Chapter 170

Daniel’s POV.

I leaned against the cold wall of the warehouse, the sharp bite of liquor burning my throat as I tilted the bottle back. The amber liquid swirled in the dim light of the single bulb hanging above me. Somewhere, far enough to keep her desperate cries at bay but close enough for me to hear the occasional muffled sob, Christiana was breaking. And a part of me…a small, buried part…twisted with guilt.

But then I remembered.

I remembered the countless nights I stayed awake, thinking about her smile, replaying her laughter in my head like a haunting melody. I remembered how I built my life around her, only for her to tear it apart by choosing him. Alex. The name alone was enough to make me sneer. That bastard didn’t deserve her, didn’t deserve their kids, didn’t deserve to even breathe the same air as her.

And yet, she chose him.

I slammed the bottle onto the table, the sound echoing through the empty corridor. My hand tightened around the neck of the bottle, my knuckles white. “Why, Christiana?” I muttered under my breath, my voice low and bitter. “Why him? After everything I did for you… after everything I could’ve given you.”

I took another swig, the liquor doing little to dull the fire raging inside me. My reflection glared back at me from the cracked surface of a discarded mirror propped against the wall. The man staring at me wasn’t the Daniel Brooks I once knew. He was harder now. Darker. His once–kind eyes now held a cold, calculating edge.

“This is your fault,” I spat at the reflection, my jaw tightening. your endless

You made me like this, Christiana. You and devotion to that waste of space.”

kids were asleep in a makeshift corner I’d set up earlier. They were innocent, blissfully unaware of the chaos surrounding them. A small

to myself, the words bitter on my tongue. “And

cheeks. For a moment, just a fleeting second, I felt a pang of regret. But then her voice sounded in my head again, that tone she used when she talked about

weight of my own pain. “I would’ve

the alcohol grounding

it,” I said aloud, forcing myself to believe it. “She deserves

creaked open, and I glanced toward it, expecting the masked man to appear. Instead, it remained still, the faint sounds of Christiana’s sobs drifting through. I smirked

the strongest will break eventually. And when she does… she’ll see. She’ll see that I’m

Images of the past flashed through my mind…Christiana in that blue dress she wore to

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Chapter 170

ached. “That was supposed

moved. My boots sounded against the concrete as I crossed the room to check on the kids. They were curled up on the small cot I’d arranged,

just kids,” I muttered, running a hand over my face.

Of her tears, her pleas, her devotion to a man who didn’t deserve it. My resolve hardened,

myself firmly. “The only way she’ll understand. She has to lose to

basement creaked open again, and the masked man stepped out, his silent presence unnerving even to me. I nodded at him, jerking my

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