Part 2The Four Targets

As I opened my mouth to speak, her hand flew out and struck me across the face, the force of it sending me stumbling.

“Did you really think I’d give you a second look just because you pull a stunt like this? Don’t make me laugh!” she sneered. “You’ve disrupted my wedding, and I promise you, you will pay for it.”

Before I could react, she grabbed me by the throat, her grip like iron, and forced the upper half of my body over the railing, dangling me above the churning waves.

The world began to blur as the air was crushed from my lungs, but I didn’t struggle.

Maybe it’s better this way, I thought. To just die.

I closed my eyes, ready to accept the end. But my passivity seemed to unnerve her.

She yanked me back onto the deck, her eyes wide with a strange mix of shock and fury.

“Why aren’t you fighting back? Why aren’t you saying anything? Do you actually want to die?!”

Would she believe me if I tried to explain? I had tried so many times before, but she’d always dismissed my words as pathetic excuses, pushing her further and further into Adrian’s arms.

A cold, hollow laugh escaped my lips. “I’ve already lost everything. Death doesn’t seem so bad.”

Seraphina’s face went pale. She seized the front of my shirt, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “Your life is mine to take! You don’t have my permission to die!”

When we were first engaged, her family had despised me, doing everything in their power to break us apart. To defy them, she had endured her family’s brutal 'discipline' time and time again, beaten black and blue but never yielding. When I found out, I went to the Beaumont estate and took the punishments in her stead. As I lay bleeding and broken, she had held me, making me promise that I would never, ever die without her permission.

I looked up at her, about to speak, when a small, delicate girl pushed her way through the crowd.

Lily. My second target. My best friend in this world.

She didn't say a word. She just ground her heel into my cheek and threw a stack of photographs at my chest.

“Since you had the nerve to ruin Adrian’s day, I have no reason to spare your dignity, Ethan!”

The photos scattered around me. Me, tied up and beaten like a dog. Me, forced down and ridden like an animal. Me, stripped naked with the word ‘TRASH’ carved into my skin.

Lily had taken every single one. She had an artist's eye, carefully framing each shot to capture the humiliation on my face in perfect, sharp detail.

She did it all because I had exposed Adrian for cheating in a photography competition, shaming him in front of everyone.

As the crowd gasped and jeered, Lily raised her camera and snapped a picture of me, kneeling and broken on the deck. In the corner of the camera, a small, elegant engraving glinted in the light.

Lily & Ethan

It was a gift from me. Her mother had died when she was young, and her father was a monster who brought home a string of cruel women. They took pleasure in tormenting her. We became friends by chance, and one night, I fought off one of her father’s lecherous friends to protect her. The beating I took left me temporarily blind. To comfort her, I gave her the camera and asked her to capture all the beauty in the world that I could no longer see. My vision returned, but her passion for photography remained.

Until, one day, her camera started filling with pictures of Adrian.

“Get on your knees and apologize to Adrian right now,” she said, her voice like ice. “Or I will post every single one of these online and see how you ever show your face in public again.”

When I didn't move, her voice dropped even lower. She grabbed me by the collar and hauled me to my feet, but my body was too weak. I crumpled, my knees hitting the hard deck with a sickening crack.

Seraphina frowned, taking a step forward to help me, but Lily blocked her path.

“Don’t be fooled by his pathetic act, Miss Beaumont. I trusted him once, and because of me, Adrian can never take another photograph.” She glared down at me. “Ethan, you were so desperate to beat Adrian in that competition that you not only hired thugs to assault him and take those disgusting photos, but you also framed him for cheating. If I hadn't gotten there in time, Adrian would have killed himself!”

Hearing this, Seraphina’s expression hardened into pure loathing.

“Get out of here,” she hissed. “If you disrupt this wedding any further, I will personally ensure that everything Adrian suffered happens to you, ten times over. I’ll make you—”

I didn’t wait to hear the rest. I scrambled to my feet and ran, not toward the exit, but straight for the busy road just beyond the pier.

A massive truck was thundering toward me. I closed my eyes, ready for the impact. But just before the end, a body slammed into mine, shoving me out of the way.