---- Chapter 7 Ariel Payne POV: The world seemed to slow down. The dust motes dancing in the single shaft of light, the drip of water from a leaky pipe, the ragged sound of my own breathing-it was all in sharp, painful focus. Desmond' s eyes met mine across the terrifying space. In them, | saw a flicker of something-agony, regret, a ghost of the man he used to be. But it was just a flicker. He turned his gaze to Aurora, who was sobbing hysterically, her face a mask of pure terror. "Des, please! You promised! You promised you would protect me! His face hardened. The decision was made. "Her," Desmond said, his voice a raw, broken whisper. "Save her. Let Aurora go." The words hit me with the force of a physical blow. A final, fatal blow. Even in a life-or-death situation, | was the one who was disposable. | was the acceptable loss. The kidnapper let out a cruel, triumphant laugh. "I knew it. A man always chooses his wallet over his heart." He cut the ropes binding Aurora. ---- Desmond rushed forward, not even glancing in my direction. He wrapped his arms around a weeping Aurora, shielding her with his body as he guided her towards the exit. "It' s okay, baby, I' ve got you. You' re safe now," he murmured, his voice thick with relief and devotion. He didn' t look back. He just left me there, tied to a chair, to face my fate alone. The moment they were gone, the kidnapper turned to me, his eyes gleaming with a cold, terrifying light. "Now, for you," he hissed. "He may have abandoned you, but you II still serve as a message." He didn' t use the knife. He used a whip. The first lash felt like fire across my back. A scream was torn from my throat, raw and animalistic. The pain was blinding, all-consuming. It erased thought, erased everything but the searing agony. Lash after lash fell, each one a fresh wave of torture. | couldn' t even scream anymore, only whimper, my body convulsing with each new strike. In the haze of pain, a memory came to me, unbidden. Desmond, on one knee in our tiny apartment, holding out that simple silver band. "I will never leave you, Ariel," he' d sworn, his eyes shining with sincerity. "In sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer. | will always choose you. Always." A promise. Another broken promise. ---- | woke up in a hospital bed again. This time, there was no gentle doctor, just the sterile beeping of machines and the dull, throbbing ache that radiated from every inch of my body. Desmond was there, sitting in a chair by the window, his head in his hands. He looked up when he heard me stir. His face was pale, his eyes red-rimmed. He rushed to my side. "Ariel, ' m so sorry," he whispered, his voice choked with emotion. "I had to choose her. Her family... the IPO... if anything had happened to her, | would have been ruined. You understand, don't you? | had a plan. | was going to come back for you. | called the police anonymously as soon as | got Aurora to safety." His excuses were a meaningless buzz in my ears. | looked at him, my vision blurry with unshed tears. "If | had died, Desmond," | asked, my voice a hoarse whisper. "Would you have regretted it?" He hesitated. Just for a second. But a second was all it took. In that single, damning moment of silence, | saw the truth. He was weighing the pros and cons, calculating the potential damage to his reputation. My life was just another variable in his business equation. His phone rang, shattering the fragile tension. He glanced at ---- the screen. It was Aurora. He looked at me, then at the phone, his face a mask of conflict. "I have to..." | just nodded, a bitter, self-mocking smile touching my lips. "Go," | said. "She needs you." He looked relieved. "I' Il be back," he promised, already halfway out the door. | knew he wouldn't The moment he was gone, | called Aunt Evelena. She was there in twenty minutes, her face a thunderous mask of fury as she took in my injuries. She didn' t ask questions. She just made calls. Within an hour, | was discharged and we were in a black car, speeding towards the private airport terminal. At the airport, my aunt finally met my eyes, her own filled with a chilling, protective fire. "Tell me his name, Ariel. The name of his company." "Innovate Dynamics," | whispered. She nodded, a grim, determined look on her face. She typed the name into her phone. "Good," she said, her voice dangerously calm. "I'm taking you to New York. You' re going to rest, and you' re going to heal. And | am going to handle this." As we settled into the plush seats of her jet, | saw a news ---- alert on my phone. It was a photo of Desmond and Aurora, leaving a police station. The headline read: "Tech CEO Desmond Day and Fiancée Aurora Quinn Safe After Terrifying Kidnapping Ordeal." Fiancée. | felt nothing. The pain, the love, the betrayal... it had all been scoured out of me, leaving behind a vast, clean emptiness. | deleted his contact information, blocked his number, and wiped every photo of him from my phone. When we landed in New York, | left my old phone on the seat of the plane. | walked out into the crisp night air, clutching my aunt's hand, and didn' t look back. A few weeks later, as | was starting to arrange my immigration to a new country, my aunt walked into my room, a small, grim smile on her face. "The final pre-IPO audit for Innovate Dynamics just concluded," she said, handing me a cup of tea. "It failed. Spectacularly. It seems they found a number of... irregularities. The IPO has been indefinitely suspended, and the SEC has just launched a full-scale investigation." | looked at her, my powerful, terrifying, wonderful aunt. "Was that you?" | asked. She just sipped her tea, her eyes twinkling with a cold, righteous fire. "He made a choice, Ariel. Now he gets to live with the consequences." ---- | looked out the window at the glittering New York skyline. Desmond's empire was crumbling. His dream was turning to dust. And for the first time in a very long time, | felt the stirrings of a new life. My life.