"Now that’s a mistake I wouldn’t want to make if I didn’t want to risk the life of the woman I love," Ashton said to Daniel when he saw his hand inching toward his gun.
Ashton walked to the center of the hall, looking proud.
"Oh, the dia is here too," he smiled before he looked at Elara and walked to her in large strides.
He extended his hand to touch her face, but Daniel’s glare stopped him from doing so.
"So I was watching the live stream of this event and realized that the Frosts said everything apart from giving us the reason why Elara was pronounced dead," Ashton said.
He then looked at Elara with a pained expression.
"I tore myself for you, promised you everything I could, but you betrayed . What was wrong with my love? Yes, it was a bit extre, possessive, and obsessive, but isn’t that exactly what girls want these days? I read about it online. Girls die to have a boyfriend like . I am handso, rich, mafia-related, and above that, I love you," Ashton asked Elara.
Elara, who had been hiding behind Daniel, suddenly got flashbacks of how he used to crash out if she didn’t like sothing to eat; he would throw things around, sotis throw her in the swimming pool, and then bla it on his love, saying that he was angry because he cared for her health.
The mories made her want to coil in the corner and not face this man. However, she didn’t want to show him she was weak, that she was afraid of him, and that he still had the sa effect on her.
Thus, she stood there, looking straight in his eyes.
"Well, my friends, let’s get back to the point. So... the reason Miss Elara was pronounced dead was to save her from ," Ashton smiled at Elara before he looked directly at the caras.
"You see, I kidnapped her four years ago, and maybe she couldn’t hear the extent of my love and thought dying was a good option. But how long could a person really stay dead? See, I found her, as my brother’s woman," Ashton spat the last sentence.
Elara, who was shivering in fear, froze when she heard his last sentence.
Wait. What did he an by his brother’s woman? What nonsense was he— she looked up at Daniel to confirm Ashton was lying.
However, the mont her eyes landed on his apologetic ones, sothing shattered inside her.
"Did you know? The man haunting my life was your brother, and you hid it from ," Elara said, saying the sentence more to herself than to him, and Daniel shook his head.
"No, Elara, I can explain. We made the connection through that number and realized the Arnold you keep talking about was my brother, Ashton. I thought you wouldn’t believe if I told you the truth. That’s why I kept it hidden." Daniel held her hand to force her to look into his eyes and see the honesty in them.
"I warned my dad that I wouldn’t let Ashton live if he tried to threaten your life. At that ti, I was convinced my dad would stop Ashton, but I didn’t know—"
"That I would still show up, right?" Ashton grinned.
Elara looked at Ashton’s confidence, which practically said he knew his brother would never hurt him, and then at Daniel’s pleading eyes that wanted her to believe that he would hurt anyone as long as he needed to do it to protect her.
She didn’t know who to believe anymore. Her heart wanted to believe Daniel, but her mind was still living that trauma where nobody could do anything against Arnold back in those tis, not the mafia, and not the authorities.
Now she finally understood why. Arnold was a Macros, too.
The more Elara thought, the more her head hurt, and she shook her head.
She stepped back from Daniel, tears rolling down her cheeks. She didn’t care what he thought; the fact that he hid such a major truth was sothing she couldn’t get out of her head.
Ashton smirked at the sight.
"Now you finally see the truth, Elara. All that fancy love you were falling for was built on lies. The only person who ever loved you was , and I alone will—"
"Shut up!" Elara shouted in agony.
"Shut the fuck up, you bastard! You ruined my life four years ago. How dare you think you could paint your sick and ugly obsession as love?" Elara shouted.
Ashton’s smirk faltered, his eyes becoming dark and predatory.
"You don’t know what you are talking about," Ashton said.
Elara shook her head.
"Oh, I know exactly what I am talking about. You are the reason I sleep with a dagger on my waist. You are the reason I go around with a weapon always on and the reason I can’t ever trust anyone’s goodwill. So, Arnold Macros, I definitely know what I am talking about," Elara said before she ruffled her hair in anger.
It was supposed to be her day of celebration, but her past would never let her live in peace.
And she wanted to end it.
"Get lost," Elara said before she took a deep breath.
"Get lost before I do sothing I might regret for the rest of my life. I pretended to be dead to get rid of you once; I might kill you this ti and accept prison," Elara said.
Ashton chuckled, dark and cold.
"You really think you have it in yourself to kill ? Look around yourself, Elara. The place is full of my people. They are on every single floor. Where are your people?" Ashton asked.
Elara looked around, and just like he said, she could see ard n standing on every floor, holding big rifles.
He then ordered everyone who didn’t want to lose their lives to leave the place, including the dia outlets.
Everyone ran out of the grand hall in panic, not once looking back.
Elara watched everyone leave, a tear rolling down her cheeks.
Her day of celebration was ruined. And from the way Ashton looked so manically and obsessively at her, he wouldn’t let her wedding gown through either.
This man was trying to ruin her life again.
She looked at her parents, who looked at the man with anger.
Elara knew they were waiting for just one signal to intervene, to protect their daughter from the monster, but she couldn’t allow it. She couldn’t let them get hurt, not on her watch.
She clenched her fists and looked around helplessly.
She was no heroine, no fantasy creature who could have gotten a sudden awakening and the powers to deal with this situation. She was human, yes, a bit stronger and quick-witted, but armless.
Elara closed her eyes to calm herself first and think about what she could do in this situation.
"Elara," Daniel’s voice made her open her eyes and look at him with pain and fear.
"Let handle this, please. I know I was in the wrong for not telling you the truth, but trust when I say I was prepared for this, to protect you from my brother, because I was ready to kill for you." Daniel cupped her cheeks.
Elara looked into his eyes.
"Can I really trust you?" She asked.
"Always," Daniel said, and Elara nodded.
She took his hand and placed it on her abdon, making the man pause when he felt it.
The fact that Elara still felt the need to carry a gun to an event that was just supposed to be a celebratory one spoke a lot about how much fear his brother had instilled in her.
Daniel’s eyes turned stormy.
"If you can save , I’ll pull this trigger on Ashton, but if you can’t, I’ll pull this trigger on myself, ending this tornt for everyone once and for all," Elara said.
She wasn’t suicidal. She had no idea why she said sothing like this, maybe to provoke the man, maybe to have him see how much she wanted Ashton dead; she didn’t know.
What she knew today was that even if she was going to jail, this was the end of Ashton’s history of tornt.
"You wouldn’t need to pull that trigger," Daniel said before he placed his forehead on hers.
Ashton growled at the scene.
"If I were you, I would watch what I am doing and—" He couldn’t complete his sentence when he saw his brother’s hand moving, and he brought it down in a snap in so kind of signal, all the while hugging Elara.
Ashton looked around.
His n were suddenly falling to the side, and so were even falling down the railings, breaking their necks, splattering blood everywhere.
Ashton watched in surprise.
His n clearly overtook those corridors and floors. What changed? He wondered as he looked at his brother, who was looking straight at him, Elara’s face hidden in his chest.
"You really thought I wouldn’t stay prepared for sothing like this? That I would trust my father to control you, who couldn’t even control his dick and had an extramarital affair? Did you think I would risk my woman’s life like that?" Daniel asked.
Ashton froze in his place.
He thought his plan was foolproof. No one would’ve suspected it because he never made a move in the open.
He wanted to catch his brother off guard, kill his people, and then kidnap Elara and leave forever, sothing he wasn’t successful in doing four years ago.
So where did things go wrong? Ashton wondered, his pupils dilating when he saw that one person enter the hall who he thought wouldn’t betray him.
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