Maria.
"Speak, Vincent!" I said impatiently, my frustration finally getting the better of . "Stop laughing like a lunatic."
My voice echoed sharper than I intended, but I didn’t care. At this point, his constant amusent was beginning to irritate .
Vincent only chuckled again, but the sound was calm and controlled.
"Relax, Maria," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "I was only removing those who deserved it." he paused, a smile slowly spreading across his face as he looked directly at . "You should be thanking instead."
The room fell silent instantly, a suffocating kind of silence. The kind where even the smallest sound would seem deafening.
For a mont, it felt as though even the air around us had stopped moving. And sohow, in that silence, my thoughts only grew louder.
Thank him?
For what?
Why would I ever thank him?
My brows furrowed as I stared at him.
Vincent tilted his head slightly. "Those who constantly walked all over you, Maria." His voice lowered. "The kitchen head who always liked making things difficult for you..." He paused deliberately. "I can keep going."
As he spoke, he rose slowly from the bed. The mattress creaked beneath his weight before settling back into place.
Then he began walking toward , step by step, unhurried and confident, until he stood directly in front of once again.
This ti, there was sothing strange in his expression. Sothing that almost looked like concern.
"You never spoke about it," he said quietly, his eyes remaining fixed on mine. "You never let it out." The smile disappeared from his face. "You swallowed everything and endured it."Sothing in his voice softened briefly. "And those useless quadruplets only made things worse for you."
His jaw tightened, and then he took a deep breath.
And what ca next made my blood run cold.
"I killed them all, Maria."
The words hit like a physical blow.
My entire body went rigid.
"Bloodfang is in chaos," he continued casually. "How else did you think Vanessa escaped?"
Vincent laughed imdiately, with no guilt, nor regret in his voice, just with complete satisfaction.
As though he was proud of what he’d done.
As though he expected to be impressed.
"I am sure by now the quadruplets have already rushed back to Bloodfang," he added, his smile widening. "And as for Noah..."
Sothing about the way he said Noah’s na imdiately made my stomach drop.
Vincent’s grin stretched further.
"...he probably should have been dead by now."
I froze completely.
The room seed to tilt around .
My heartbeat accelerated instantly, pounding so loudly inside my chest that it drowned out everything else.
Dead?
The word echoed repeatedly inside my mind.
No.
There was no way.
Absolutely no way.
My breathing beca uneven as I stared at Vincent, searching his face for so sign that this was a joke.
So indication that he was exaggerating—anything but there was nothing.
Noah was strong, at least stronger than most people I knew.
The image of him imdiately flashed through my mind. A man like Noah couldn’t simply—
No.
I refused to believe it.
"What are you saying, Vincent?" I asked instantly.
Before I even realized what I was doing, I had already grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands.
My fingers tightened around the fabric, hard and desperate, demanding for answers.
My heart was pounding so violently that it felt painful.
"I am saying..." Vincent began calmly, almost as though we were discussing sothing ordinary. "No one is coming for you, Maria."
His voice remained steady, confident and certain.
"The only choice you have is to marry . Beco my Lycan Princess so we can rule the world together." A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "And you will be happy."
"Shut up!" My voice cracked through the room before he could continue. "Shut up, Vincent, and tell what you did to Noah!"
I was yelling now, as I no longer cared how loud I sounded, and no longer cared about anything except the answer.
Vincent frowned slightly. "I didn’t do anything, Maria."
The response ca far too quickly and easily.
"He just wanted to play the hero and walked into it." His shoulders lifted in a casual shrug. "You can’t bla ."
The confidence in his voice made sick.
Slowly, my hands fell away from his chest. The strength seed to drain from my body all at once.
My thoughts descended into complete chaos.
No. No. No.
The realization hit harder with every passing second.
I had put Noah in danger, it might not have been intentionally but I had still done it.
The more I thought about it, the worse it beca—every possibility, every consequence and every terrible outco.
My chest tightened painfully.
A lump ford in my throat.
Before I could stop it, tears gathered in my eyes, hot and relentless, and within minutes and without realising it, they started falling, one after another, not until my vision blurred.
"Don’t cry, my love," Vincent said softly, as his expression imdiately changed.
Concern flashed across his face as he reached toward . His hand lifted, clearly intending to wipe away my tears but I stepped back imdiately, more like his touch burned.
"Don’t touch , murderer!" I yelled.
The word echoed through the room.
Vincent chuckled at first, a short humorless sound but then his expression darkened, as the amusent vanished completely.
"Stop wasting your tears on another man, Maria," he said, his voice lower and colder, more dangerous, as he took a step forward. "As my wife, it isn’t proper."
The possessiveness in his tone made my stomach twist.
I scoffed through my tears. "I am not your wife, Vincent." My voice trembled, but my words didn’t. "And I would rather die than beco one."
The sentence left my mouth without hesitation and without regret. It was firm, absolute and final.
And for the first ti since this conversation began, Vincent panicked. It was subtle, a brief flicker in his eyes and a crack in his confidence but it was there.
The certainty he’d been carrying vanished for a split second.
As though the possibility of losing frightened him far more than anything else I could have said.
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