Dahlia's POV
Soren's fingers wrapped around my wrist like a steel trap, his midnight eyes boring into mine with ruthless calculation. The way he studied me made my skin crawl - as if I were nothing more than a chess piece he could sacrifice at will.
Actually, scratch that. More like a plaything he could break whenever the mood struck him.
Before all this chaos, my choice would have been crystal clear. Take his blood money, disappear into the night, and never look back. Why complicate things with emotional baggage?
The whole arrangement was a losing game anyway. One wrong move and I could end up six feet under.
Sure, Soren paid well, but what use was a fortune if I wasn't alive to enjoy it?
But everything had shifted now. My mother's condition was deteriorating, and I had painted targets on my back with both the Uriah and Adrien dynasties.
Without Soren's protection, the thought of facing their wrath alone made my blood run cold.
