Married to the Devil I Wronged

I wasn’t supposed to see him again. Not after what I did. Not after the night everything fell apart. Yet there he was. Standing at the far end of the hospital hallway like he owned the air everyone breathed… like the world itself bent to his will. Lucien Voss. My heart forgot how to beat. For a moment, everything else faded—the smell of antiseptic, the distant beeping of machines, the murmured conversations of nurses rushing past. All of it blurred into nothing. Because he was here. Three years. Three whole years, and somehow, he looked even more… dangerous. Sharper. Colder. Untouchable. His black suit fit him like it was made just for him, perfectly tailored, perfectly intimidating. The kind of suit that screamed power without needing to say a word. A silver watch rested on his wrist, catching the fluorescent lights with every slight movement. People noticed him. Of course they did. A man like that couldn’t go unnoticed. Nurses slowed down as they passed him, their whispers soft but obvious. A few of them smiled, hoping for a glance, a reaction… anything. They didn’t get it. Because Lucien Voss wasn’t looking at them. He was looking at me. And the moment our eyes met— Everything I had buried came crashing back. “Amara.” My name. On his lips. Slow. Measured. Heavy. Like it carried history. Like it carried pain. I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry. “Lucien…” The second I said his name, I knew I had made a mistake. Because something shifted in his expression. Not surprise. Not warmth. Something darker. He started walking toward me. Each step deliberate. Controlled. Terrifying. My body locked in place, my brain screaming at me to move, to run, to disappear before he reached me. But I couldn’t. I just stood there. Waiting. Like a fool. Like I had been waiting for him all along. He stopped right in front of me. Too close. Close enough for me to notice every detail—the faint scar near his eyebrow, the sharpness of his jaw, the cold, unreadable depth in his eyes. This wasn’t the boy I knew. That boy had smiled. This man? He looked like he had forgotten how. “You look exactly the same,” he said quietly. I let out a small, nervous breath. “You don’t.” It was the truth. The Lucien I remembered had been… alive. This one felt like something else entirely. Something dangerous. Something broken. His gaze lingered on my face, studying me like he was searching for something… or maybe confirming something. Then he leaned in slightly. Close enough that I felt the warmth of his breath against my skin. And my heart— My stupid, traitorous heart— Skipped. “Marry me.” The words didn’t register at first. “What?” I pulled back, blinking at him, certain I had misheard. But his face remained unchanged. Calm. Serious. Deadly. “I don’t repeat myself,” he said. A short, disbelieving laugh escaped me. “You’re insane.” “Maybe.” His lips curved slightly, but it wasn’t a smile. It was something colder. “Or maybe,” he continued, his voice dropping just enough to send a chill down my spine, “I finally have the power to make you pay for what you did.” The air left my lungs. There it was. The truth. This wasn’t random. This wasn’t fate. This was revenge. “I’m not marrying you,” I said quickly, shaking my head. “You can’t just show up after three years and—” “Your mother needs surgery.” Everything stopped. The words hit harder than anything else he could have said. My voice came out barely above a whisper. “What…?” He straightened, adjusting his cufflinks with slow precision, like he hadn’t just shattered my entire world in one sentence. “The hospital won’t proceed without full payment,” he said calmly. “And from what I’ve seen… you don’t have that kind of money.” My hands curled into fists. “How do you know about my mother?” “I know everything about you, Amara.” His tone softened slightly. But that didn’t make it better. If anything, it made it worse. Because it meant this wasn’t impulsive. This was planned. Carefully. Thoroughly. Cruelly. “Marry me,” he said again. “And I’ll cover every single cost.” My chest tightened painfully. This wasn’t a choice. This was a trap. A perfectly designed trap. “You’re blackmailing me,” I whispered. “No.” He met my gaze without hesitation. “I’m offering you a solution.” A solution? To destroy my life? To tie myself to the man I once— I cut the thought off immediately. I had no right to think like that. Not after what I did. “Why?” I asked, my voice trembling despite my effort to stay strong. “Why are you doing this?” For a brief second— Just one— Something flickered in his eyes. Pain. Real, raw pain. And it hit me harder than anything else. But just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished. Replaced by cold indifference. “Because you started it.” The words felt like a slap. I shook my head. “You don’t understand—” “No,” he cut in sharply. “You don’t get to explain anything. Not anymore.” Silence fell between us. Heavy. Suffocating. I glanced down the hallway toward my mother’s room. She was all I had left. And she was running out of time. My chest tightened. “This isn’t fair,” I said softly. Lucien’s expression didn’t change. “It was never supposed to be.” I closed my eyes briefly, fighting the tears threatening to fall. If I said yes… I would be tying myself to a man who hated me. A man who wanted to hurt me. A man who had every reason to. If I said no… My mother might die. The choice wasn’t really a choice at all. Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked at him. “You’ll pay for everything?” I asked. “Yes.” “And after that?” His gaze darkened slightly. “You’ll be my wife.” The words sent a chill through me. Not partner. Not equal. Wife. Possession. I took a shaky breath. This was it. The moment everything changed. “Fine,” I whispered. For the first time since he arrived… Lucien Voss smiled. And I immediately knew— I had just made the biggest mistake of my life.