Chapter 19

Ivy, present time...

I didn't know why that distant memory from my high school days came flooding back. I could see Aidan being mercilessly beaten and humiliated by his father.

The image pained me even now. But I couldn't understand how that traumatic past had turned him into the person he was today.

Despite all that, I had always shown kindness to him - the only one who bothered to do so. Yet, at this moment, he seemed to have forgotten all of it and treated me with utter disdain.

After he brought me back to the Villa, he practically threw me inside the bedroom.

"Stay here," he barked before slamming the door behind him.

I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, my thoughts in turmoil. The Aidan I thought I knew was gone. In his place was this possessive and violent stranger.

I couldn't take it anymore. I had to get out of there.

But how? He had threatened to kill me, and I believed him.