NovelFinishChapter 269
Chapter 269
Ava’s POV-
48
| exhaled slowly, trying to steady myself. The pain was still there-sharp, relentless-but | forced it aside. There
was no tfor weakness, No tfor doubt.
Crystal stood across from me, her expression unreadable, her gaze cold and calculating. But | had to try.
“I know a lot has happened, Crystal. | know nothing | say can erase what you've been through. But I'm
pregnant.” My voice was steady, but my heart pounded violently against my ribs. “You can’t have so much hate
in you that you would kill two children, too.”
Something flickered across her face-too quick, too fleeting forto fully grasp-before she shut it down.
“And so are you,” | continued, looking at her stomach, “This isn’t a world a child-any child-should be brought
into.”
She didn’t move, didn’t speak further. Just stared. Watching. Calculating.
| swallowed hard and pressed forward, “It’s not too late.”
She exhaled sharply, shaking her head with a bitter laugh, “Save the redemption speech, Ava. It's never going to
work.”
Her voice was flat, emotionless, but her eyes-they burned. With what, | couldn't tell. Anger? Pain?
“You still don’t get it, do you?” She asked, tilting her head slightly. “I don’t care about fixing this. | don’t care
about making things right. The only thing that matters tonow is taking over-with Dylan.”
| tensed. My fingers curled at my sides.
“How did that happen?” | found myself asking before | could stop myself. “Damien sent you to Dylan’s pack to
dismantle it, to ruin him. So why did you stay? Why did he mark you? Why are you carrying his child?”
For a moment, she just watched me, her lips pressed together as if she was deciding whether or not I was worth
answering. Then, slowly, she rose to her feet.
Her fingers trailed lazily along the edge of the table as she moved toward the window, her back to me.
“You really want to know?” she asked, her voice light, almost amused. “Fine. I'll tell you.”
She turned fully then, arms crossing over her chest as she leaned back against the wall.
“Damien thought he hadon a leash. Thought | was just another one of his pawns, a weapon he could
control.”
Her eyes darkened, something venomous creeping into her tone.
“But the thing about weapons, Ava? If you're not careful, they cut you, too.”
She exhaled, her gaze drifting somewhere beyond me, lost in memory.
“l was sent to Dylan's pack with one goal-to ensure its downfall. To get close to him, to make him trust me, and
then to destroy him from the inside. Damien wanted his pack to be the first to fall.”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtHer voice dropped lower, something unreadable laced in it.
“And at first, I did exactly what | was told. | seduced him. | played my part. But Dylan...” Her lips twisted, as if
saying his ntasted different now. “He wasn’t what | expected.”
1/4
Chapter 269
| held my breath.
“He wasn’t kind. He wasn’t patient. He wasn’t good and he never pretended to be anything he want. He was
fohtees calculated-just like his uncle. And he had his own plans already in motion
She tilted her head slightly, her gaze narrowing as though she were recalling something specific.
“At first, | thought he knew why | had cto the pack, the way he watched me, the way he memored every
wordt end. He never trusted me-not fully. But he never treatedlike Damien did, either?
Her lips curled into something close to a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes,
“Damien sawas a weapon. Dylan sawas a person.”
A pit formed in my stomach, but | forced myself to stay silent, to let her speak.
“And that was dangerous,” She murmured, almost to herself. “Because for the first tin my life, | wault juu
something to
be used.
She looked back at me, something almost amused glinting in her expression.
“And then before | realized it, | started to fall for him amd so | told him everything. Who | was, how Damien had
sentthere with orders to undermine him. But instead of pushingaway, he welcomed it. He letin. Let
between us, her voice dipping lower-Why are you fighting for a man who will never see you as anything but a
means to an end?”
The air between us thickened. | felt my pulse in my throat.
“And that was it,” She said simply. “That was the moment everything shifted.”
| clenched my jaw. “So you switched sides?”
She smiled then. A slow, deliberate curve of her lips.
“I made a choice.”
She took a step closer, her voice softer, but no less lethal. “I chose him. And that’s why | had to get pregnant.”
“What?”
“It gavea reason to stay.” Her tone was matter-of-fact, as if this were just another strategic move in a long
list of plays. “Damien was planning to pull the plug. He was going to takeaway. But this?” She placed a hand
over her stomach. “This gaveleverage.”
A hollow laugh left her lips, but it lacked real amusement.
