Chapter 228/Playing with Fire

Chapter 228: 228/Playing with Fire

Chapter 227

Stephanie’s POV

I shook my head frantically, violently snatching my hands back from her grip. Pressing my spine hard against the back of the sofa, I gasped out in rising horror:

"No! No, Keira..." I pulled my knees tight against my chest, my whole frame trembling. "...you don’t understand how dangerous Vincetti really is! The man is a devil his mind is sick, wired purely for malice and manipulation!"

Keira dropped back down to her knees in front of me, her brows pulling together in a mix of utter confusion and deep worry.

"Stephanie, a medical report is the only physical proof that clears your name!" She reached out, resting her palms on my trembling knees. "How could he possibly convince Alexander otherwise when you have an official hospital document in your hands?!"

Hot tears burned down my cheeks, spilling over my jaw. I let out a broken, terrified laugh:

"Because he knows exactly how to play with someone’s head, Keira!" I pressed a shaking hand over my heart, my voice cracking. "Vincetti can easily spin it to Alexander that I went to him willingly... that I took the drug myself just to cover my tracks if I got caught! He’ll tell him it was all a dramatic act born out of guilt! He knows how to plant a seed of doubt so deeply that even the most rational mind eats itself alive with jealousy!"

I clamped both hands over my head, squeezing my eyes shut as a silent wave of terror shuddered through me.

"Alexander loves me, yes..." I choked on a sob, rocking back and forth. "...but his jealousy burns like wildfire, and his honor is a absolute red line. A video like that with explicit confessions carved off my own tongue because of that drug will put a bullet straight through his heart that no medical report can ever pull out! Vincetti wants to force Alexander to destroy me, or force me to give up everything just to protect him!"

The color completely drained from Keira’s face. The stubborn insistence in her voice vanished, replaced by a hollow, pale shock.

"Then..." She whispered, her voice barely a breath. "...what are we going to do, Stephanie? If we don’t go to the hospital, and you don’t tell Alexander... how are you going to face this nightmare all by yourself?"

I buried my face back into my palms. A suffocating silence settled over the room, pressing down on my exhausted chest like a ton of lead. Slowly, I lifted my head, my eyes bloodshot and swollen with tears, staring at Keira with a look of pure loss and bitter surrender.

"There is no other way, Keira..." I wiped my damp cheeks with the back of my hand, my voice dropping to a flat, dead whisper. "...I have no choice but to submit to him. Vincetti has his claws wrapped around me from every single angle."

Keira’s eyes widened in horror. She bolted upright, her voice laced with sharp disbelief:

"What are you saying, Stephanie?!" She grabbed my wrists tightly. "Submit to him?! Have you completely lost your mind?!"

I pulled my wrists back gently, smoothing down my disheveled clothes with trembling fingers as my mind desperately tried to cling to a fragile straw of hope.

"Listen to me..." I leaned in, my breath coming in ragged hitches. "...he keeps repeating over and over that he wants me by his side, that my running away is what drives him to this madness. Maybe... maybe all of this is just a sick, twisted game born from his wounded pride because I keep rejecting him! It’s that twisted obsession men get with the one thing they can’t have!"

A deep, bone-chilling cold crept through my veins as I pushed the dark logic further:

"Maybe if he sees me give up..." I gestured wildly with my trembling hand, searching her eyes. "...if I pretend that I actually want him, if I show him desire and acceptance, the mystery will vanish and he’ll get bored of me fast! Men like him live for the thrill of the chase. The second they trap the prey, they lose all interest. Don’t you see, Keira? Isn’t that the only way to get him to leave me alone?!"

Keira gasped in utter shock. Her hands shot out, gripping my arms firmly as she gave me a hard shake:

"You’re playing with fire, Stephanie!" Her eyes flashed with intense fear for me. "Pretending to want him isn’t a solution it’s the exact trap he set for you! A man as devious and sick as Vincetti won’t get bored. He’ll take your surrender as a green light to claim you completely and tear down whatever is left of your life without an ounce of mercy!"

I yanked my arms out of her grasp, shaking my head with an absolute, desperate stubbornness. My tear-filled eyes locked onto her terrified face, my voice trembling with sharp, bitter intensity:

"No, this is the best idea, Keira!" I stood up abruptly, pacing a short step before turning back to her. "It is the only damn option I have left! Don’t you understand?! I don’t have another way to survive this!"

Keira sank back onto her knees before me, her voice cracking with a desperate plea:

"Stephanie, please listen to me..." She reached up, trying to catch my hand. "...you’re in complete shock and terror right now! Your head is clouded! Throwing yourself into that monster’s arms willingly will destroy you completely!"

I stood firm on my shaking legs, balling my hands into tight fists until my knuckles turned white. Tears burned down my cheeks as I let out a muffled, frantic cry:

"And what’s the alternative then?!" I slapped my hands against my thighs in desperation. "Wait for him to send that filthy tape straight to Alexander?! Watch my marriage shatter into pieces, my babies get ripped away from me, and my entire life crushed with the press of a single button from him?!"