A Twisted Love: Betrayal's Bitter Taste

sent him a gift: the preserved emb

er, driving him to prison and my mother

sted with rage, he slammed me against the counte

the moment you chose Emb

a mental asylum where Ember, the architect of my family's ruin

ing both of us out of a third-story window. I

emorse, but with a chilling demand. "Ember needs a te

could force me to sacrifice a piece of

o go through with the "surgery," I walked away, leaving him in the ruins of the life he had sh

pte

e Ols

irthday. I looked down at the preserved embryo in the custom-made glass vial,

sed 'a

" I said, my voice flat

trained, almost breathless sound. Heath. The man who had

sion that was almost comical. He hadn't expected t

playing on my lips. It stretched my facial mus

hear his mind racing, trying to put the pieces t

" His voice was a low growl no

deliberate dagger. "Or what would have been our chi

uish, a sound I had longed to hear for two long, agonizing years. My heart, a l

ounded like a marble floor. He must have dropped the vial. Good.

voice thick with fury and a pain I

still eerily calm. "And you know what? It

cture him, his handsome face contorted, his perfect prosecutor's com

you do this?" he screa

t a laugh of joy, but of bitter triumph. "You want to know why, Heath? Becaus

thrown his phone across the room. It didn't matter

ng a path down my cheek. I quickly wiped it

ays like this after one of our 'interactions.' A ho

, slamming against the wall. Heath.

odshot. The remains of the vial lay scattered on the floor, glitt

ked out, his voice barely a

nstructed mask of indifference. Let him call

e. His grip was tight, his fingers digging in

shoved me against the cold, unforgiving surface of the kitchen counter. My hea

ce inches from mine, his breath hot against

u forfeited the right to call it 'our child' the moment yo

mething unreadable passing through

, his voice deafening in the confined

ng to my lips. "This is just the beginning,

r, narrowly missing my head. The force

oice trembling with a mixture of rage and

ing. "But who made me this way, Heat

was nothing left to find. The vibrant, loving woman he h

gainst my lower lip, where the impact had split the skin. It was a

, his voice softer now, almost pleading

k so?" My eyes darted to the shattered glass on the floor, then back to his

ss vanished, replaced by the fa

Blaire," he said, his voice cold

it for me. You chose it the day you sided with Ember, the day yo

her clearly hitting a nerve. But it w

digging deep. His eyes burned into min

mily collapse?" he snarled, his voice

t 'justice.' You called it 'responsibility.' You conveniently forgot about the

truck a chord, a deep-seated in

rimace twisting his features. When he opened

low and dangerous. "I tried to keep you out of it.

lips. "I fought for my family, Heath. I fought fo

his disheveled hair. He looked tired, defeated. But I

he muttered, shaking his head.

aimed straight at my deepest woun

"you're just like Ember. A manipulative, calculating opp

d being compared to her, even though

the wreckage of the kitchen, then settling o

emotion. "If that's the game you wa

in the silence. I watched him go, my body trembli

ce me. "Just remember, Blaire," he warned, hi

against the counter, the adrenaline slowly draining fr

gain. I had a war to fight. And Heath David

message from an unknown nu

unlikely ally. The only one who co