If you forgot where we left off in the last chapter, let me remind you: Tristan had just declared Hope as his soon-to-be wife. Hayden was present, and Hope had just discovered that Tristan knew about them. At the end, Hope asked Tristan if he did all of this to her because of Hayden.

***

Hope sat on the edge of the bed, unmoving, her reflection staring back at her from the full-length mirror across the room. The silence in the room was deceptive—thick and pressing. It wasn’t the quiet of peace, but the kind that follows a storm.

Her eyes were red-rimmed. A single tear slipped down her cheek, and she didn’t bother to wipe it away. It trailed down her skin slowly, like a mark of defeat, a confession of everything she was trying to suppress.

Everything hit her at once. The party. Tristan’s announcement. The stares. Hayden. And Tristan's voice—the venom, the possessiveness, the truth.

When she had asked him if he was doing all this because of Hayden, she had hoped—even begged in silence—that he would deny it. That there would be at least one thing untouched by the war between those two men.

But he hadn’t even flinched.

"Yes," he had said, voice calm and emotionless. "Exactly because of him."

It was like a knife through her chest.

She had always thought Tristan’s obsession with her was twisted, terrifying, but rooted in something personal. Now she realized she wasn’t even a person to him. She was a weapon.

A tool to win a war she had never wanted to be part of.

Her fists clenched as the memory burned.

She had slapped him.

The sting was still in her palm. A sharp echo of the moment her hand collided with his cheek. Her voice had been hoarse from yelling, her chest heaving as she shouted, "You think you're strong? You think you're powerful? You're just a coward who uses a girl as a pawn! You act so tough, but you're nothing but weak, Tristan!"

For a moment, there was silence.

And then he snapped.

She didn’t even see it coming. One moment, she was glaring at him. The next, his hand was around her throat, his grip tight, his face inches from hers, eyes filled with rage and something far more dangerous—pain.

"Your Hayden is no different," he hissed, pulling her closer, his fingers tightening until black dots danced at the edges of her vision. “He ruined someone who was everything to me. So I took what was everything to him.An eye for an eye."

She had gasped, choked, clawed at his wrist until he finally let go, and she fell to her knees, coughing, struggling for breath.

Now, sitting in her room, she touched her throat gently. The skin was tender.  bruised— it felt like it was burning.

Someone  everything  to him?

The phrase echoed in her mind like a riddle.

What had Hayden done?

What had Tristan lost that turned him into this?

She swallowed hard, trying to make sense of the mess unraveling around her.

Her eyes blurred.

And then it came.

A sob.

Shaky. Harsh. Pulled from a place she didn’t even know existed.

“What did I ever do?” she whispered.

“What did I ever do to deserve this?”

Her voice cracked, a sound so small in the giant silence that it felt like the world itself was mocking her.

“I didn’t choose Hayden…”

“I didn’t choose any of this…”

She pressed her palms to her ears, as if trying to block out everything — the cheers from the ballroom, the lies, the look in Hayden’s eyes, and Tristan’s voice — cold and possessive.

“So why do I have to suffer?” she cried out. “Why am I the one bleeding in a war I never asked to be in?”

Her fingers dug into the sheets.

“They used me like I’m nothing. Just some… pawn on their board. Just some girl they toss between each other to settle old wounds.”

“But I’m not a weapon. I’m not a trophy.”

She stared into the mirror. Her own face looked unfamiliar. Haunted.

“I’m a person,” she whispered. “And no one even sees that.”

" I hate you Tristan,  I hate you " she cried out badly

********

It was the middle of the night.

The graveyard was quiet, the wind cold and biting. Darkness blanketed everything, and the only light came from a flickering lamppost near the gate. Tristan stood there—still, silent, and alone. In his hand was a bouquet of white lilies, delicate and pure.

He walked slowly, every step heavy with memories, until he reached the headstone. Kneeling beside it, he gently placed the bouquet on the stone and brushed off the thin layer of dust and dry leaves.

His eyes lingered on the engraved name, and then—like a dam breaking—his tear fell.

"She slapped me," he whispered. His voice cracked. "Not out of rage… but betrayal."

He laughed bitterly and looked up at the stars above. “I saw it coming. I always knew that the day she found out why I chose her... she'd hate me more than she ever feared me.”

His hands folded over his knees, his body hunched. “Yes, she was a pawn—an eye for an eye, a weapon to destroy Hayden like he destroyed you.”

His voice shook with pain. “But she was more than that too… she was my love—long before she became my revenge.”

He looked at the grave, his voice trembling.

