Chapter 2

The moment I hung up the phone, a pair of arms clamped down hard on my shoulders.

Alexander buried his face in the crook of my neck. His harsh, ragged breaths, still carrying the chill of the night air, crashed against my skin.

"Cecilia, never run off like that again. I was out of my mind with worry..." He shuddered. "Thank God. If anything had happened to you, I wouldn't have survived the night."

I stood rigid in his embrace.

I kept my gaze dead and vacant, playing the part of a blind woman who couldn't see a thing.

His act of deep devotion was flawlessly convincing. But beneath this mask, how much of it was actually real?

"Triple the guards!" Alexander snapped his head toward the attendant at the door, his tone turning instantly ruthless. "Cut off all external communications. Without my direct order, the Madam is not to take a single step outside this manor."

This wasn't protection. It was a cage.

"Sister?" Elena's timid voice drifted in as she appeared with her luggage. "I heard there was an accident. I wanted to come and take care of her for a few days..."

The arms around my waist suddenly went rigid, snapping back as if burned by a hot iron.

Alexander immediately stood up straight, his tall frame blocking me from her view. "Elena, this isn't a safe place for you right now. I will take good care of your sister."

With that, he naturally wrapped an arm around Elena's shoulders, ushering her out without leaving room for argument.

I quietly watched the man and woman disappear. Then, I followed them out.

The corner of the hallway was unlit. I melted into the heavy shadows, listening to the hushed voices bleeding from the adjacent sitting room.

"Alex, it hurts so much." Elena whined, her voice sickeningly sweet. "Going to those clubs with you these past few days... the UV lights burned my corneas. Everything is blurry now."

"The jewelry launch is next week. What will the press think if I show up wearing ugly UV goggles? Besides, if my sight isn't restored, I won't be able to judge the clarity of the stones."

"Don't worry, I'll fix it." Alexander's voice was low and tender, carrying a level of indulgence I had never heard him use.

"The baby didn't like those UV lights either," Elena added softly.

The baby.

The churning in my stomach instantly froze to solid ice. Alexander had sworn a blood oath to me. He vowed that in his endless, immortal life, I would be the only one to bear his children.

"I promise, I won't let you or our child suffer." Alexander's hand rested on her lower abdomen. His tone was a hundred times more genuine than the act he had just put on for me.

"What about my sister?" Elena probed. "Those top-tier donor corneas arriving tomorrow... they were matched for her, weren't they?"

"Yes."

"Give them to me," Elena said lightly. "She's been blind for two years anyway. She's already used to the darkness."

Then, the man I had loved for two years delivered the fatal blow, his voice ice-cold.

"It's better if Cecilia doesn't regain her sight. If she can't see, she won't notice what's happening outside. She won't sense the changes, and naturally, she won't find out about... us."

My optic nerves had never died. With the right corneas, I could have seen the light of day again long ago.

I went blind for him, and now, he was handing my only chance at seeing again to my sister like a cheap romantic gift.

I backed away step by step, retreated into my bedroom, and locked the door behind me. I slid down the wood paneling inch by inch until I hit the floor.

My nails dug into my palms until they drew blood, but I felt no pain.

The shock, the agony, the nausea—it all eventually cooled into a dead, stagnant pool.

A piercing air-raid siren suddenly vanished the silence!

The high-tier UV-defense barrier outside the window shattered with a deafening boom. Blue-purple beams from auroral weapons tore through the night sky.

The Hunters had breached the grounds.

I pushed my door open. The corridor ahead was choked with gunpowder smoke and shattered glass. Alexander was sprinting straight toward me.

His eyes locked onto my position, and his footsteps faltered for a fraction of a second. But before a full second could pass, Elena's terrified, blood-curdling scream echoed through the halls.

The foot Alexander had just lifted toward me immediately pivoted in the opposite direction.

"Guards! Escort the Madam!" he roared without looking back, sprinting madly toward Elena.

Moments later, he dashed back out, carrying the "injured" Elena in his arms.

"Alexander!" my voice cut through the chaos.

The man skidded to a halt and looked back at me.

"Stay in the safe zone! Don't move! I'll come back for you!" Tossing those words behind him, he clutched Elena tightly against his chest and charged into the evacuation tunnel.

The very next second, three fully armed Hunters smashed through the masonry and burst into the hall.

The tactical lights of their auroral rifles locked dead onto my face.

"Target acquired!"

I took a step back, but my foot found nothing but air. Two high-voltage magnetic tethers whipped through the smoke, wrapping around my wrists like steel cobras.

High-voltage current ripped through my entire body, sending me crashing hard onto the floor.

As I thrashed, my abdomen slammed into a discarded silver blade. A tearing, agonizing pain exploded through my organs.

The Hunters retracted the chains, dragging me like an expensive piece of livestock.

I was yanked out backward across the shattered glass and burning debris.

I stared dead at the end of the hallway—the exact direction where Alexander had disappeared with Elena in his arms.