Page 26 of The Beast's Captive Bride
"Amber—"
"Untie him," she repeats, looking up at me with those clear blue eyes. "Let him go. End this."
Every instinct rebels against the idea of releasing my enemy, of letting him walk away unpunished. But the alternative—losing Amber, losing this fragile happiness we've built—is suddenly unthinkable.
I break from her embrace and stride to Richard, pulling out a knife to cut the zip ties. He flinches as the blade comes near, but I'm precise, clinical in my movements.
"You're letting me go?" he asks as the last restraint falls away.
"I'm choosing my wife," I correct him, stepping back. "This isn't forgiveness. This isn't peace between us. This is me deciding that she matters more than my revenge."
He rubs his wrists, watching me warily as he rises from the chair. "And what's to stop me from going to the police? Having you arrested for kidnapping, for assault?"
Before I can respond, Amber steps between us. "Me," she says simply. "I'll tell them everything, Daddy. How youcontrolled me. How you cut me off when I wouldn't obey. How you left Cullen for dead fifteen years ago." She takes my hand, lacing her fingers through mine. "How I chose to stay here. How I chose him."
Richard stares at his daughter as if seeing her for the first time. "You can't be serious. He kidnapped you. He's holding you prisoner?—"
"I'm his wife," she interrupts, a steel in her voice I've rarely heard. "And I'm exactly where I want to be."
Something in Richard's expression shifts—recognition, perhaps, that the daughter he thought he knew is gone, replaced by this woman of quiet strength and determination.
"He's dangerous, Amber," he tries again, desperation tingeing his voice. "You can't trust him."
"I trust him with my life." She squeezes my hand. "Which is more than I can say for you."
The words strike home; I see it in the way Richard flinches. For a moment, I almost pity him—losing his daughter not by my hand, but by his own actions.
"You'll regret this," he warns, but the fight is draining from him. "When he shows his true colors?—"
"I know his true colors," Amber interrupts again. "All of them. The dark and the light. I choose them all."
Richard looks between us, defeat finally settling over his features. "And if I refuse to leave you here? If I fight this?"
I step forward, towering over him once more. "Then we do this the hard way," I say quietly. "The evidence I've gathered over fifteen years goes public. The Jakarta deal. The bribery. The offshore accounts. Everything." I smile, cold and sharp. "I may be choosing mercy today, Richard. Don't mistake it for weakness."
He pales slightly, understanding the threat. Whatever else he might be, Richard Lockhart is a survivor. He knows when to retreat.
"This isn't over," he says, but it sounds hollow even to my ears.
"Yes, it is." Amber's voice is gentle but firm. "Go home, Daddy. Let me live my life."
For a moment, I think he'll argue further. Instead, he straightens his rumpled suit, attempts to recover his dignity. "When you come to your senses, call me. I'll send a car."
Amber doesn't respond, just watches as he moves toward the stairs. At the bottom step, he pauses, looking back at us—his daughter and the man he tried to destroy, united against him.
"I did love you," he says, and for once, I think he might be sincere. "In my way."
"I know," Amber replies softly. "Goodbye, Daddy."
He leaves without another word, footsteps echoing on the stone steps until the door closes behind him. The silence he leaves is heavy, laden with everything that's happened, everything that's changed.
I turn to Amber, expecting... what? Regret? Disappointment? Certainly not the smile that curves her lips, sad but real.
"You did it," she says, moving back into my arms as if it's the most natural place in the world. "You chose mercy."
"I chose you," I correct her, wrapping her in my embrace. "There was no other choice to make."
She tilts her face up to mine, tears drying on her cheeks. "You could have gone through with it. With your revenge. I would have understood, even if I couldn't have stayed."
