Chapter 50
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I let go of Francesca, stilled, and the fire in my blood turned to ice. She collapsed to the ground with a thump, gasping for breath.
My father’s indifference was never a surprise. Maybe he hated my mother enough to let Adeline do as she pleased. Maybe his love for his other family was so great that he never cared about the first one. Those were the only thoughts that kept me sane whenever he treated me coldly. Whenever he hugged Francesca but never me. It had always been clear–the lack of love. And slowly, I had come to terms with it..
He never treated me like family. He was never truly a father.
So what was there to miss?
Nothing.
It would be an absolute waste of energy to expect anything from him. And yet, I was still given a place in this house, clothes to wear, food to eat. Materially speaking, one could say I was well provided for. Maybe he was man enough to ensure I was taken care of in a way that didn’t cost him much, and I had accepted it. I had never been physically harmed–except for that one time Adeline locked me away. But never by him. Never.
“You’re lying.”
“You’re naïve. Your father hated the very idea of you.”
I turned to her.
“You look exactly like your mother. He hated it. And what’s more, he wanted you dead before you ever got here. But then he learned about his father’s will–not just the Anderson Group of Companies, but the Shadow Knights organization as well. Everything was already in your name. If you were not found, or if anything happened to you before you turned twenty–one, the Shadow Knights would be fully taken over by the Knights, and your share of the Anderson Group would go to charity.”
She sneered.
“That’s why, when your grandfather succeeded in finding you, we kept you–for the right time. But in the end, as long as you live, the power of the Shadow Knights will never belong to Tommen. He wanted it more than anything. You have no idea how deep his hatred runs–to lose to his daughter, a daughter he never wanted with the woman he never loved.”
“Where is he?”
This time, it was Killian who asked.
“I don’t know. He disappeared. And who can find a Shadow Knight when he doesn’t want to be found?” Adeline said, turning to him.
Killian narrowed his eyes.
“Strange. You don’t know? Before you, he was your grandfather’s favorite student. The best.”
I met Killian’s gaze.
Tommen Anderson was a Shadow Knight. My own father wanted me dead.
Everyone was just a pawn.
I was nothing more than a piece in a feud between a son and his dead father.
“You’re just an insignificant pawn. It was never about you or the inheritance–it’s about power. And you are nowhere near prepared for what’s to come.
I stared her down, and she fell silent.
I marched toward her, and she stumbled back, fear flashing in her eyes.
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Chapter 50
་་ པས་ ་ ས ་
“Then you’re even more insignificant than me. He left you with a mess.”
I grabbed her chin and yanked it upward, forcing her to meet my eyes. Pressing the gun to her stomach, I watched her freeze.
“He cares about me enough to avenge me. We are family.”
Those words churned like poison in the pit of my stomach.
“Mila! You cannot do this-”
Nicolai had barely gotten to his feet before a sharp crack echoed through the room.
“Nik!”
Adeline’s voice wavered in terror.
I turned to see Nicolai collapse onto his knees, howling in pain, clutching his right hand.
Killian stood over him, slipping his own hand into his pocket, looking down at him indifferently. Then his gaze flicked to me, his eyes landing on the gun
in my grip.
“You told me there are worse ways than death to ruin someone. Don’t do something you can’t take back.”
I looked down. The suffocating weight of it all coiled around my heart like a snake, threatening to crush me.
Killian stepped toward me, wrapping his hand over mine, over the gun.
“If any of you so much as lift a finger, next time it will be the neck,” Killian said, his voice quiet but lethal. He scanned each face present before his arm slid around my shoulders, taking the gun from me.
I clenched my jaw.
“Mila, we need them right now. Afterward, if you want them dead, they’re dead.”
I let go of the gun.
Killian led me out of the house.
“Get a doctor. I need them all intact,” he ordered one of the guards as we stepped outside.
He took the keys from me, opened the car door, and helped me inside.
I got in silently, but a storm raged in my mind.
As I started the car and pulled out of the Anderson mansion, the snake around my heart refused to let go. Every moment I had ever lived was a lie. The good things I had held on to? Foolish. I hadn’t fooled them. They had always had everything they needed to break me.
