Chapter 8

"I didn' t do it," Aubrey said, her voice shaking.

Connor' s rage boiled over. He ripped the locket from her neck, the delicate chain snapping. He threw it to the floor and brought his heel down on it, crushing the silver heart. He didn' t even notice that his own picture was no longer inside.

He hauled her to her feet and shoved her towards the dining table, pointing at the pot of soup. "Look at it! It reeks of wine!"

His face was contorted with disappointment and fury. "I can' t believe you, Aubrey. I keep giving you chances, and you keep trying to hurt her." He leaned in close, his voice a venomous whisper. "I' m warning you. If anything happens to Kassie or that baby, I will make you pay."

Aubrey looked from his furious face to the broken locket on the floor, her parents' images now mangled and destroyed. A wild, unhinged laugh bubbled up from her chest.

She laughed until tears streamed down her face. She looked up at him, her eyes red and raw.

"Why?" she screamed, her voice cracking. "After everything, why do you treat me like this?" Her composure finally shattered. "Fine! I did it! I put the wine in the soup! What are you going to do about it, Connor? Are you going to kill me? Go on, do it! I dare you!"

He had never seen her like this. The raw, desperate pain in her eyes gave him a moment' s pause. His heart clenched with an emotion he refused to name.

But he pushed it down. She was being irrational. Hysterical.

He turned to his guards. "Make her drink it," he commanded, his voice like ice. "All of it."

He stormed out of the room, unable to watch.

The guards grabbed her, forcing her into a chair. One pried her mouth open while the other began to pour the soup down her throat. The strong, undeniable smell of alcohol hit her. Someone had tampered with it after she' d left the kitchen.

They forced the entire pot of soup down her throat. When it was empty, they started on a bottle of white wine, the liquid burning a fiery path down her esophagus and into her stomach.

Her body convulsed. Pain, sharp and blinding, ripped through her. She began to vomit, but it wasn' t just soup that came up. It was blood. Bright red blood, splattering across the pristine white tablecloth.

The world went black.

She woke up in the hospital. Again.

The doctor' s face was a mask of grim finality. "Acute kidney failure and severe gastric bleeding," he said, his voice heavy with pity. "I' m sorry, Ms. Johnson. There' s nothing more we can do."

As he was leaving, Connor and Kassie rushed in. Kassie was pale but otherwise fine. Connor, however, looked frantic.

He saw Aubrey, pale and still on the bed, and his anger seemed to melt away, replaced by a raw, painful worry. He rushed to her side, grabbing her hand. His own was trembling.

"Aubrey," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "The doctor... what did he say?"

She looked at him, her gaze empty. There was nothing left to lose.

"I' m dying, Connor," she said, her voice a faint whisper. "Five years ago, I gave you my kidney. And now, my other one has failed. I' m dying."

The words hung in the air, heavy and unbelievable. Connor stared at her, his face a canvas of confusion. Kassie, standing behind him, went deathly pale.