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I listen for a long moment, waiting for the sound of his steps or his voice calling out to ask if I'm awake. When neither comes, I crack my eyes open just a tiny fraction to see what he's doing.
My heart stalls in my chest.
The man standing in the doorway, illuminated by the light of the fire, isn't Troy. He's tall and imposing, dressed in all black. Locks of blond hair fall over his forehead. His green eyes gleam with malice.
A sudden, deafening explosion reverberates through the room. Wood splinters inches from my head.
I scream, rolling from the bed with the sheet clutched to my chest. My heart races, every wild beat knocking against my breastbone in jarring thuds. The air is thick with the smell of gunpowder and fear.
The sound of my own panicked breathing fills the air as I try to make sense of what just happened.
"Don't move," he growls, pointing the gun at me.
Oh my god.
My entire body trembles, terror coursing through me in a flood.
God. Why did I let Troy go? Why didn't I beg him to stay with me?
Where is he?
"Please," I plead, more afraid than I've ever been in my life. "Please, don't hurt me. I'll go with you. I'll go back home if t-that's what my father wants. Just don't hurt me."
"Your father?" The man laughs, the cold sound sending a chill through me. "I don't give a fuck about your father, sweetheart. You're a problem Stonehaven can't afford. I'm here to fix it."
Stonehaven?
"I…" Terror claws at my mind—at my throat. Confusion swirls through me in a black cloud.
"Troy is done with you, effectively immediately."
Troy.
Oh, God. No. Please, no.
"T-Troy sent you?" His name shakes on my lips.
The intruder hesitates for a second and then nods. "Yes."
My world shatters into a million jagged pieces as I struggle to comprehend the betrayal. I thought I knew what heartbreak felt like, but I was wrong. This is heartbreak. It's complete devastation, ripping through me like a bomb blast. It hurts everywhere—every atom, every cell—all the way to my very core.
A strangled sob escapes my lips as I realize that everything I thought was real was just my own wishful thinking. My body trembles with the force of my emotions, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Somehow, he found out who I am. He knows I'm the princess he was supposed to marry. Maybe he even knows about the curse and how only the man destined to love me could break it. He knows he's been controlled by something greater than himself.
My one true love…hates me.
He sent this man to kill me to ensure that he never had to see me ever again. To ensure that he couldn't be forced or controlled.
When he said hell would freeze over, he meant it.
"He doesn't have to kill me," I sob. "If he d-doesn't want me here, I'll leave and never return. H-he'll never have to see me ever again. I'll n-never l-look for him. I'll n-n-never contact him. You can t-tell him that you k-killed me."
He doesn't have to shoot me to destroy me. He already did that. Troy did that.
I won't beg him to love me. If he didn't want me, all he had to do was ask me to leave. Instead, he chose to send this man to kill me.
Deep down, I know this isn't who he really is. This is the man I feared he'd become—cold, unfeeling, and tyrannical like our fathers. The one I made him promise he'd never let himself become.
