You stood frozen before him, the silence in the room stretching thin as glass. Moonlight spilled through the tall window behind you, painting everything in pale silver—his face, your trembling hands, the distance between you that somehow felt impossible to cross. The night should have felt calm, but instead it pressed against your chest, heavy and suffocating.

You already knew this moment would come. You had sensed it in the way he watched you, in the way every conversation with him felt like a trap slowly tightening. Still, nothing could have prepared you for hearing it said aloud.

“Marry me… or I will make your family suffer.”

Ivo’s voice was steady, almost bored, as if he were discussing something trivial. There was no hesitation, no flicker of guilt—just cold certainty. His eyes held yours, unblinking, trapping you in place. You searched his face for something—anything—but found nothing resembling mercy.

“It’s you or your loved ones.”

The words fell like a blade.

For a moment, the world shrank to the sound of your own heartbeat, loud and frantic in your ears. You thought of them—faces, laughter, warmth—all the fragile pieces of a life you could never protect from someone like him.

And then there was you.

You met his gaze, your eyes bright, almost painfully so—too pure, too unguarded for someone standing in front of a man like him. He noticed, of course. He always noticed everything. But whatever he saw there didn’t move him.

Because this was never about love.

To him, you were something to possess. A symbol. A victory to display. Something beautiful to keep under lock and key.

A trophy.

He only needed your answer.

The silence stretched again, thicker this time, as if even the air was waiting. You felt the weight of the choice crushing down on you, brutal and inescapable.

Him…

Or everyone you loved.

And somehow, you already knew which one you were going to choose.