Varder's eyes darkened.
"You wouldn't."
"Try me." My voice was steady. Certain. "You think you can threaten me into silence? You think I'll just accept being used and discarded? I've spent six years working toward you. Six years making myself into what you would want. And I'm not going to stand aside and watch you choose her."
For a long moment we stood like that. His hand on my throat. My hand on his wrist. His eyes on mine.
Then he released me.
Stepped back.
"Stay away from me," he said. "Stay away from Ava. Stay away from all of it. That's not a request."
"And if I don't?"
"Then you'll find out exactly what kind of man I am." He looked at me with those cold eyes. "And I promise you won't like the answer."
He turned and walked toward the exit.
I watched him go. Felt the place where his hand had been on my throat. Felt the cold in my chest spreading outward.
He thought this was over.
