He did not even glance my way. With a sneer and cold, calculated precision, he replied, “Say that to your husband, Lily. I am just doing my duty in this family.”
His tone was devoid of any sympathy, his movements detached as he continued cutting through my body as if I were no more than a slab of meat.
That was when it hit me if everything was an order from Sylus Fuentez, my husband. The man who, as head of the powerful Fuentez Mafia family, commanded the obedience of even his own brother.
I had always known the Fuentez family, a powerful mafia family, held power over many, but I never thought I would find myself crushed beneath that power.
“So, what crime did I commit this time? What terrible offense led to my immediate execution the moment you returned from abroad?” I asked bitterly, my voice growing numb as the anesthetic finally began to take effect.
Xavier’s hands paused for a moment, and a twisted smirk appeared on his face. He glanced at me with disdain before replying, “You still don’t understand, do you? Your very existence is your mistake.”
Before I could process his words, Sylus called, his voice coming through the speakerphone that Xavier deliberately turned on, making sure I could hear every single word.
“Have you found the pearl? Charlotte cried herself to exhaustion and finally fell asleep. Make sure you find it before she wakes.”
My stomach dropped. Not because of the pain, but because I realized the full depth of my insignificance.
Charlotte Hooper, Sylus’ childhood sweetheart, the woman I could never be. The woman for whom I was nothing but a placeholder.
With a quick, confident motion, Xavier plucked the pearl from inside my body, holding it up triumphantly. “Brother, I found it.”
At that very moment, blood began to pour from the wound, soaking the table beneath me.
I gasped, struggling for breath as waves of dizziness swept over me. It felt as if my life were slipping away, as if the blood loss would claim me before I had a chance to make sense of the nightmare.
Sylus’s voice remained cold, indifferent. “Good. Now, hurry back and make sure she does not die.”
Xavier’s casual demeanor shifted ever so slightly. At Sylus’s command, he snapped back to attention, moving quickly to staunch the bleeding with gauze.
“Fine. I will bring her back to apologize to Charlotte.”
Could it be that he would let me die if Sylus did not order him to keep me alive?