would never have intentionally harmed them."

His face hardened again. The flicker of doubt was gone, replaced by the familiar mask of hatred.

"He felt guilty," Aidan snarled. "That's why he took me in. A pathetic attempt to atone for his sins."

"And now, you will pay for his sins," he said, his voice dropping to a terrifyingly low growl. "An eye for an eye. A child for a child. He took my family from me. I'm going to make him feel the pain of losing his only daughter."

A chill went through me. I had underestimated him. I had underestimated the depth of his hatred. This wasn't just about humiliating me. He wanted me dead.