I stare at her.
Ivy Monroe—the woman who has done everything to destroy me—is kneeling before Elias Calloway, begging for my life.
I don’t understand. I can’t understand. This is Ivy. The woman who tried to ruin me. The woman who stole my future, my love, everything.
So why is she trying to save me now? “Ivy,” my voice is hoarse, weak. “What the hell are you doing?”
She turns to me, and for the first time, her eyes are not filled with cruelty or victory.
They are filled with pain. A deep, raw pain that makes my stomach twist.
She shakes her head. “Don’t you remember, Selene?” A shiver crawls down my spine.
Remember what?
My mind races, trying to make sense of everything, but it’s like there’s a fog in my memories, a missing piece that I can’t grasp. “I’ve been trying to save you,” Ivy whispers.
My chest tightens. “What?”
Her lips tremble. “This whole time… everything I did… it was never to hurt you. It was to keep you away from Damian.”
I freeze. That’s a lie. It has to be. I shake my head. “No. You hated me. You—”
“I did what I had to,” Ivy cuts me off, her voice sharp, but filled with something close to desperation. “Because if I didn’t, Elias was going to kill you.”
The room goes still. I feel like I can’t breathe. I look at Elias, who remains silent, watching.
My pulse pounds in my ears. “You’re lying.”
Ivy lets out a bitter laugh. “Do you really think I wanted this?”
Her hand presses to her stomach—the life growing inside of her. “Do you think I wanted to marry Damian?”
The words hit me like a shockwave. Ivy takes a shaky breath. “I begged Elias to take my life instead of yours. Years ago.”
And then it all starts to make sense. The letter.
My breath catches. Ivy’s voice is barely a whisper. “Elias had to kill one of us, Selene.”
The room spins. No. No, no, no. “What are you saying?” I force the words out, but I already know the answer.
Ivy swallows hard. “He was going to kill you. And I couldn’t let that happen.”
Tears burn my eyes. She begged for my life. She saved me. I feel like I’m going to be sick.
Ivy’s voice breaks. “You were supposed to be the one to die.”
But Elias let me live. Why?
Ivy wipes at her eyes, her lips pressing together before she whispers, “Because I made a deal.”
I stop breathing. “A deal?” I repeat, my voice shaking.
She nods. “Elias agreed to spare you… on one condition.”
I already know. “You had to marry Damian.”
A broken laugh escapes her lips. “And I agreed. I thought I could do it. I thought if I married him, I could make him love me.”
Her voice cracks. “But then he met you.”
I sway. The air in the room feels too heavy, suffocating. Damian wasn’t supposed to love me. I wasn’t supposed to be in his life.
And then it clicks.
Everything Ivy ever did. The way she tried to push me away, tried to hurt me, tried to make me leave.
She was protecting me. She wasn’t keeping Damian from me. She was keeping me from Damian. Because if Elias saw that Damian loved me…
He would have killed me. My knees buckle.
“Selene,” Ivy’s voice is soft now. “I had no choice.”
“You ruined my life,” I whisper. “You stole everything from me.”
She nods. “Because if I didn’t, you wouldn’t be alive to hate me for it.”
I don’t know what to say. I look at Elias, at the man who has been controlling us like puppets.
And for the first time in my life—I understand why Ivy hates him.
“Damian was never innocent either,” Ivy suddenly says.
I snap my head up. “What?”
“He knew,” she says, her voice filled with something between pain and fury. “He knew the moment he fell for you that it would cost you your life. But he still let you love him.”
The world tilts. I feel like I’ve been stabbed in the chest.
And then—
The doors slam open.
Damian stands there.
His blue eyes burn with something dangerous.
But I don’t see the man I love.
I see a stranger.