Jaxon grabbed my hand so tightly that red marks quickly bloomed across my skin.
"Looks like you won’t learn your lesson unless you’re taught one."
Arabelle clung to Jaxon’s arm, her voice dripping with feigned kindness as she pleaded, "Let it go, Jaxon. Maybe Liora was just jealous of me. It's fine, I don’t mind..."
"Arabelle, you’re too kind. People like her don’t deserve sympathy."
With a snap of his fingers, an assistant quickly handed over a dagger.
"You’ve always wanted to take what belongs to Arabelle, right? Without these hands, how will you take anything?"
The words echoed in my ears, but strangely, fear didn’t grip me as expected. My only thought was, how could I still marry into the Montgomery family if I lost my hands?
A bodyguard held my hands down as Jaxon slowly approached, the knife glinting ominously. Cold sweat poured down my face. I knelt, my voice trembling as I begged, "Please, don’t do this to me. Even if I haven’t done anything good, I’ve suffered enough for you. Have you forgotten what happened at the forest lodge?"
Jaxon paused, his expression faltering. In that storm at the forest lodge, I took care of his injuries for three months.