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Julian looked at the daughter he had cherished since childhood-the little girl he had raised like a precious gem. Once, she had been as pure as an angel, so gentle she wouldn’t even harm an
ant.
And yet now… now, the image of her in that video haunted him. A demon cloaked in the face of the girl he once knew.
“Dad!” Delilah collapsed at his feet, sobbing hysterically. She clutched his trouser legs like a drowning person clinging to driftwood. “I swear I’m innocent! That video-it’s fake, it has to be! It’s Al-generated or something. Dad, you’ve watched me grow up. You know me better than anyone! How could I possibly do something so horrible?”
Julian’s fists clenched until his knuckles cracked. His eyes were bloodshot. He forced the words through gritted teeth.
“What about Ava’s wounds? The ones we saw with our own eyes at the hotel that night? Were
those fake too?”
“Yes! Yes, they were!” Delilah cried, latching onto his hesitation. “She’s an actress! She must’ve hired someone to fake the injuries-special effects makeup or something-just to frame me, to ruin my wedding with Daniel!”
She turned toward her brother, desperate. “You’ve loved me the most since we were kids. You really believe that bastard over your own sister?”
The word bastard barely left her lips before a sharp crack rang through the room.
Delilah was sent flying, landing hard, her ears ringing. A searing pain bloomed across her face, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
Towering above her was Daniel. His face-once refined and handsome-was twisted in rage.
“Bastard?” His voice was low and dangerous. “Ava isn’t the bastard-you are.”
He looked down at her crumpled figure with pure contempt. “She is the only woman I have ever loved. And if it turns out you were behind what happened to her, I swear, I’ll make you pay tenfold for every drop of pain she suffered.”
“Don’t forget, Delilah-you’re just a stand-in. A cheap imitation of your wretched mother. If not for her schemes, you’d still be groveling in someone else’s shadow.”
Regret clawed at Daniel’s chest like a beast.
Why? Why had he ignored Ava’s suffering over and over again?
Why had he played along with this farce of a wedding-just to fulfill a meaningless “last wish”? Delilah crawled toward him again, sobbing. “Daniel, please, believe me… I don’t know why she’s doing this. Maybe she’s jealous-jealous that you chose me. She wants to ruin everything between us!”
“Get away from me!”
He kicked her aside as if her very presence disgusted him.
Delilah crumpled on the floor, gasping in pain.
Daniel stood frozen. He saw, in his mind’s eye, the day they’d planned the wedding-Ava’s hollow smile, the lifeless look in her eyes.
Panic surged through him.
Frantically, he tore open the document folder in his hands. Inside, a single sheet fell into his grasp-its words seared like fire:
[Annulment Agreement]
And the signature at the bottom-one he knew as well as his own-stabbed like a knife:
Ava.
A thunderclap exploded in his mind. His knees buckled. The folder slipped from his trembling fingers.
“No… no, no, no!” he choked out. “Ava, please-don’t leave me. I love you. I only want you. I neve wanted anyone else…”
He clutched the thin paper in his hands, his knuckles bone white.
The confidence in his eyes was gone-replaced with raw, bloodshot grief.
They had all pushed Ava into the abyss with their own hands. And now, they had extinguishec the final light in her heart.
They were executioners.
He was an executioner.
Daniel slammed his head into the floor, blood spilling instantly-but it wasn’t enough. No pair could match what Ava had gone through.
Where had he been when she cried out for him?
Shopping with Delilah.
Watching movies with Delilah.
Spoiling her with dresses and vacations.
“Daniel… am I dying?”
“Don’t you want me anymore?”
Her fading voice echoed in his skull like a ghost refusing to rest.
Tears mixed with blood as he howled like a madman.
“Ava! I want you-I only want you! Please… give me one more chance. This time, I’ll protect you. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again!”
Staggering to his feet, he fumbled for his phone and called her.
It rang once. Then-
A cold, robotic voice answered:
“The number you are dialing is unavailable. Please try again later.” Again.
“The number you are dialing is unavailable. Please try again later…”
