CHAPTER 7: REDEMPTION OR RUIN
1118 Words
Evelyn stood frozen, Adrian’s grip firm on her chin, his dark eyes filled with something she couldn’t name.
It wasn’t just hatred.
It wasn’t just vengeance.
It was possession.
And that terrified her more than anything else.
“You can’t keep me like this,” she whispered, barely recognizing her own voice.
Adrian chuckled, low and amused. “Can’t I?”
Her body trembled. “You’ve already won, Adrian. You made me suffer. You made me break. What more do you want?”
His smirk faltered.
For the first time, uncertainty flickered in his gaze.
“I don’t know,” he muttered.
The confession sent a chill through her.
He had spent years planning his revenge, twisting her world into something unrecognizable, and now—he didn’t know what he wanted?
She took a shaky breath. “Then let me go.”
Adrian stiffened.
Then, slowly, he shook his head.
“No.”
Her heart sank.
He couldn’t let her go.
Because if he did… what would be left of him?
Evelyn realized, with horrifying clarity, that Adrian had built his existence around destroying her. If he stopped now, he would have nothing.
A twisted part of her pitied him.
But pity wouldn’t save her.
Not when she was standing in the lion’s den, surrounded by the wreckage of her own life.
Tears burned her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
“I hate you,” she whispered.
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“I hate you for everything you did to me. I hate you for taking away my choices. I hate you for making me feel like I was nothing.”
Her voice shook, but she kept going.
“You wanted to see me suffer?” She let out a bitter laugh. “Congratulations. You won.”
Adrian’s hands clenched into fists at his sides.
His lips parted as if he wanted to say something, but he didn’t.
Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun.
Evelyn’s breath hitched.
He wouldn’t.
Would he?
Adrian turned the gun over in his hand before tossing it onto the ground between them.
Her eyes widened.
“Pick it up,” he ordered.
She stared at him. “What?”
His gaze darkened. “Pick it up, Evelyn.”
She hesitated, then slowly bent down and wrapped her fingers around the cold metal.
It was heavier than she expected.
Adrian stepped closer.
“So do it,” he murmured. “End it.”
Her hands shook.
Was this some kind of sick game?
He was giving her a chance to kill him?
Her finger hovered over the trigger.
Evelyn’s heart pounded.
Could she do it?
After everything he had done to her…
After everything he had taken from her…
Could she pull the trigger?
Adrian’s eyes were steady, almost challenging.
“Go on,” he whispered. “Set yourself free.”
Her breath hitched.
Freedom.
That’s what she wanted, wasn’t it?
She tightened her grip.
One pull.
One moment.
And this nightmare would be over.
Her hands trembled.
Adrian didn’t move. He didn’t flinch.
He was daring her.
She swallowed hard.
Then, with a choked sob, she dropped the gun.
It clattered onto the ground, the sound echoing like a death sentence.
Adrian’s eyes flickered with something she didn’t understand.
“Why?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Evelyn shook her head. “Because I won’t be like you.”
Silence stretched between them.
Then—a gunshot.
Evelyn gasped, expecting pain.
But there was none.
Instead, Adrian staggered backward, blood blooming across his shoulder.
Her eyes widened.
Someone had shot him.
She spun around, her heart pounding—
And froze.
Henry.
Her father’s right-hand man stood at the entrance of the alley, gun still raised.
His expression was blank, but his eyes were cold.
“You should have finished him,” Henry said, stepping forward.
Evelyn’s breath came in short gasps.
She couldn’t move.
Adrian clutched his bleeding shoulder, his face contorted in pain, but he was still standing.
Henry turned the gun toward her.
Her blood ran cold.
“You’re no use to us anymore, Evelyn.”
The words hit harder than the gunshot.
Henry had been with her family since she was a child.
He had protected her.
He had promised to keep her safe.
But now…
Now, he was looking at her as if she were nothing more than an inconvenience.
“You knew,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Henry’s expression didn’t change. “I always knew.”
Evelyn felt sick.
Adrian let out a dark chuckle.
“Looks like you were just another pawn, Evelyn,” he rasped, blood dripping from his fingers.
Henry’s grip on the gun tightened.
“You’re in the way.”
Evelyn’s stomach twisted.
Her father hadn’t just ruined Adrian’s life.
He had ruined hers.
And now…
Now, Henry was going to erase her.
Her breath came in ragged gasps.
Adrian staggered toward her.
“I told you,” he murmured. “We’re the same.”
And in that moment, Evelyn realized—
He was right.
Her father had destroyed Adrian’s life.
And now, her father’s men were trying to erase hers.
The cycle would never end.
Unless…
Unless she broke it.
Henry’s finger twitched on the trigger.
Evelyn lunged.
The gun went off—
Pain exploded in her side.
She cried out but didn’t stop.
With everything she had, she slammed into Henry, knocking the gun from his hands.
Adrian was already moving.
In a blur, he grabbed the weapon and fired—
Straight into Henry’s chest.
Henry stumbled, his face frozen in shock.
Then he collapsed.
Silence.
Evelyn’s breath came in ragged gasps.
Her vision blurred.
Pain burned through her side.
She pressed a trembling hand to the wound—warm, wet.
She was bleeding.
Adrian cursed under his breath.
Then, suddenly, his arms were around her.
She tried to push him away, but she was too weak.
“Stay awake,” he ordered, his voice rough.
Evelyn blinked up at him.
Why…?
Why was he still holding her like she mattered?
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
Darkness crept at the edges of her vision.
Adrian’s grip tightened.
“Damn it, Evelyn,” he growled. “Don’t you dare die on me.”
Her body swayed.
Her eyelids felt heavy.
But before she slipped into the darkness, she whispered one last thing—
“Why do you care?”
Adrian didn’t answer.
But as the world faded away, she could have sworn he was shaking.
Days Later
Evelyn’s eyes fluttered open. Pain throbbed through her body.
Adrian sat beside her hospital bed, his gaze unreadable.
You did survived.
- Writer
