Chapter 96: Point of No Return
Ivery Clark POV
My breath caught in my chest, my heart hammering against my ribs so hard it was deafening.
"What..who?" The word slipped past my lips before I could stop it, cracked and hollow. "Who... Rowan, who?”
A cold, breathless laugh escaped from Rowan, "Who else…it's that bastard Dominic," he said, the name leaving his lips with a dark, bitter edge.
“Those fools. Just because I gave them some leverage, they started lowering their guard. They thought they had everything under control”
Rowan looked at me with an intense, frantic energy in his eyes. "So I took the chance and stabbed him in the back!”
What…!?
“God, you should have seen his face!” A sharp, unhinged laugh burst from his chest, “All it took were a few fake tears, a little performance of desperation, and that arrogant bastard dropped his guard completely!”
He leaned closer, his eyes wide and feverish.
"I planned this from the very beginning, Ivery," he hissed, his fingers digging into my shoulders. "Every lie, every move, every single piece of bait. I set it all up just for this moment. While they’re all down in the cellars busy dealing with Elias and screaming over betrayals, I can run away with you! We have a window. Right now!”
The room tilted beneath my feet.
The air left my lungs, leaving me cold and lightheaded. My mind reeled, violently rejecting every single word coming out of his mouth.
"...No."
My voice came out as nothing more than a whisper.
"No... you're lying.”
“I'm not lying!" Rowan snapped, his voice sharp and urgent as he grabbed my face, forcing me to look straight into his eyes. "Look at me, Ivery! Look at me!”
His thumbs brushed violently beneath my eyes, his breath hitching in his throat.
"I'm here now," he whispered feverishly, his face inches from mine. "I promised I'd come back for you, didn't I? You don't have to live like a captive in this gold cage anymore. You don't have to bow down to those monsters or fear them ever again. We have to go. Right now," he urged, pulling me toward the dark hallway. “Let's run away from here before they realize what happened to him.”
“No!” I cried out, digging my heels into the carpet and yanking my wrist back with every ounce of strength I had left. "No, Rowan, stop! You've got it all wrong! They are not monsters! Alrigo is not the bad person you think he is!”
Rowan's eyes flared with a dark, suffocating fury, and his grip on my wrists tightened until the bone burned.
"Alrigo?" he hissed, the name coming out like a curse, laced with pure venom. "That Alrigo again?! After everything, after he dragged you into this corrupt, blood-soaked hellhole, after he made you a prisoner, you're standing here taking his side?! What the hell did he do to you, Ivery?! Don't tell me you have fallen for that monster!”
He grabbed both of my arms and shook me violently, his eyes searching my face with a terrifying mix of desperation and denial.
"No... no, you're just confused," he muttered frantically, his voice softening into a sickly sweet tone as he pulled me closer. "You're still young and naive, Ivery. You're frightened, and he's manipulated your mind while you were trapped here. That's all it is.”
He wrapped his hand around the back of my neck, forcing my eyes to meet his.
"You're my baby sister. You are not meant for this world, not in this filthy bloodline. Come with me. Let's get out of here right now and build the life you actually deserve.”
He grabbed my wrist with an iron grip, dragging me stumbling out of the sitting room and into the dim, silent hallway.
“Rowan! Stop!!” I begged, my feet skidding across the polished marble floor.
Before I could pull away, a heavy, slick hand shot out from the shadows beside the door frame and clamped around my ankle.
A sharp yelp tore from my throat as I was jerked backward, my knees hitting the floor.
I looked down in terror. Covered in dark, glistening blood, clutching his abdomen, was Dominic…!
His eyes were bloodshot, his breath coming in shallow, rattling gasps as his fingers dug into the fabric of my pajama.
"You... traitor..." Dominic whispered, his voice a broken, wet rasp.
"Dominic..!" I gasped, the air completely freezing in my lungs.
Rowan froze, his eyes widening in brief, violent shock as he stared down at the bleeding man on the floor.
"You're... still breathing?" Rowan muttered, his surprise twisting instantly into ugly realization. "This bastard didn't die yet?!”
He didn't hesitate. Before I could even scream, Rowan reared his heavy boot back and kicked Dominic brutally in the chest. Dominic groaned, a wet gasp tearing from his throat as his grip slipped from my pajama and he collapsed flat onto his back.
In one swift motion, Rowan reached behind his belt and pulled out a long, silver blade, the edge glistening with fresh blood under the dim hallway lights.
"Rowan, stop!" I shrieked, scrambling backward on my hands and knees. "No!”
He paid no attention to me. Stepping over Dominic's broken body, Rowan raised the knife high, his face distorted with terrifying determination.
"Rowan, NO!"
The blade plunged down on Dominic’s body.
"No! Stop it!” I screamed, throwing my weight forward and lunging into Rowan with everything I had.
The force caught him off balance, sending him staggering back a few paces as the bloody knife sliced harmlessly through the empty air.
"Ivery, what the hell are you doing?!" he roared.
Ignoring him, I dropped to my knees beside Dominic's still body. "Dominic! Dominic, please!”
Blood was pooling thick and dark on the cold marble, soaking through his shirt and staining my hands as I pressed frantically against his wound.
“No! No! Don't die!”
His eyes were half-open, fixed on me with a dull, distant glare, his chest barely moving beneath my palms.
“Get up!" Rowan shouted, violently yanking me off the floor and dragging me back. “We don't have time for this! The guards will be here any second! Fuck, I should have stabbed him properly! He must have informed everyone! We need to run...NOW!”
“No! Let me go! Rowan, let me go to him! Why did you have to stab him!" I thrashed against his chest, kicking wildly, but his grip was like iron.
“Ivery! Do you want both of us killed?! It's already done—he's finished! We have no choice but to escape right now!”
"No!!" I sobbed, my fingernails digging uselessly into his forearm.
"Shut up and move!" he hissed in my ear, his voice tight with rising panic as he yanked me toward the secondary stairwell. "If they catch us here next to his body, neither of us makes it out of this house alive!”
He spun me around and shoved me forward, forcing my legs to move through the dark corridor. I staggered, my vision blurred by tears, the sickening smell of copper clinging to my hands and clothes.
"Fast, Ivery! Move!" Rowan rasped, grabbing my waist to throw me down the side hallway toward the emergency exit.
We were barely three steps away when a violent, explosive bang echoed behind us.
The main double doors were flung wide open, slamming against the stone walls with a force that rattled the glass fixtures overhead.
I froze.
Rowan stopped dead beside me.
Heavy footsteps thundered through the entrance hall. One after another, armed men flooded into the mansion, their weapons drawn and their expressions grim.
The sight of them made the blood drain from my face.
And then he appeared.
“Alrigo…” My voice trembled.
Alrigo stormed through the doorway with his men close behind him, his face carved with fury.
But the moment his gaze swept down to the pool of dark blood and landed on Dominic’s motionless body, Alrigo stopped dead in his tracks.
For a single, agonizing second, the icy composure on his face completely shattered.
No…!
“Alrigo, it's not what it looks like..!” My voice trembled in plea, tears hot and bitter as they spilled down my cheeks.
His eyes widened in raw, sickening disbelief, staring at the blood on both of our dress, then his eyes snapping up to meet mine.
"It's you two again…" Alrigo said, his voice deadly quiet, dropping like a lead weight into the silent hall.
One of Alrigo's men rushed forward and dropped to his knees beside Dominic.
He pressed two fingers against Dominic's neck, then leaned closer, checking for any sign of movement.
"Boss....” The man stammered out, panic bleeding into his tone. “He's not breathing. Dominic is dead.”