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Callum stood frozen, his pale hands gripping his phone so tightly his knuckles turned white. His entire body shook, his legs weak beneath him as though he were moments from collapse. Slowly, he turned the screen toward Cassian, his voice a hushed tremor. “Cassian… look at this.”
On Callum’s phone, a video played. It was grainy and dimly lit, but the horror it displayed was crystal clear. Thalia was confined in a private prison, her frail figure bound ruthlessly. A man repeatedly shocked her with an electric baton. Her entire body writhed uncontrollably in agony with each jolt.
Their hearts clenched as the video continued. Thalia, her body battered and bruised, lay on the filthy floor. Tears streaked through the grime on her cheeks as she
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hoarsely pleaded, her voice cracking under the sheer weight of her suffering. “I’m sorry… I was wrong. Please… please let me go. I’m begging you…”
The man sneered, his cruelty radiating through the screen as he cruelly kicked her weakened body. She crumpled again, barely able to lift her head. He smirked, his voice laced with venom. “Do you think this is enough? Miss Selene gave us very specific instructions–to treat you just like this. Consider yourself lucky.”
Cassian’s breath caught in his throat. He stared at the screen, paralyzed by the sheer brutality unfolding before him. His fists clenched tightly at his sides, the veins on his forehead bulging as a fiery rage whipped through him. Every part of him burned with the desire to reach through the screen and tear the man to pieces.
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But he couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything except stand frozen, powerless, as Thalia’s anguished cries filled the air around them, tormenting his soul.
Hatred ignited within him–pure and consuming hatred for Selene. The thought of her chilled him to his core, each calculated act of malice sending his fury spiraling into something uncontainable. Callum, standing beside him, fared no better. His knotted fists trembled at his sides. Silent tears streaked down his face as guilt gnawed at him, sharp and unforgiving.
He had believed Thalia’s imprisonment was merely a tactic, a temporary punishment. Selene had painted it as a necessary step to teach Thalia a lesson–cruel, perhaps, but nothing compared to the reality they now faced. Thalia hadn’t been locked away
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for some simple reprimand. She had been tortured.
Memories flooded Callum’s mind, dragging him under. He could still hear his father’s dispassionate voice on the day Thalia was supposed to be released.
“Thalia’s reckless and prideful. She’ll only stir trouble for Selene. Selene is finally secure in the Wynn Family… If Thalia comes back now, she’ll ruin everything. Let her stay. Maybe she’ll learn to calm down.”
It had seemed logical at the time. Selene had always appeared so delicate, so quiet and restrained compared to Thalia’s fiery willfulness. If anyone needed humbling, surely it was Thalia, right? Callum had agreed without hesitation.
But now, everything he thought he knew
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had been obliterated. Selene wasn’t weak. Not in the slightest. She was cunning, manipulative, and utterly heartless. She had orchestrated Thalia’s suffering, paid others to torment her. And the most damning of all -Callum remembered a recording sent by an anonymous source after Thalia’s near–fatal attack.
Selene’s unmistakable voice oozed through the recording, dripping with mockery. “Here’s the deal–you stage an attempt on my life, make it messy, and claim Thalia hired you. Do this right, and you’ll walk away with four hundred thousand dollars.”
The man’s hesitant voice crackled into the mix. “But isn’t she your sister?”
Selene laughed, the sound chilling. “Exactly. Because she’s my sister, I have to do this. She’s been spoiled, coddled, her entire
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life. It’s time for her to meet the real world. Once she’s out of the way, everything will belong to me. The Wynn Family, Callum… everything!”
Callum choked back a cry. Regret seared through him, turning his blood cold. How had he been so blind? How had he let Selene’s lies taint everything–his relationship with Thalia, his memories of her, his promise to their mother?
He clenched his fists, his mind spiraling back to their childhood. He could see their mother, frail and dying, her arms wrapped protectively around Thalia’s pale, frail form. Her tearful eyes had locked onto his as her weak voice broke through the suffocating silence.
“Callum, I won’t be here to watch over you both. You’re the elder brother. Take care of
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your sister. Protect her. Don’t let her suffer.”
At the time, little Callum had nodded fervently, tears streaming down his young face. “I promise, Mom. I’ll protect her. I’ll never let anyone hurt her.”
And yet, what had he done? He had failed her. That night, he carefully carried Thalia out of their mother’s arms, vowing to uphold his promise. But in the end, he had allowed himself to become a weapon in Selene’s schemes. He had abandoned Thalia and watched as she was swallowed by a darkness she didn’t deserve.
Now, though, there was no room for regret- only fury. Rage consumed him as he stared at the video, its clarity like a knife slicing through him. He would not stand back any longer.
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Beside him, Cassian was equally unmovable, his expression steeled, his entire presence vibrating with rage. The air around him turned icy as an unsettling calm overtook his features. His jaw tightened, his dark eyes glinting with fiery determination.
Cassian and Callum exchanged a look- long, bitter–and in it, they knew they shared the same resolve. Neither of them would let Selene’s cruelty escape justice. No matter what it cost them, no matter what it took, her reign of malice would end.
With a voice hoarse but resolute, Cassian snarled through bared teeth, his words saturated with hatred. “Selene… I swear, you’ll pay for this. Every. Last. Thing.”
