Bound to my Enemy novel Chapter 264

Chapter 264: Chapter 264.

"I gave that family everything."

Every word comes sharper now.

"I protected Zane, I cleaned up his messes and I stood beside him through everything."

The bitterness in his voice is terrifying.

"And what did my family get in return?"

I shake my head immediately.

"No."

Because whatever he’s about to imply.....No.

Absolutely not.

But Thomas steps closer anyway.

"Your husband destroyed my mother."

Anger flashes through me instantly.

"No he didn’t."

"He absolutely did.

"He was a child!"

Thomas’s jaw tightens.

"And yet she still died because of what happened at their site."

Silence crashes heavily into the room, my heart pounds painfully hard now.

Beside me, Aria looks pale.

Wait. Aria.

Holy shit.

I turn toward her again slowly.

"You’re really Aria?"

She swallows hard before nodding faintly.

I stare at her in disbelief, everybody thought she was dead for years.

Zane mourned her.

Lucas mourned her.

The entire world thought she died.

"How?" I whisper.

Pain flashes across her face but Thomas answers instead.

"I took her before anybody could find her."

"You kidnapped her?" I snap.

"No." His expression sharpens dangerously. "I saved her."

Aria finally speaks quietly.

"He did save me."

I blink at her.

"What?"

Her eyes look glassy now.

"I was hurt really badly," she says softly. "I barely remember anything from that night."

Thomas watches her carefully while she speaks.

"He took care of me."

Something about the way she says it twists uneasily in my stomach. Not fear exactly, soomething stranger, like confusion mixed with loyalty.

I look between both of them.

Then suddenly realization slams into me.

"Oh my God."

I stare at Thomas.

"All the attacks..."

He says nothing but he doesn’t deny it either.

"The poisoning."

Silence.

"Aaron."

Still silence. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"You did all of this?"

Thomas finally sighs softly.

"I did what I had to do."

My skin crawls.

"You’re fucking insane."

His expression hardens instantly.

"No," he says sharply. "I’m a son who watched his mother die while powerful people walked away untouched."

I yank hard against the ropes again.

"You kidnapped a pregnant woman!"

"And yet you’re perfectly unharmed."

"For now!"

Aria suddenly shifts beside me looking uncomfortable.

"Thomas..."

He immediately softens slightly at her voice, which somehow makes this all even creepier.

I stare at them both in horror. Then one terrifying thought crashes into me fully.

Zane.

Oh God. The second he realizes I’m gone...

Everything is going to explode.

I stare at Thomas in complete disbelief, the man standing in front of me doesn’t even feel real anymore, nothing like the Thomas I knew.

Not the calm, quiet, dependable man that stayed beside Zane for years.

This version of him feels... brokenn and twisted, like grief rotted him from the inside out slowly until there was nothing left but anger.

My wrists ache against the ropes as I shift slightly in the chair.

The bulb above us flickers faintly and for a second nobody speaks.

Then finally I swallow hard and ask quietly:

"So why?"

Thomas looks at me and I force myself to continue despite the fear clawing at my chest.

"What’s your reason for doing all this?"

Something shifts in his face immediately.

Not rage exactly but Pain, raw and ugly pain.

He looks away from me briefly before speaking.

"You’re not in any position to ask questions but I’ll humor you for now."

"Years ago," he says quietly, "when Zane’s father was still running the company and preparing to hand things over to him..."

He pauses.

"An incident happened at the old site."

I stay silent listening.

"My mother worked there," he continues. "She was just a cleaner but sometimes she handled paperwork too."

His jaw tightens.

"And one day she stumbled onto something she wasn’t supposed to see."

A chill crawls slowly down my spine.

"What kind of something?"

"Illegal," he says flatly. "Big enough that powerful people wanted it buried."

Thomas laughs softly then but there’s no humor in it.

"After she saw that everything changed."

His eyes darken.

"Cars started following us, people watched our house and my mother became paranoid."

His voice cracks slightly there before he steadies himself again.

"She kept saying we were in danger."

I stare at him quietly now, trying to imagine him younger and scared, watching his family fall apart.

Then he says softly:

"One day she went to work."

His expression empties completely.

"And the site caught on fire and somehow she was locked inside."

Oh God.

Thomas swallows hard.

"She burned to death alive."

The words hit the room like a punch, even Aria lowers her eyes immediately. For a second all I can think about is how horrifying that must’ve been.

How painful and terrifying.

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