Chapter 21
Wendy’s lips finally curved into a bright smile. “It’s a deal.”
Without hesitation, Callum signed the contract and handed it over. His gaze then shifted to Thorne, his expression hardening. “This is just the beginning. If you don’t want this to escalate, I suggest you return my sister. Now”
Thorne chuckled lightly, but his eyes were void of amusement, the cold sharpness behind them unmistakable. “It’s not that I’m unwilling to let her go,” he replied, his tone measured but cutting, “but your sister doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
Callum froze, the words like a sucker punch to his gut. Beside him, Cassian immediately
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bristled with anger. “That’s absurd! Why wouldn’t Thalia want to see us? You’ve obviously poisoned her against us!”
Cassian’s fury soon shifted into defiance. Dark emotions flickered across his face as he leveled Thorne with a disdainful glare. “Listen, Thorne. I’ve known Thalia since we were kids. We’ve been through everything together–you don’t even scratch the surface of the relationship we’ve built over decades. What can you possibly compare to in a year or two?”
Thorne’s expression darkened, his earlier mockery vanishing like a mirage. He repeated quietly but with deliberate weight, “Childhood friend? Inseparable?”
Then his gaze pierced both men like an icy dagger. “If you’re so inseparable, explain why you put a price tag on her. Why was she
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listed on an auction website?”
Cassian barked out a derisive laugh, filled with venom and indignation. “What do you even know? That was just a tactic to find her faster.”
Callum’s voice suddenly broke through, desperate to diffuse the tension. “Mr. Everleigh, he pleaded, “she’s my sister, my family. No one cares for Thalia more than I do. I admit mistakes were made, but we couldn’t sit idle while she stayed missing. I just want her back–please, for the sake of blood relations, return her to me before things spiral out of control.”
Thorne didn’t even flinch at Callum’s plea. His voice, sharp and unyielding, immediately cut through the room. “Your desperation caused only chaos. You unleashed her name into the world like bait, spurring not just
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misunderstandings but insidious attacks. Do you know how many people tried to kidnap her because of your stunt? If I hadn’t intervened, do you even comprehend the danger she’d have been in? And yet you- people who call yourselves her family–have the audacity to claim you care?”
Callum stood frozen g?
if the
ground beneath him had given way. Cassian, however, refused to back down, his anger erupting like a storm. His fists clenched, his knuckles white, as he glared daggers at Thorne. “Kidnapping? That wouldn’t have happened if you’d just stayed out of things! She would’ve been back with us by now if not for you!”
Thorne offered no rebuttal, his icy silence speaking volumes.
Later that evening, Callum reached out
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to Thorne privately, hoping for a different outcome. [I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for Thalia over these past two years. At this point, you’re practically family–my brother–in–law, even. But please, all I want is to see her. Just once.]
Thorne didn’t bother to reply. The texts kept coming, piling up on a phone he initially intended only for work use. [Our father is dying of stomach cancer. The doctors say he doesn’t have much time left. He’s holding on, hoping to see Thalia one last time. If you truly care about her, you wouldn’t deny her this closure. You wouldn’t let her live with this regret.]
When Thorne brought the matter up
with Thalia, her reaction was colder than
frostbite. A bitter laugh spilled from her lips. “Regret? I won’t regret it. In fact, I refuse to go. Ever.”
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Afterward, Thorne reassured her, his voice steady and protective. “Then don’t go. If that’s what you want, you don’t have to do anything. I’m here, Thalia. And as long as I’m here, no one will touch you.”
But Thorne’s unwavering support only fueled the fire between the Wynn, Everleigh, and Moreau families. The Wynn family retaliated viciously, using their wealth and connections to block Everleigh projects and even conspiring with others to crush Thorne’s business empire.
Callum, having exhausted all avenues of reasoning, tried one last time to sway him. When Thorne refused to yield, his once–pleading tone turned toward icy threats. “This is just the start. You’d better think long and hard, or you’ll regret underestimating the lengths we’ll go to.”
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Thorne remained unmoved, the corner of his lip curling ever so slightly. To him, this was merely the beginning. If they wanted a fight, he’d gladly oblige.
Drunk on blind fury, Cassian took matters further, leveling thinly veiled threats at Thorne during every opportunity. “You’d better watch yourself, Thorne. You don’t want to know what I’ll do to get Thalia back.”
Like a rabid dog, Cassian continued snapping from every angle, even going so far as to contact law enforcement, demanding the Everleigh family release Thalia.
But Thalia never wavered. At a subsequent event, with Callum and Cassian watching from a distance, Thalia made her stance undeniably clear. Her voice rang cold and resolute as she severed ties with them–and
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the Wynn family at large.
“Mr. Wynn. Mr. Moreau. This is your final warning: stay out of my life. If you don’t, I will make you regret it.”
Her words were like a blade cutting through the simmering chaos, silencing all opposition–at least for that moment. But the storm on the horizon was far from over.
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