Chapter 77 - Leverage of Secrets

Ava’s POV

I stayed on the floor, my hand pressed to my throat, each ragged breath burning in my lungs. My ears were ringing from his words, the promise of death echoing louder than the vase shattering across the room.

For a second, I couldn’t move. Not out of fear, but from the realization of just how far Orion had fallen. Or maybe, how blind I’d been all along.

He was a monster.

Slowly, I forced myself to stand, my legs shaky beneath me. I wiped at the tears streaking my face, hating how weak I must’ve looked, how much satisfaction that would’ve given him.

“The only way out of this is till death do us part.”

The words replayed in my head, each one heavier than the last. For so long, I’d tried to find the man beneath the arrogance, beneath the cold exterior. I’d searched for the broken pieces of him, thinking maybe—just maybe—I could put him back together. But there was nothing to fix. The darkness I saw tonight was the truth of who Orion Miller really was.