“I remember just how pissed he was. He wantedto get rid of it. And for a while, I let him believe | was
considering it. Let him think | was still on his side. Meanwhile, | watched. | waited. As he tore through the realm,
as he threw everything into chaos, | bided my time-until the moment was right.”
She took another step forward, her gaze burning into mine.
“And when it was, all Dylan had to do was step in.”
A tremor ran through me, my hands curling into fists at my sides.
“He’s using you, Crystal. Just like Damien did.”
Her eyes flashed with something sharp.
Chapter 269
“No,” She, her voice unwavering, “He sees me. And | love him. Just like he loves me”
| swallowed hard, my throat dry,
“And now?” She whispered, her gaze locked onto mine, her next words chillingto the bone.
“Now, we're going to burn it all down. Together and then from the ashes, | will stand beside him and this child |
carry, he will be the future of the world.”
+48)
The room swayed then, shifting my focus away from all she had just said just like it had before and at first, |
thought it was my body betraying me, the lingering pain warping my senses, but no-the entire space tilted, the
walls shifting ever so slightly. My stomach lurched as | forced my brain to catch up. Something wasn’t right.
| blinked rapidly, my vision sharpening just enough to focus on Crystal, who was watchingwith that same
knowing smirk.
“Where... where are we?” My voice cout hoarse,
“eaker than | would've liked.
Crystal tilted her head, amusement flickering in her eyes, “We're on a ship.”
My heart clenched. | knew, deep in my gut, | was going to regret this-but | still asked. “Why? What are we doing
on a ship?” Her smirk deepened, but before she could answer, footsteps echoed from outside the room. Heavy.
Purposeful.
| barely had tto register the sound before the door swung open, and he stepped in.
Dylan.
His presence filled the room like a shadow swallowing light, his cold, calculating gaze sweeping overbefore
settling on Crystal. But for the first tsince | had known him, | saw something | hadn't thought possible.
A smile.
Not the cruel, mocking ones | had seen before. Not the ones that dripped with amusement at someone else’s
suffering. No- this was different. Real.
And it was for her.
“Are you done?” His voice was smooth, expectant, as if he already knew the answer.
Crystal let out a soft laugh, her hand brushing over her stomach as she turned her attention back to me, “You
can take her
now.”
My pulse spiked. “Takewhere?”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm| tried to move, but I still felt sluggish. My body wasn’t cooperating the way | needed it to, and before | could
process another thought, Dylan was already in front of me.
He reached down, gripping my arm tightly, yankingto my feet.
Pain tore through me.
| gritted my teeth, refusing to cry out, but he must've noticed the way | stiffened. His grip didn’t loosen, but his
smirk returned, just the faintest ghost of it.
“Still resilient, huh?” His voice was almost amused.
| swallowed hard, my mind racing as he pulledforward, out of the room, into the dimly lit corridor. The air
was thick with salt, the scent of the ocean unmistakable.
3/4
Chapter 269
A ship.
I hadn't fully believed it until now, but as Dylan draggedthrough the narrow hallway, I felt the gentle rocking
beneath my feet, the distant hum of engines vibrating through the steel floors.
He was takingup.
Up toward the deck.
| struggled, but he barely seemed to register my resistance, his grip like iron around my wrist. Step after step,
my breath grew uneven, my body screaming in protest, but | refused to give in to the weakness clawing at me.
We reached the last set of stairs.
And then, suddenly, we were outside.
The cool night air hitlike a slap, sharp and bracing. The sky stretched endlessly above us, the stars scattered
like shattered glass, their light pale against the vast darkness of the sea.
Waves crashed in the distance, the water stretching as far as the eye could see. No land. No escape. Panic curled
in my stomach, but | forced myself to stay calm, to think.
Dylan draggedforward, stopping near the railing-the edge of the ship.
| twisted in his grasp. “Let go of me.”
He turned his head slightly, his expression unreadable.
And then, in a voice so quiet it sent chills down my spine, he said, “I plan to and for your sake | hope you learnt
how to “swim.”
AD
Comment
d word rd d d d word rd d word rd d d d d word rd d word rd d d d d word rd d word rd d d d d
d word rd d d d word rd d word rd d d d d word rd d word rd d d d d word rd d word rd d d
mM: LIilofiflo&1
mM: LIilofiflo&1
mM: LIilofiflo&1
mM: LIilofiflo&1
nL Li TO 1 F061
mM: LIilofiflo&1
Visit our social media platform to read fascinating stories every day and connect with the community!