And now, I was nothing,
Killian drove in silence. His hand reached for me.
“Don’t touch me,” I warned.
I shook my head. All I could see was the smug, cold smile of the Andersons.
“No,” I whimpered, gripping my head, trying to hold it together. But it was getting harder to breathe.
“It was never about you. You are an insignificant pawn.”
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Chapter 50
I laughed bitterly. My hands shook. My vision blurred.
“Mila…”
Killian’s voice sounded far away.
“Don’t. Please don’t.”
A flash of light streaked across the sky.
“Mila, listen to me.”
I shook my head.
“She’s dead. She’s been dead this whole time.”
My heart felt like it was about to burst and burn at the same time.
“I need you to hold on.”
I took a sharp breath, my breathing ragged. My own emotions were drowning me, tearing me apart. The highway stretched ahead, the dark sky reflecting the shadows consuming my heart.
“Your mother is technically dead.”
Killian’s voice echoed in my head.
All I ever did-
All of it was for nothing.
“I never wanted the Anderson fortune,” I choked out.
“I know.”
“I never wanted any of it. Why?!” I screamed.
I was hot and cold, shaking violently, my vision swimming. The car came to a sudden halt. The jolt barely registered before Killian was beside me, pulling the door open.
He reached for me, and I shoved him hard.
I tried to run, but he grabbed me, pinning me to the car.
“Let go of me!” I screamed, struggling against his hold as thunder tore across the sky.
“What are you going to do?”
“What does it matter to you?! Let me go! I want–I want to-”
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t speak. My heart pounded in my ears.
“What do you want?!” His voice was strained but louder than mine. His eyes burned with fire.
“I won’t let you hurt yourself. So tell me–what do you want? This was just a battle. The war has only begun.”
“War? What war? I wanted my mother! I wanted to live!” I sobbed.”
“And you… why are you even here with me?”
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Chapter 50
I played along with him because, for a moment, it felt good. Warm. Like I was alive. But now, my soul felt like it was being ripped from my body.
“If you want the Shadow Knights under your control, if this is all just some game to you-”
“Mila…” His voice turned cold. A shadow of betrayal crossed his face.
“Kill me. Have it all.”
His eyes burned red at the corners.
“Is that what you want? To die?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t allow that.”
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“Killian Knight!”
“You don’t let go of something once you‘ got what I have in you.”
“What do you have? Another perfect façade? What’s real in your life? Everything is a lie! Tell me you’re lying too and put me out of my misery!”
“Have I ever lied to you?”
I looked away.
And then the rain started to fall.
“What do I know? I got fooled once, and you are…”
“A liar? I may be.” His jaw tightened, but lightning flashed across his face as the rain started to pour. “There is only one truth in my life, and that is you.”
“Stop,” I begged.
“No, you tell me–what is it that you want? You want the Andersons burned to the ground? I will do it.”
“Stop it!” I couldn’t bear this. I couldn’t bear him being right. He couldn’t be right–not when everything was wrong.
“Tell me, Mila. What do you want?!”
“I want everything to stop existing! I want to stop existing!” I screamed, over and over, as the rain poured harder. “I never wanted any of this! I wanted to live! I wanted my mother! Just her. Just her! I would have given them anything! Why did they make me hope?! Why?!”
I crumbled to the ground, my pleas drowned out by the relentless rain.
“Please! Please! Stop this!” I hit his shoulder, trying to push him away as he held me tightly.
“I want this to stop! I did everything! I did what they asked! I played the game! Everything I did was for nothing! I am nothing! Why are you here?! Leave me alone!” My voice was raw as I collapsed.
“Why? Why? Why?! WHY?!” I sobbed, falling against him. He gathered me in his arms, and I shook my head, exhausted, my heart torn apart.
“I never did anything to them, and what have they done to me?” My voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.
The last thing I heard was the pounding rain. had no strength left to pull away. He was my only source of warmth as the cold sank into my bones numbing my heart.
“I am no one. I am nothing… just stop.”
