Chapter 44
AVERY’S POV:
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I had always prided myself on being a woman of will and persistence. A survivor. But the moment Axel Blackwood stepped into the room, covered in splashes of blood, his pupils blown so wide they swallowed the light, I felt my resolve wither.
He looked like something out of a nightmare. His white shirt was ruined, stained in dark patches, and his hands–God, his hands were dripping with it. I didn’t want to know whose blood it was.
Bile surged up my throat, and I had to swallow hard to keep it down.
Still, I forced myself to stand, my movements stiff and unsteady. His presence had always been oppressive, but now? Now, it was deadly.
“Avery, you will make that appearance tomorrow,” Axel said, his voice eerily calm, as if he hadn’t just returned from whatever act of horror he’d committed. “You will act like my trophy wife at several events tomorrow. The priority, however, is for you to make a statement with your appearance.”
I stared at him, stunned by the audacity. He wanted me to be his mouthpiece? To lie for him?
A slow rage began to build in my chest. My breath was shallow, but I refused to cower.
I squared my shoulders. “No.”
Axel’s head tilted slightly, his expression shifting into something dark and unreadable.
I pressed on, my voice stronger. “I have people who love me. People who will fight for me. You can’t just—*
He moved so fast I barely registered it before his hand was around my throat.
His grip was brutal. A crushing force that cut off my air in an instant. My body reacted before my brain did, hands clawing at his wrist as I gagged on my own spit. The pressure was unbearable, a vice tightening with each passing second.
I kicked out, struggling to find balance, but he yanked me forward and threw me onto the bed like I weighed nothing. My vision blurred at the edges, and I coughed violently, dragging in precious air.
By the time I could lift my head, Axel was walking toward the door. For a second, I thought he was leaving.
Then Ryan stepped into view, handing him a thick brown envelope.
Axel turned back to me, his expression unreadable as he approached. My stomach twisted into knots.
Tears burned behind my eyes, but I forced them back. I wouldn’t be a fragile girl, easily manipulated.
“You don’t have much of a choice in this matter, woman, Axel said coldly. “Don’t think I’m bargaining with you.”
I sat up, just enough to glare at him. “And what if I still say no?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he tossed the envelope at me. It hit my face before landing on my lap.
“What you see in there will make you rethink your answer,” he said. “Because once you read it, you’ll understand that no one is truly there for you. I’ve shown you mercy by keeping you in this room–a privilege. With your attitude, I should drag you back to your old cell.”
I didn’t move. Didn’t say a word.
His gaze darkened. “Don’t make me do what I’ve been restraining myself from doing.”
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I understood that warning as clear as daylight. He wasn’t threatening me. He was promising me something far worse if I pushed him further.
With shaking hands, I opened the envelope. The first page left me speechless–a DNA result.
My spirit left my body as I scanned the pages. My name, Avery Russell, was printed at the top, but the matches I expected to see were all negative. A chill ran down my spine. I flipped through the pages, my mind reeling with each new revelation. Photographs, letters, financial documents – all evidence that my entire life had been a fabrication.
My mother, Lyra, had forged everything. She had stolen me, raised me as her own, but I wasn’t her daughter. The truth hit me like a ton of bricks.
The truth crushed my soul, leaving me breathless and shattered. Lyra’s actions, her coldness, her constant comparisons to Astrid – it all made sense now. The painful realization hit me like a ton of bricks. I was never truly her daughter. I was just a temporary distraction from her own emptiness, a fleeting fill for the void in her life. And when Astrid came along, I became disposable, a cast–off toy no longer needed.
My eyes landed on the company documents, and my grandfather’s original will, I lost it all. I was meant to get the company but, it had been taken from me, handed over to Astrid like I was nothing more than an afterthought. The injustice of it all burned within me.
My whole life, I had been trying to prove myself to Lyra, to earn her love and approval. But it had all been for nothing. Every sacrifice, every compromise, every desperate attempt to please her had been met with indifference, rejection, and ultimately, betrayal. The realization was a bitter pill to swallow.
