Chapter 273
Chapter 273:
I let out a bitter laugh. “But then she came along. Saint Jasmine.” Her name felt like acid on my lips. “Perfect, innocent Jasmine, who you decided was worth everything you’d denied me. You took one look at her and decided she was your salvation. And what was I p>
I leaned in, my eyes locking onto his, daring him to look away. “A mistake? A regret? A fucking placeholder p>
He didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. The truth was etched into his silence.
“You call me a monster,” I said, my voice trembling with rage. “But I didn’t become one on my own. You pushed me into the dark, Ryder. You left me there to rot while you found your light p>
The guards tugged at me again, but I yanked my arms free and took a step back, my eyes never leaving his. The storm in his gaze was a reflection of the one inside me. I could see the conflict, the guilt, the pain he didn’t want to acknowledge. And for a flicker of a second, I felt something close to satisfaction.
Good. Let him suffer, even if it was just for a moment.
“Do you know what it feels like to be invisible?” I whispered. “To stand beside someone for years, to give them everything you are, and still be nothing to them? You turned me into a shadow. And when I finally clawed my way out of the darkness, you called me a traitor.” My eyes burned with unshed tears, but I blinked them away. No more tears for him. No more tears for what could have been.
“I didn’t want to hate you, Ryder. But you left me no choice. You made me this way. You made me fight for scraps of your attention, for fragments of your affection. And when I finally realized that you’d never give me more than that, I snapped p>
The truth sat between us, raw and ugly. I wanted him to feel it, to drown in it the way I had.
“You think Jasmine is your salvation?” I shook my head slowly. “She’s your weakness. And one day, she’ll destroy you the way you destroyed me p>
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I turned my back on him then, the weight of everything I’d said pressing down on me. The guards seized my arms again, their grip like iron, but I didn’t care. The fight had drained out of me, leaving only exhaustion and a bitter ache that throbbed in my chest.
As they dragged me from the room, I kept my head high, refusing to let them see me break. I had nothing left to lose. Ryder had already taken everything that mattered.
And if I was going to rot in a dungeon for the rest of my life, at least I’d done it on my terms.
The door closed behind me with a final, echoing thud. It felt like the end of everything. But maybe, just maybe, it was the beginning of something else.
Because no matter how much they hated me, no matter how much he hated me, I wasn’t the only one with blood on my hands. And sooner or later, Ryder would have to face his own demons.
And when he did, I hoped they tore him apart.
Kade’s POV
It felt as if the very air had turned to lead—heavy and inescapable, stealing the breath from my lungs, filled with betrayal, rage, and something far more dangerous: regret. I stood near the door, my jaw clenched so tightly that it ached. Watching Ryder and Isabelle tear each other apart piece by piece was like standing at the edge of a storm, knowing there was no escape from the fallout.
My eyes tracked Isabelle as the guards dragged her away. Her last words echoed in my mind: “You made me this way. You left me no choice p>
I wanted to ignore it, to dismiss her as the villain she’d revealed herself to be. But the raw truth in her voice stuck like a splinter beneath my skin. It was easier to see things in black and white—loyalty and betrayal, good and evil—but nothing about this was simple. Isabelle wasn’t innocent, not by a long shot. She’d conspired, manipulated, and tried to take a life that mattered more to Ryder than anything else. But Ryder’s hands weren’t clean either.