Chapter Two Hundred And Eleven

Chapter Two Hundred And Eleven
Miles’ POV

The safehouse smelled like dust, iron, and something rotting beneath the floorboards. I didn’t care. It felt appropriate. A graveyard for the pieces of my life that had collapsed because of one woman, the same woman tied to the chair in front of me.

Sonia.

Her mascara had streaked down her cheeks. Blood dried along her bottom lip. She looked nothing like the seductive weapon she’d pretended to be all her life. No. She looked like the truth, weak, desperate, and hoping I’d forgotten what she’d done to me.

I dragged a chair across the floor and sat in front of her, slowly. Calmly. Like a man settling in to watch a performance he already knew the ending to.

She lifted her head, lips trembling. “Miles… let me explain.”

“I’ve heard enough explanations from you,” I murmured, reaching into my pocket for a handkerchief and wiping my fingers. “Every time you open your mouth, another lie falls out.”

“That’s not true,” she whispered. “I came back for you. Everything I did was for you. Because I…”

I let out a quiet laugh. Soft. Deadly. It echoed off the concrete walls like a warning.

“Don’t insult me,” I said. “You didn’t come back for me. You came back because you ran out of places to crawl.”

Her eyes widened, fear flickering at the edges. I leaned back in the chair, studying her with a slow, cold amusement.

“You think I don’t see you?” I asked. “You think I don’t know the game you’ve played all your life?”

She shook her head frantically, ropes cutting into her skin. “Miles, please…”

““You destroyed everything,” I murmured, dragging my fingers along her jaw like she was something fragile I might crush or keep. “You lied about Camille. You lied about every truth I ever built my life on. You slept with my friends, emptied my accounts, whispered poison into every corner of my world… and now you’re trembling like I’m the villain?”

I tilted her chin up, forcing her eyes to meet mine.

“No, Sonia. I didn’t become this man because of Camille. Or Theo. Or anyone else.”
My smile was slow, cruel, deliberate.
“I became him because of you.”

Her breath hitched.

Good.

“Every betrayal… every humiliation… every time you told me no one wanted me unless I begged—remember that?”
I brushed a tear off her cheek with my thumb.
“You trained me for this. You shaped me into someone who doesn’t break anymore.”

She whimpered, but I held her there.

“And now you want mercy?” I asked softly, almost gently.
“You? The woman who slept her way through my circle, stole from me, lied to my face, used my name like a credit card?”

I leaned closer until my lips nearly grazed her ear.

“Sonia, sweetheart… I didn’t come here to punish you.”
A soft, chilling laugh escaped me.
“I came here to thank you. Because without your betrayal, I never would’ve become the monster capable of ruining Camille’s wedding.”

I felt her knees weaken.

Perfect.

“You made me, Sonia.”
My voice dropped to a whisper.
“And now you get to watch what your creation does.”

Sonia swallowed, tears blurring her vision, and then, she tried to shift into seduction. The last weapon she had.

She lifted her chin, whispered in a trembling voice meant to sound inviting. “Miles… baby… you don’t have to hurt me. We could work together again. We always made a good team.”

I smiled.

She misread it.

I stood and walked behind her. She stiffened, thinking I might touch her.

Instead, I lowered my mouth to her ear.

“You ruined me,” I whispered. “And I’m going to make you understand exactly what that feels like.”

Her breath caught. “Miles…”

I grabbed her hair and yanked her head back. She gasped, and the chair rocked under her.

“Did you think I didn’t know you poisoned my father?” I asked calmly. “Did you think I believed he suddenly collapsed? Sonia, Sonia… you’re predictable. You wear betrayal like perfume.”

Her eyes widened. “I…he…he deserved…”

I didn’t slap her. Slapping was too intimate.

Instead, I pushed her chair over. She hit the floor hard, a sharp cry ripping from her throat. I crouched beside her, tilting my head as she writhed.

“My father built an empire,” I said. “Flawed, brutal, cruel, yes. But an empire. And you… you thought seducing him made you powerful.”

She whimpered softly, body shaking.

“You only made him hate you,” I continued. “And you made me realize how deep your poison ran.”

I stood and nudged her chair upright with the tip of my shoe. She hung her head, hair covering her face. Her shoulders shook.

“Please,” she whispered. “Miles, please… I can help you.”

“Help me?” I repeated. “You can barely help yourself.”

She lifted her head and tried again, voice quivering like a woman willing to sell her soul. “Let me go. I swear on my life, I’ll disappear. You’ll never see me again.”

I crouched again, meeting her trembling gaze.

“You already disappeared once,” I said softly. “But you made the mistake of coming back.”

Her mouth opened, but no sound came.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the item she feared most.

My phone.

The same phone that held the recording of Camille rejecting me. The one I replayed so many times the screen almost cracked under my grip.

I pressed play.

Camille’s voice filled the room.
“I don’t want you in my life ever again,” she whispered, shaking.

“You ruin people, Miles. You ruin everything. You’re a loser, a failure… and anything you touch either breaks or dies.”

Sonia pressed her lips together, tears streaking down her cheeks. “Miles.”

“You two ruined me,” I said quietly. “You and her. One with lies, the other with rejection. And now… there’s only one of you left to deal with.”

She shook her head violently. “Miles, don’t do this…”

“Oh, I’m not killing you yet,” I said, straightening. “First, you’re going to make yourself useful.”

Her breathing quickened. “Wh… what do you want me to do?”

“Everything,” I replied. “Every code you stole from my father.

She froze.

“No,” she whispered. “Miles, please, don’t drag me into this…”

“You’re already in it,” I said. “You walked back into my life. You made your choice.”

She tried to twist away from me, but the ropes held. “I won’t help you hurt her.”

I leaned down, letting my voice slide against her ear.

“You don’t have a choice,” I whispered. “Tell me how to get into the wedding… or I’ll make sure you die slower than anyone in this city has ever seen.”

Her body trembled so violently the chair shook.

And then she broke. She told me everything. Every security code. Every back entrance.

Every weak point behind the floral arches.
She even told me where Camille would wait before walking down the aisle.

When she finished, she sagged in the chair, exhausted, sobbing softly.

I stood and walked around her slowly. She watched me with hope, real, foolish hope, because I had untied the knots.

“Miles?” she whispered. “Are you… are you letting me go?”

“Of course,” I murmured. “I’m a man of mercy.”

She pushed herself shakily to her feet. Her legs wobbled. She moved toward the door, reaching for the handle with trembling fingers.

That’s when I spoke.

“Sonia.”

She froze.

“Yes?” she whispered.

I smiled coldly. “You don’t walk away from me twice.”

She turned just as I reached her. My hand shot out, gripping her jaw tight enough to bruise. She opened her mouth to scream, but I covered it with my other hand.

Her eyes widened.

She knew.

I twisted. Her neck snapped with a sharp crack, her body collapsing at my feet like a broken puppet. Her eyes remained open, frozen in horror.

I exhaled slowly, wiped my hands, then crouched beside her.

“You should’ve stayed dead the first time,” I whispered.

I pulled out my phone again and began recording.

I framed her body carefully.

“This is for you, Camille,” I said softly. “A preview of what love looks like when someone betrays me.”

I saved the video under a new folder called WEDDING DAY.

Stepping over Sonia’s body without a second glance and I walked out into the night. The final game had begun and I wasn’t going to be the loser.