Just then, Vivienne's sharp gasp broke the tension. Her eyes darted to the floor.
Lucian's phone.
Elara's trembling fingers had already snatched it up again. Her pulse raced as she quickly dialed the cops' emergency landline, pressing the SOS number with desperate certainty. She knew now—if she did nothing, she wouldn't make it out alive.
"E–Elara…" Vivienne's voice cracked, her mask slipping as panic finally seeped through.
But Damon was faster. His hand shot out, ripping the phone from Elara's grasp. Her body trembled violently, the fear she'd tried so hard to hide now spilling through in every shake of her frame, every tear clouding her vision.
Damon's face darkened, his fury boiling over. He jabbed at the phone, then sneered when the screen went black. The call had already been disconnected.
"You stupid, useless whore!" he spat.
His rage twisted him into something monstrous. He gripped a heavy vase, eyes blazing with unrestrained malice, and smashed it against Elara with brutal force.
The impact sent her sprawling, pain exploding across her skull as the world blurred into agony. Blood mixed with shards glittered across the floor. Damon loomed over her, cursing, kicking, each blow driven by blind hatred as if silencing her very existence.
"Damon, stop!" Vivienne cried, her voice trembling as she and Lucian scrambled to throw on their clothes. She rushed toward him, thrusting his jacket into his hands, her desperation clear. "Not now! We don't have time for this—you'll bring everything crashing down!"
Lucian's jaw was tight, his hands moving quickly as he yanked on his shirt. "The call didn't go through, but we can't risk it. We need to disappear—fast."
For a moment, Damon froze, his chest heaving, shards of fury still flickering in his eyes. His knuckles were bloodied, his face a mask of twisted rage. Elara lay crumpled at his feet, barely conscious, her breaths shallow and ragged.
The broken vase slipped from his grip, clattering to the floor. But then his gaze shifted back to her.
And his fingers curled around a jagged shard.
Time blurred into a haze of pain and whispers. Through her half-closed eyes, Elara could see them—Damon, Vivienne, Lucian—huddled together, their voices low, urgent, and cold. She couldn't make out every word, but the fragments she caught were enough to chill her to the bone. "…take care of her…" "…no evidence left…" "…clear suspicion…"
Her heart sank. They weren't just angry. They weren't going to let her live.
A pair of rough hands grabbed her. She was dragged off the bed like a rag doll, her body limp and battered. Her head lolled as they hauled her into the kitchen, her bare feet scraping the floor. Every breath felt heavier than the last. She was clinging to life by a fraying thread.
The smell of gasoline hit her nose before she saw the flicker of orange light. Her stomach turned.
Then—the whoosh of a match. The sudden roar of flames.
The kitchen became a furnace in seconds, the fire spreading with a hunger of its own. Heat licked at her skin, smoke burned her throat, and her vision swam with tears and ash. She tried to move, to crawl, but her body betrayed her, heavy and numb.
Their silhouettes loomed in the smoke, their voices a sinister echo as they moved quickly, almost methodically. "…no one will know…" "…burn it all…" "…she brought this on herself…"
The fire climbed the walls, devouring curtains, cabinets, memories. The crackle and pop of burning wood was deafening.
Elara's mind drifted as her life began to replay like a film on fast-forward—her foolish love for Damon, the countless times she'd ignored the warnings, how she had turned her back on her father, her brothers, and especially Adrian. Adrian, who had always been there, always tried to protect her.
She didn't know why his name, his face, came to her now at the edge of death. Maybe it was guilt. Maybe it was regret. Maybe it was the faint, desperate wish that he'd come for her, one last time.
But she didn't care anymore. She was about to die anyway.
The flames surged higher. The heat pressed down like an iron fist. Elara's body trembled. Her vision blurred. Her lips parted, whispering a single name—barely audible over the roar of fire.
"Adrian…"
And then, somewhere far away, a sound. A crash. A door. A voice cutting through the smoke—sharp, commanding.
"Elara…"
The voice cut through the crackle of flames, low and desperate. For a heartbeat, she thought she was imagining it, a hallucination brought on by smoke and pain. But then she forced her heavy eyelids open—and saw him.
Adrian.
The one man she never thought would come for her.
The man she had betrayed, humiliated, and cast aside for Damon.
And yet, through the blazing fire and choking smoke, he was there—like a knight stepping into a battlefield of flames.
Elara's bitter heart ached with regret, a sharp twist that almost hurt more than the burns on her skin. And then, despite everything, a faint, broken smile curved her lips.
"S…so…" she coughed violently, her chest rattling as smoke tore through her lungs, "…sorry…" Her voice was husky, shredded by the fumes, each word dragged out with painful effort.
Adrian shook his head fiercely, crouching low, his arms slipping around her scorched body with a tenderness she didn't think he was capable of. "No. Now is not the time. I won't let you die. Nothing will happen to you," he murmured, his voice steady even as his hands trembled.
Elara's tears mingled with soot on her cheeks. She knew she was slipping, fading. At least I won't die at their hands, she thought. At least… it's him here at the end.
Adrian's jaw clenched, his eyes glinting through the smoke. "I'll make sure you live," he said, his voice breaking for the first time. 'And even if you die, I swear I'll bring you back.' He vowed in his heart.
Tears streamed down his face. Adrian—the man the world called cold, ruthless, a monster—was crying. For her.
Elara's body convulsed with another harsh cough, blood tinging her lips. Her vision blurred, the edges of the world growing dark. She clung to the sound of his voice, the warmth of his arms. Her lips moved one last time, forming his name.
And then everything went black.