"She'll marry a capable man and live out her days knowing she swept away a big thorn from her path—you. Are you really going to let her relish in that satisfaction?"
The voice had changed tactics.
It had finally realized that Ivy didn't care enough about herself to be tempted by promises of survival. Her own life held little value in her eyes after everything she had endured. Telling her that she could live, that the pain would end, or even that there might be something better waiting for her had failed to stir the desire to continue.
But there was something else buried inside her.
Rage.
It had always been there, dormant beneath years of resignation and exhaustion, flowing through her veins like a sleeper agent waiting for the right command. Ivy could ignore pain. She could accept hum
