The Day Our Promise Breaks

She didn't even get close enough to touch him.

Charles sidestepped smoothly, dodging her outstretched hand.

Luna hit the ground hard. This time, she couldn't muster the strength to get up.

"Charles..." Her voice was weak as she lifted her hand, silently begging him to help her.

Charles shot Q a look.

Q stepped up, his big hand gripping Luna's shoulder as he hauled her to her feet.

Luna bristled, but she didn't make a scene over something so petty.

It didn't matter. Charles could only stall for a day at most. No matter how much he tried to keep away, he'd end up doing whatever it took to save that little brat— even if it meant getting close to her.

Just the thought of finally being with Charles, tasting something Dahlia had obsessed over for years and never gotten, sent a secret shiver of delight through her.

Charles didn't ride in the same car as Luna.

He traveled with his bodyguards and Francis's men, a line of cars weaving back to the villa.

Luna didn't try any tricks on the way.

Back at the villa, she went straight to her bedroom. In her walk-in closet, she opened a hidden compartment in her jewelry box and pulled out a single pill. She handed it to Charles.

He took it without a word and walked away.

Q guided Luna back to the car.noveldrama

Before Charles left, he gave Q another look.

Q caught on fast. He signaled his men to send Luna back to the water cell, then led a few others into the house for another sweep.

They searched every room, every corner-nothing. Not a single trace of another antidote.

Luna had only left that one pill, stashed away where no one would think to look- under a false bottom in her jewelry box.

No wonder their earlier searches turned up empty.

Luna was dumped back into the water cell.

She didn't even bother resisting.

Charles had just twenty-four hours. Whatever she had to endure, it would be over soon enough.

She sat in the shallow water, her lashes lowered, eyes dark with scheming malice.

In fact, she couldn't wait to see Charles give that so-called antidote to the brat.

She knew exactly what it was. Not a cure never was.

It would hide the symptoms for a while, make the brat seem better, more awake, like she was getting stronger.

But the pill was a slow, hidden poison-deadlier than anything before.

It would seep into Charlie's veins, clinging to her like a shadow, making the original poison dig in deeper, making her need the drug even more.

The more Charlie took, the stronger the poison grew, right down to her bones.

Stop the pills, and the pain would come roaring back-ten, a hundred times worse -enough to drive anyone insane.

Charles had no clue.

All he'd see would be Charlie's brief recovery-a little color in her cheeks, a clear gaze, a fragile smile.

And in that moment, the first person Aurora would want to see, the one she'd cling to, would be "Mommy"-Luna.

As long as Charlie needed her, kept begging Charles for her "Mommy," he'd have no choice but to keep Luna close.

Married, with Charlie as the glue,

even if Charles didn't have a shred of

love

t for her, he'd have to keep up

the act-maybe eveneet

And Evelyn, that miserable woman?

Let her watch her own daughter curl up in earms of the woman she hated most, calling her "Mommy" with sweet affection-let her watch in agony, helpless to do a thing.

Just picturing it sent a rush of twisted pleasure through Luna—she almost laughed out loud.

Every move had been calculated, every piece set.

Now all that was left was for Charles to feed that sugar-coated poison to his own daughter.

Charles didn't suspect a thing.

With the precious pill in hand, he sped back home.

The atmosphere in the manor's medical suite was so tense it felt like the air had stopped moving.

Charles burst through the heavy doors, striding straight to the bed.

Charlie's tiny body was curled up in pain, her face ghostly pale and dripping with cold sweat. Even in sleep, she whimpered, so fragile it looked like she might break at any second.