He Threw Me Into Abyss, I Ruined His Empire

My hand trembled against the stone steps as Jace Jardine's laughter drifted through the garden, sharp enough to cut straight through me. "Rowan, you really are something. Clarissa trusted you more than anyone. She worships you now. We practically tore each other apart fighting over her back then. Looking at it now, it's almost funny." Sunlight spilled across the stone terrace, throwing the two men's shadows long against the ground. Hidden behind the hedges, I crouched motionless and listened to Rowan Sutton answer. "That's enough. There's no point bringing up the past." But Jace had no intention of stopping. "There was a five-million-dollar bounty on Marcus. You forged evidence and sent in an anonymous tip without blinking. And now you'll spend fifty million on a necklace for Celine?" My heart seized. Cold rushed through my body so fast it left my fingertips numb. Rowan did not deny it. "That night, if I hadn't stepped in, the smuggling ring would've gone after Celine. To protect her, I didn't have a choice." Jace let out a mocking laugh. "You still can't forget your first love? To save one woman, you sent Marcus to his death. What a joke. Marcus's daughter actually married the man who killed him." My knees gave out beneath me. The cold stone slammed into my legs, but I barely felt it. My husband, the man I had trusted more than anyone in this world, was the one who had killed my father. For five years, I had fallen asleep every night in my father's murderer's arms. Nausea surged violently in my throat. I forced it down and pushed myself upright, one shaky breath at a time. Then I turned and fled the suffocating estate. Five hours later, I stood alone before my father's grave while rain poured over me in sheets, soaking me to the bone. My phone vibrated again in my pocket, Rowan's seventeenth call since I had left the estate. I stared at the screen for a long moment before replying. "I came to see Dad." Then I switched off the phone and threw it into the mud beside the headstone. A tall figure emerged through the rain. Rowan walked toward me beneath a black umbrella. "Clarissa, it's raining this hard. Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" He lowered the umbrella over my head, his eyes full of concern. The performance was flawless. For five years, I had never seen through him. "You came to visit Marcus?" Rowan wrapped his hand around mine, his voice as gentle as ever. I swallowed the chaos inside me and forced a faint smile onto my face. "I missed my father. He died so horribly. Sometimes I still feel like I failed him." Something flickered across Rowan's eyes. His grip tightened around my hand. "I'll keep investigating Marcus's case. One day, the real killer will pay for what he did." Pain swelled so violently in my chest it was almost unbearable. Yet I still had to stand there and listen to the man who murdered my father promise justice for his death. "Come on," Rowan said softly. "Let's go home." He slipped an arm around my shoulders and guided me toward the black sedan. I leaned against the window after we got in, closed my eyes, and let the tears fall soundlessly.