“I warned you, didn’t I? I begged you not to go near him. You thought he loved you. You thought you could change him. But look where you ended up…”

The wind howled through the trees. The grave stayed silent.

“I told myself I’d never let Hayden win again. I told myself I’d make him suffer like I did—lose someone he adored, someone who meant the world to him. And when my men told me he was going to marry some girl, I didn’t care who she was. I just wanted her gone from his life. I wanted him to feel the void.”

He paused. His eyes closed. His next words were a whisper.

“I didn’t know it was her.”

Past

The assignment was over. His role as the “normal college professor” was complete. The mission he was came to monitor had ended quietly, and he was expected to leave.

But he didn’t.

Every morning, his feet still dragged him back to that campus. "One more day," he told himself. "Just one more."

He watched her in silence—Hope. Once so wary of him, now smiling freely, trusting him like a friend, even like a mentor.

She had no idea.

And he had no right.

He knew it was wrong. She was young. Innocent. Beautiful beyond reason. And he was a man with bloodied hands, carrying the weight of too many secrets.

But it didn't stop him from falling.

He found himself waiting in the hallways just to see her walk past. Watching from his car when she left campus. His obsession grew—quietly at first, then violently fast.

She smiled at him once and said, “You’re not like the others, sir. You feel... safe.”

He wanted to scream.

He wasn’t safe. Not even close.

Still, he stayed—until he couldn’t.

Duty called. Life didn't wait for broken men with hearts tangled in teenage dreams. And so, he left. Just disappeared one day, with nothing but regret dragging behind him like chains.

---

Months Later

He tried to move on. Tried to forget her.

He threw himself into darker missions, messier work, but her name never left his mind. Hope. Her laugh. Her eyes. Her innocent questions.

Until one day, his right-hand man, luca came into his office and said something that shattered everything.

“Boss... Hayden’s in love. Claims he’s going to marry a girl.”

Tristan had laughed darkly. “Another one? Who is it this time?”

shrugged. “She is young . He’s been following her. Obsessed, I think.”

Tristan’s eyes narrowed. “Get me everything.”

A file was dropped on his table a few hours later. Photos. Information.

And when Tristan opened it, he stopped breathing.

It was her.

Hope.

His Hope.

The same girl he told himself to forget. The girl who once hugged him and said he made her feel safe.

Now targeted by the very man who had destroyed his I

Dearest.

His body went cold. His hands trembled with rage.

“No,” he whispered. “Not again. Not him. Not her.”

He stood up. “Bring her to me. Now.”

---

A Few Days Later

She was thrown into his mansion like a prisoner—trembling, terrified, bruised. Tristan stood in the shadows, his chest thundering with panic.

And then she saw him.

She froze.

And then she ran—to him.

“Sir!” she cried, hugging him tightly, burying her face in his chest. “They took me… I don’t know why… please help me…”

His hands hovered awkwardly over her back. She was shaking. He could feel her tears soak into his shirt.

Something inside him broke.

He held her.

He shouldn’t have.

But he did.

Present

Back at the graveyard, Tristan’s voice was a broken whisper now.

“She ran to me like I was her savior… not knowing I had sent the devils to bring her.”

He looked down. “I kept telling myself it was to protect her. To keep her away from Hayden. But I lied. I wanted her back—for myself.

“She once  thought I was her  safe place.  But then I turned her safe place into a nightmare without knowing ”

He swallowed. “She slapped me today. Not because she hated me. Because I hurt her heart.”

He looked up at the grave, eyes bloodshot. “But I swear to you… I loved her. I still do.”

The wind whispered through the leaves. The night answered with silence.

---

Meanwhile…

Hope sat on the bed, her knees pulled to her chest, staring at the faint bruises around her throat.

“I will never forgive you, Tristan,” she whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Never.”

She thought about the moment he admitted it—how he used her as a pawn, how he admitted she was part of his revenge.

“An eye for an eye,” he had said, gripping her neck. “He took someone dear to me. I took someone dear to him.”

But what had she done? She never chose Hayden. She never wanted to be caught in their war.

“Why me?” she whispered. “What did I do to deserve this?”

She remembered how safe she once felt with Tristan. How much she had admired him. Trusted him.

The ruined everything,  ruined her .

“I’ll get out of here,” she whispered. “And when I do, I’ll never let anyone use me again.”

---

Back at the Grave

Tristan finally stood up, his body heavy with guilt and grief.

He looked down at the grave one last time.

“I failed you,” he whispered. “And now I’ve failed her too.”

He turned, walking away from the grave, vanishing into the night, unaware that another shadow had been watching him from afar—listening.

And that shadow was going straight to Hayden.