As soon as my eyes cracked open, the nightmare sharpened into focus.
Junhoo was on top of me.
His weight pressed me into the cold floor, heavy and familiar in the worst possible way. My eyes widened in pure terror. The old pain from seven years ago sliced through me like a rusted blade — the phantom crush of his body, the smell of alcohol on his breath, the way he'd taken everything while I begged. A choked sound tore from my throat. I shoved at his chest with every scrap of strength I had left, nails digging into his shirt, legs kicking uselessly beneath him. He didn't budge. His eyes were half-lidded, unfocused, but his hands gripped my shoulders like he was afraid I'd vanish again.
"How could you…" he slurred, voice thick and broken. "I thought you were dead, Kim. I mourned you. Every fucking day. Look at me. Why? How are you here—?"
I couldn't speak. The words stuck in my raw throat, drowned by panic and the screaming ache in my body from the night before. "Not again. Not like this. Anna—where the hell is Anna?"
The doors slammed open with a violent bang.
Charlie stood there, framed in the harsh light from the hallway. His dark eyes locked onto us, murderous and cold, taking in the sight: Junhoo on top of me, my hands still pushing weakly at his chest, our bodies tangled in the most damning position possible. Of course fate would twist the knife like this. Of course it would paint me as the traitor in the exact moment I had nothing left.
I was so fucking tired of these games. Tired of being the pawn between two brothers who both claimed to love me while destroying everything I touched.
Men in dark suits rushed past Charlie, grabbing Junhoo and hauling him off me. They tried to wake him, slapping his face, checking his pulse. "He's drugged, sir," one of them muttered. "Heavy sedative. He's out cold."
Charlie's gaze never left me. I shrugged my shoulders, numb and hollow, and looked away toward the blank wall. What was there to say? "Believe what you want. I stopped caring a long time ago."
Then Anna's terrified voice slammed back into my head. "Daddy… it's so dark…"
I lurched to my feet, legs shaking violently from pain and exhaustion. I tried to rush past the guards, shoulder slamming into one of them. "Anna—she called me. She's scared, she's in the dark somewhere—I have to get to her—"
Charlie's hand snapped out like a vice around my wrist, yanking me back so hard I stumbled into his chest. "Where do you think you're going?" he growled, voice low and dangerous.
I struggled against his grip, twisting desperately. "She needs me, Charlie! Anna's alone and terrified—please, she's just a kid! Let me go to her!"
But he wasn't listening. His eyes were still burning with the image of Junhoo on top of me. His free hand came up, gripping my chin hard enough to bruise. "Are you serious right now?" he hissed, voice cracking with raw pain. "I just caught you in his arms again. After everything. How long are you going to keep hurting me like this, Sok-joo? How many times do I have to watch you choose him over me? Answer me!"
His other fist slammed into the wall beside my head with a sickening crack. Plaster dust rained down. The guards froze. I flinched, heart hammering, but the fight was draining out of me fast. My body still ached from the way he'd fucked me raw the night before. My head throbbed from the blow that knocked me out. And now this.
Charlie's breathing was ragged, tears of fury and heartbreak shining in his eyes. That same fractured obsession I'd seen so many times — the man who would burn the world down for me while setting it on fire himself. "I gave you everything. I protected you. I brought you home. And the second I turn my back, you're with him?"
I sagged in his grip, voice barely a whisper. "It wasn't like that… Anna called. She's scared—"
But his grip only tightened, pulling me closer until our foreheads nearly touched. The men dragged the unconscious Junhoo away, but Charlie didn't even glance at his brother. All his pain, all his rage, was focused entirely on me.
The despair settled deeper than ever. Anna was still out there in the dark because of the cage I couldn't escape. Junhoo was drugged and useless. And Charlie… Charlie would never let me go. Not while he still believed he could make me choose him.
I closed my eyes, letting the tears fall silently. "I'm sorry, baby. Daddy's failing you again."