His face twisted into something feral. “Sit the fuck down, you lying bitch.”
I froze.
“I’ve got questions,” he hissed. “And if you lie to me again, I swear to God, you’ll regreteverwalking through that door.”
My legs gave out beneath me, and I collapsed onto the sofa, heart thudding in my ears.
I had poisoned the blade.
And now, death was sitting in Lee’s hands.
“I know exactly who you are,” Lee snarled. “Did you think your lies would protect you? Iknowyou’re a monster.”
He lunged toward the side table, grabbed a battered manila folder, and thrust it inches from my face. With shaking hands, he flung it open. Inside were crumbling, yellowed pages—my diary.The one I had tried to burn in his fireplace and now taped back together like a grotesque jigsaw puzzle of guilt.
A cold, suffocating dread crept over me as I stared at the scorched remnants of my confessions—proof of everything I had buried in ash.
“You’re nothing but a liar,” he growled, voice shaking with fury. “I found your journal in the fire pit. Did you honestly think you could destroy the evidence and walk away clean?” Lee violently shook the folder, and the pages rained to the floor like dead leaves. “I read every word. Iknowyour plan—to take the blades and drown this world in blood and chaos. You’re evil.”
My heart thundered in my chest. I scanned the room, desperate to break his attack. The coffee table was littered with empty beer bottles.
Without thinking, I grabbed one and hurled it across the room. It exploded against the wall, glass shards scattering like a warning.
“Oh, you’ve beendrinking?” I shouted, trembling with rage. “That’s how you chose to handle my disappearance? Drowning your panic in alcohol while I was out there fighting to survive? Pathetic.”
“You’re wrong, bitch,” he shouted, eyes blazing. “Dead wrong. I’mdonewith your lies, your manipulations, your goddamn games. I will protect Olivia from whatever plan you’re hiding—and I swear to you, I’ll take you down if it’s the last thing I do. Now get the fuck out of my house.”
His fury scorched the air. Something in his voice told me he meant every word.
I didn’t argue. I fled—shaking, breath shallow, heart pounding—straight to my car, with the ashes of my secrets still clinging to my skin.
I was just about to unlock my vehicle when I saw him.
Across the street, standing beneath the streetlight, was the Scholar. His face was etched with lines—marks of wisdom, age, and perhaps deception. He smiled, as if we were old friends meeting again after lifetimes apart. His cane tapped steadily against the pavement as he approached.
A cold ripple climbed my spine. Had I imagined his menace? Had I conjured a nightmare out of nothing?
“You’re impeding my progress,” I snapped. “Move. I’m done playing along with your charade.”
“Alina,” he said gently, “I’m only trying to help.”
“Help?” I lunged toward him, fury igniting. “You call fear and manipulationhelp? You locked me in a prison of shadows and paranoia, Scholar.” I sneered. “You and that pathetic disguise of intellect and civility.”
In one swift motion, I yanked the glasses from his face and snapped them in two. He recoiled, startled. Before he could react, I seized his cane and hurled it across the asphalt.
He swayed, unsteady. For a moment, I thought he might fall.
“You expect me to believe Balthazar and Zara didn’t send you?” I spat. “Don’t insult my intelligence. But let me clarify one thing—I am not afraid of you.”
His warmth vanished. An icy glare settled into his eyes. “I have a name,” he said. “Lazarus.”
I laughed—a cold, bitter sound laced with contempt. “Lazarus. How ominous. The name of a ghost. Or is it just some washed-up fraud clinging to myth and parlor tricks?” I stepped closer, my voice a hiss. “You think you can intimidate me? Scare me into submission? Think again. There’s someone far more powerful watching over me. His name is Salvatore, and he isnotyour equal. Not even close. So, get out of my way… or learn what real power feels like.”
I turned and strode toward my car, my heels echoing like gunfire on the pavement, leaving him to choke on the fury I’d set loose.
But then, his voice, sharp and cold, stabbed into my spine.
“Is that right?” Lazarus said, his words slicing through the night like a blade of frost. “Salvatore has promised you safety and deliverance?” He chuckled darkly. “Astonishing. Truly. I’m in awe.”
