All the unanswered questions finally began to fall into place inside my mind.
For so long, everything had felt scattered and confusing, like pieces of a puzzle thrown across the floor. But now the truth was slowly arranging itself into sothing clear and terrifying.
Only one person could have planned sothing like this for years.
Only soone with patience, power, and a cold heart could lure his own son into seeking revenge.
Only he could so easily destroy his son’s bonding ceremony, turning Vito’s own pack mbers against him and making it look effortless.
And only he could remain quietly beside Amber all these years, knowing the truth about my second chance at life, using Wisteria as bait to lure away while deliberately diverting Lewis from reaching .
When Vito ntioned "that person" on the phone earlier, he had been talking about Dominic.
Everything pointed back to him.
So it hadn’t been a coincidence that I saw him in the basent last night.
Now it made perfect sense.
He must have done sothing to the Sanders. When I went down there earlier, those people weren’t just sleeping like it first appeared. Thinking back carefully, their breathing had been too slow, too still. They may have been drugged or forced unconscious.
That explained why they hadn’t shown up this morning.
Dominic had prepared everything in advance.
Hearing his calm explanation now, a strange sense of relief washed over .
At least for Amber’s sake, he wouldn’t harm Lewis.
That single thought was enough to steady my racing heart.
If Lewis was safe, then nothing else mattered.
I lifted my eyes and stared coldly into Dominic’s dark gaze.
"What do you want?" I asked.
A faint smile touched his lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
"Naturally," he said smoothly, "I’m inviting you to watch a show. Co with ."
Whitney and I leaned against each other as we began walking forward. Our steps were slow and unsteady. Neither of us had shoes anymore, and the stone floor beneath our feet felt cold and rough.
Each step scraped painfully against the skin of my soles.
Whitney looked pitiful beside . She was still dragging the heavy, complicated wedding dress behind her. The once-beautiful fabric had been soaked with water earlier, making it twice as heavy as before.
The lace and satin clung to the ground like a burden she couldn’t escape.
My chest tightened when I saw her struggling.
Quietly, I bent down and lifted the hem of her dress for her so it wouldn’t drag along the ground as much.
Compared to Whitney’s obvious anxiety and fear, I felt strangely calm.
Too calm.
After thinking through everything carefully, I understood sothing clearly now.
Dominic wouldn’t let Whitney or die.
At least not today.
That didn’t an he wouldn’t tornt us.
But it ant our lives weren’t the goal.
And strangely, that knowledge removed the panic from my chest.
As for the three mbers of the Sanders family...
I felt a cold indifference settle inside .
Sorry.
That was simply their fate.
Riley’s words from earlier suddenly echoed in my mind.
She had once told sothing simple but powerful.
The mont I stopped carrying the weight of everything on my shoulders... the mont I stopped exhausting myself trying to understand everyone’s cruelty...
Life would beco much clearer.
And now I finally understood what she ant.
Dominic walked ahead of us leisurely, his steps slow and relaxed as if we were simply strolling through a garden instead of walking deeper into a dungeon.
The underground air was cold and damp. The stone walls around us seed to absorb every sound, making the silence feel even heavier.
Then suddenly—
A scream echoed through the darkness.
"Ah!"
The sound was sharp and desperate.
It was Greg’s voice.
Dominic stopped walking imdiately.
His shoulders stiffened for a mont before he slowly tilted his head, as if savoring the sound.
"Listen," he said softly, narrowing his eyes.
"What a beautiful sound."
For a mont, I didn’t react.
Instead, sothing strange stirred inside my chest.
After everything I had experienced... after all the pain and betrayal... my first reaction to Greg’s scream wasn’t pity.
It wasn’t sympathy.
It was sothing colder.
Sothing darker.
Part of almost agreed with Dominic.
Yes.
It did sound beautiful.
Once, I had read a sentence that stayed with for years.
No one can truly understand your suffering unless they walk in your shoes.
Unless they stand exactly where you stood.
Unless they feel the sa fear, the sa helplessness, the sa despair.
But when they finally reach that place... when they finally walk that sa path...
Only then will they realize just how painful it really is.
For years, everyone talked about Wisteria’s manipulation.
They blad everything on her.
They said she had instigated everything.
But none of them ever spoke about my death.
Not once.
Did anyone ever stop and think about what I felt in those final monts?
Did anyone wonder whether I had been afraid?
Whether I had been in pain?
Whether I had cried for help?
No.
Now they were finally getting a taste of it.
The terror of death.
Whitney suddenly ran ahead of , lifting the heavy layers of her wedding dress in her hands.
Her movents were hurried and desperate.
I watched her retreating figure, my expression turning colder.
Why was she running so fast?
Ahead of us was a sharp drop.
A cliff hidden within the darkness of the underground path.
Even without seeing it yet, I could already guess Dominic’s intention.
We wouldn’t die.
But that didn’t an he wouldn’t play with us first.
Tornt us.
Test us.
Silly Whitney.
She was still hoping she could save soone.
Dominic suddenly turned his head and looked directly at .
His gaze lingered on my face for a long mont.
"What’s wrong?" he asked casually. "Aren’t you worried about your family?"
His tone was light, almost curious.
But I knew exactly what he wanted.
The more afraid I looked...
The more desperate I beca...
The happier he would be.
So I didn’t hide anything.
After all...
I truly wasn’t worried anymore.
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