Chapter 3

"Andrea, spit it out! Where the hell did you take my Adriana?" I demanded.

I clamped my hands around Andrea's neck again, squeezing so hard she could barely move.

This time, I wasn't holding back.

Andrea couldn't even catch her breath, and for the first time, real fear flickered in her eyes. Barely able to speak, she choked out, "I'll talk."

I eased up a little, just enough for her to speak, and Andrea sneered, her voice laced with cruel satisfaction.

Andrea said, "She hooked up with her lover and plotted to murder your parents. Three days ago, she was already beaten to death with clubs and dumped in the common grave."

I spent three days and three nights searching the common grave, but Adriana's body was nowhere to be found.

My grief was overwhelming.

"Adriana, are you blaming me for not coming back sooner? Is that why you won't even let me find your body?" I whispered, my voice breaking.

My parents couldn't stand to watch anymore and tried to talk some sense into me.

"If you can't find her, it just means you two weren't meant to be. Why waste your time obsessing over someone so beneath us?" my mother said.

I was quiet for a long time before I finally spoke.

"Even if Adriana really did something wrong, Mom and Dad, have you forgotten that she once saved our lives?" I said.

The year I was kidnapped, I managed to escape, but I nearly froze to death out there on the streets.

Adriana happened to pass by and pleaded with her father to take me in. Even though I was just her pageboy in name, she made sure I was cared for, like one of her own.

That same year, Adriana sent people to find my parents.

When famine hit, my parents were starving. Adriana had them brought into her family estate and even found them the easiest work, just so they wouldn't feel awkward.

"Without Adriana, our whole family would've been dead long ago. That's a debt we can never repay. How can you treat her like this?" I asked.

My mother snorted in contempt.

She said, "A debt we can never repay? Please.

"What a joke. She gives us a bite to eat, and we're supposed to be grateful forever?

"She even arranged jobs for us, acting like she was doing us a favor because we'd be too proud to take her money. If she really wanted to help, why not just give us cash? She's filthy rich, isn't she?

"But no, she made us her servants, treating us like we're beneath her. That's just her way of mocking us. I haven't even said a word against her yet, and you expect me to thank her?"

My father shot me a look of utter disdain. "Only a fool like you would let her wrap you around her finger.

"You're a disgrace to manhood."

I was floored, totally thrown off by their words. So this was what they really thought of Adriana.

She had saved our whole family, but in their eyes, that kindness had somehow turned into resentment.

I started to get a bad feeling about all this.

After a long silence, I finally managed to ask, my voice barely above a whisper. "Can't we at least give Adriana a proper burial?"

My parents burst out laughing, like I had just told the funniest joke in the world.

"A proper burial? She doesn't even deserve that." My mother scoffed.

She said, "She's nothing but a disgrace to our family, a filthy wretch. I wouldn't even waste a glance on her, let alone bury her. Just thinking about her makes me sick."

"Not tossing her to the dogs is already more mercy than she deserves," my father spat, his voice thick with contempt.

A deep, cold sadness settled in my chest, but I still forced myself to ask, unable to believe it was true.

"Just three days later, I would have been back in Crestmor. Why couldn't you wait for me before you did this?" I asked.

I had missed Adriana so much. On my journey back, I had sent her letters from every stop along the way.

"Wait for you?" My father snorted, giving me a mocking look.

He continued, "If we'd waited for you, the Donovan family's name would've been trashed.

"This was just a small thing. We took care of it ourselves. Why bother waiting for you?

"Anyway, you lost a wife, but your mom and I already lined up another for you, didn't we?"

At this point, my father got all fired up again.

He said, "Seriously, what's wrong with you? If you just make Princess Andrea happy, you could have it all handed to you: wealth, status, everything. Why bust your ass fighting on the front lines?

"Princess Andrea's young and gorgeous, and she's crazy about you. Why are you still obsessed with that other woman?"

My mother jumped in, "Andrea's still there. Just go back, admit you were wrong, and consummate the marriage already. All that's happened these past few days can be wiped clean."

A deep, icy chill settled in my chest.

Every word out of my parents' mouths just stabbed me in the heart.

They thought they could just wipe the slate clean, but for me, there was no going back.

I would never let those who had harmed Adriana go unpunished.

But other than my parents, who else could have been involved?