Chapter 64
Chapter 64:
I saw his face again in the darkness behind my eyes. He had stood there. He had seen the cake. He had known Katherine’s cruelty. Yet when I fell — when my body convulsed on the floor — he had done nothing but stare, paralyzed by his fear of his mother, of Katherine, of everything.
A bitter laugh bubbled up in my chest, dissolving into a dry, hacking cough that tore at my raw throat. I had almost died for the opinion of a man who wouldn’t lift a finger to save me.
“You’re awake p>
The voice was low, vibrating through the room like the rumble of distant thunder. It wasn’t a question — it was a statement.
I turned my head, wincing as the movement pulled at the IV line in my hand.
Dallas Marshall sat in a dark leather armchair beside my bed. He looked like a statue carved from fury and exhaustion. His white dress shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, sleeves rolled up to reveal forearms corded with tension. He was turning a dark tungsten carbide ring on his finger, over and over.
“Water,” I croaked. My voice sounded like grinding glass.
He moved instantly. In a blur of motion my eyes could barely track, he was at my side, holding a plastic cup with a straw to my lips. His hand was large, warm, and terrifyingly steady.
𝗕𝘦 𝗍𝘩е 𝗳𝗂𝗿𝗌𝘁 𝗍о 𝗋𝖾𝘢d 𝘰ո
I drank greedily, the cool liquid soothing the burns — but before I could pull away, he set the cup down with a sharp clack on the nightstand.
“Why did you eat it p>
His question was a blade, stripped of all softness. He loomed over me, his grey eyes swirling with a storm that made the air feel heavy.
I tried to shrink back into the pillows. “I didn’t know it was poisoned p>
“Don’t lie to me, Adella,” he growled, leaning closer. His scent — rain and wet earth — enveloped me, making my skin prickle. “You knew she hated you. You knew that room was a pit of vipers. Yet you took food from her hand. Why p>
“I wanted to leave with my dignity,” I whispered, the words tasting like ash. “I didn’t want them to think I was jealous. I didn’t want to be the pathetic, wolfless girl ruining their night p>
Dallas let out a harsh, humorless sound. “Dignity p>
He planted his hands on the mattress, caging me in. “Your dignity stopped your heart, Adella. Your dignity let silver burn through your veins until you were blue on the floor. You chose death because you were afraid of what a room full of cowards would think p>
Tears pricked my eyes, hot and humiliating. “I didn’t have a choice! You don’t understand what it’s like to be nothing to them p>
“I understand that Braydon Hyde watched you die,” Dallas snarled, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper. “He stood there and let it happen. Is that whose opinion you value? A man who would let you rot rather than cross his mother p>
His words shattered the last of my defenses. I turned my face away, unable to hold his gaze. “Stop p>