Chapter 999
After a brief pause, his voice became strangely gentle, though the obsession underneath it was impossible to miss. “Lianne, think back to how I treated you. I was always good to you. You won’t find happiness with Ethan. A man like him has no idea how to treasure you. You should be with me.”
I rejected him without hesitation. “Brian, even if being with Ethan meant putting my life on the line, I’d still choose him. So stop deluding yourself.”
His voice abruptly became vicious. “Is that your final answer? Then what happens when I force you to choose between your own life and Ethan’s?”
My blood ran cold. Before I could respond, the call ended.
I stared at the phone, my fingertips trembling. I immediately got to my feet, intending to find Ethan.
Then my phone rang again.
It was Brian again. I answered at once, but before I could say anything, Melisa’s terrified voice burst through the speaker. “Help! Ethan, please save me!”
“Damn you! How dare you take my phone?” Brian roared in the background, his fury barely contained. A heavy impact followed, then Melisa cried out in pain.
Fear and anger surged through me. “Brian! Whatever problem you have, deal with me! Leave everyone else alone!”
He laughed, the sound twisted and unhinged. “Deal with you? Fine. Lianne, did you honestly believe I didn’t know that you and Ethan were pretending to separate? You thought the two of you had fooled everyone, but I figured it out from the beginning.”
Shock swept through me.
His voice carried an unmistakable note of triumph as he continued, “And I know about the poison inside you. I know about the antidote too. Now you know why I took Melisa.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
Everything suddenly became clear. He had taken Melisa because she possessed the antidote. His real target was Ethan. A shiver traveled down my spine.
Brian knew about our deception. He knew about the poison. That meant he’d been keeping tabs on me for far longer than I realized. I desperately replayed the past several weeks in my head, wondering how many times someone might have been watching from the shadows without my knowledge.
The only comfort was that Ethan had always kept Ruby and Silas heavily protected. Brian had never managed to get close enough to them. I couldn’t bear to imagine what might have happened if he’d chosen the children as his targets instead.
Brian’s voice came through the speaker again, thick with bitterness. “I’ve spent all this time surviving in the dark. Ethan ruined everything I had. My business, my reputation, my family. I suffered a lot because of him. I’ve spent every day drowning in humiliation, thinking about the moment I’d finally get my revenge.”
I drew in a slow breath, forcing myself to suppress the fear clawing at my chest. “Brian, listen. Even if Ethan was out of the picture, I still wouldn’t choose you. And after everything you’ve done to the man I love, there’s even less chance of that happening. You made your own choices, and those choices brought you here. Stop blaming everyone else.”