As Finch bled steadily, all Adelle wanted was to get him to a hospital. But Derek just stood there, cold and unmoved, his eyes as hard as ice.


    He''d already fired the gun-now, some shred of reason was filtering back, but the moment Adelle confronted him, his disgust only deepened. This was the woman he''d treasured; what had she be? She''d given birth to three children, and not one of them was his.


    "No one''s to treat him," Derek said, his voice sharp and frigid. He barred


    cktower''s medical team from helping Finch, forbidding anyone from leaving the grounds.


    "Lock them in the basement."


    The words came out calm and merciless. Derek''s revulsion toward Adelle and her son was so absolute, he couldn''t stand the sight of them. But more than anything, he wanted them dead.


    When Adelle realized what Derek intended-to lock her and Finch away-all the color drained from her face. The reckoning hade. The same cruelty he''d visited on other women was now directed squarely at her. He wanted her finished.


    "No, I won''t!" Adelle sobbed, shaking her head desperately. "Finch needs a hospital! You can''t do this to us!"


    Derek closed his eyes, the chill emanating from him making the room feel suddenly airless. It was obvious: no plea from Adelle would move him now.


    This was the Derek she had glimpsed before, the man who couldvish a woman with love, worship her as if she were the world—and, just as easily, strip it all away and be heartless, ruthless.


    "You think this is my fault? I didn''t have a choice!" Adelle cried, her anguish raw.


    At her words, Derek''s eyes flew open, their bitter chill enough to freeze her to the bone.


    Heughed a cruel, hollow sound. "You betray me and then try to justify it?"


    "You sicken me, Adelle."


    Caught in the act, and now she wanted to me anyone but herself-pretending as


    if someone had forced her to be unfaithful.


    Tears streamed down Adelle''s


    cheeks. "Do you have any idea what kind of pressure I was under with you? You professed love, everyone said you cared for


    me, but you just


    kept marrying women in


    cktower-one after another!"


    Derek red at her, his jaw clenched. "If you couldn''t take it, you could''ve left. That doesn''t excuse betrayal!"


    Of course. If she couldn''t bear it, she could have walked away, preserved a ce in his heart. Anything but this.


    "I was


    for you when you were


    peth Finch! I was at your


    side the whole time. What did you mean, you had no choice? What kind of pitiful excuse is that?"


    Yes, he''d married others, but most of his time was still spent with her. How could she im that as a defense?


    Derek was done arguing. He closed his eyes again, shoulders tense with contained fury. "Leroy."


    Leroy stepped forward, head bowed. "Yes, sir."


    "Take them to the basement. No medical treatment, unless I say so. And..." Derek opened his eyes onest time to look at Adelle That final nce chilled him to his core-he saw nothing but hatred in her eyes.


    She was the one who''d betrayed him, and yet she managed to hate him for it.


    And Finch. Even on the verge of copse, the boy''s gaze burned with the same hatred.


    Derek''s fury was palpable, his whole face trembling. "No food or water for either of them."


    Adelle and Finch stared at him, ashen and silent, hearing their sentence pronounced. The room seemed to shrink around them, cold and merciless as Derek''s final word.