I turned to Axel, my voice shaking with emotion. “Is this some kind of joke? Are you playing with me?”
Axel’s expression was impassive. “You’re not even in the same league as me, Avery. I don’t play games with people like you.”
I felt a surge of desperation. “Who are my real parents? Tell me!”
Axel raised an eyebrow. “You think you deserve to know that? You haven’t done anything to earn that kind of information. It’s not something I’ll just hand over to you.”
I begged, tears streaming down my face. “Please, Axel. I need to know. My whole life, I’ve been living a lie. I deserve to know the truth.”
Axel’s expression didn’t change. “Your problem isn’t my problem, Avery. Deal with it.”
“Why are you showing me all this?” I asked with skepticism. “It doesn’t seem like you’re someone who cares.”
Axel closed the distance between us, his eyes locked on mine. “You deserve to know the lies in your life,” he emotionlessly responded. For a fleeting moment, I saw a shadow of vulnerability in his demeanor, a hint of something deeper beneath his stoic surface.
“I was once at a point in my life where I wished someone had shown me this kind of mercy,” he continued, his words dripping with a quiet intensity. “I wish I had been told, shown the truth.”
But as quickly as it appeared, the vulnerability vanished, masked by his usual impassive expression. I was left wondering: was this genuinely an act of mercy, or just a move to throw me off balance and gain more control?
Was Axel trying to shatter my illusions, to free me from the lies that had defined my life? Or was he simply manipulating me, using the truth as a weapon to bend me to his will? I couldn’t be sure.
I continued flipping. The next pages were for Chase…
A wave of nausea hit me as I skimmed the legal documents. Chase had been plotting against me from the beginning. I had taken a fall, ruined my life, and sacrificed my happiness for a liar. Now, this was heavy. I couldn’t hold back the tears I had tried so hard to suppress.
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They streamed down my face, hot and bitter, as I mourned the loss of my trust, my dignity, and my sense of self. I felt like I was drowning in a sea of despair, unable to keep my head above water.
How did Axel even find all of this? How could I believe him?
I clenched my jaw and looked up at him. “How do I know this isn’t just another one of your power plays to get me to do what you want?”
Axel exhaled, rolling his shoulders like I had exhausted him. He stepped closer, towering over me.
“Avery, dear,” he murmured with condescension, “you’re not that special for me to go through this much trouble. This is fun for me. Watching you squirm, knowing you have no one, excites me.”
His words were cruel, but his eyes… his eyes told a different story.
He was lying. Or at least, he was pretending that this didn’t affect him. That he didn’t care. Something that looked almost like… concern crossed his face.
Was I reading him right? Or was I just desperate to see something, anything, that would make me think someone cared? Maybe he didn’t actually care, but seeing me hurt did something to him. Maybe it sparked a memory, or a feeling, that he wanted to keep buried.
I searched his face, trying to decipher the truth behind his expression. But his mask slipped back into place, leaving me wondering if I had imagined the whole thing. Had I misread him entirely?
I looked back at the documents. My fingers trembled as I turned another page. An autopsy report of my grandfather came to
view.
Everything they had ever told me was a lie.
I felt hollow.
Everything I thought I knew about myself had been ripped away in an instant.
And then my gaze fell on Axel again.
If anyone had answers, it was him.
I had no one. No family. No allies. But Axel…
Axel was power.
And power was the only thing that could give me what I wanted.
I had two choices–fight him and end up in a cell, truly helpless, or play the game and get exactly what I needed.
Before Axel’s hand reached the door handle, I made my decision.
“I’ll do it,” I yelled.
He stilled.
“What?”
I lifted my chin, swallowing back the last of my tears. “I’ll do whatever you want, dear husband.”
He turned slowly, his mismatched eyes on mine. He studied me, searching for weakness, for cracks in my strength.
I didn’t give him any.
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Chapter 44
My purpose had puer shifted
This wasn’t about survival anymore.
This was about revenge.
1 would seduce, manipulate, and break Axed Blackwood if I had to. Because he was the only tool I had left.
1 would use him to destroy the people who betrayed me.
And then, when the time was right. I would take him down, too.
