10
Alexander wasn’t always so terrible to me.
When I came home disfigured, though he didn’t like me, he still argued passionately with our father when he tried to force me to give my room to Seraphina, insisting it was rightfully mine. When I accidentally scared the high–society girls into hysterics, it was Alexander who stood in front of me and declared loudly, “What are you crying about? Beauty isn’t proven by a face!” After my birth- day party was ruined by Seraphina, he once bought me a small cake and celebrated with me.
But then, he was manipulated, time and again, and the tenderness in his eyes when he looked at me slowly curdled into disgust. The man who had countless times told me to wait, that he would bring me and Eleanor back once he took over the company, even- tually became one of my killers.
We drifted further and further apart, until eventually, we became complete strangers. I wished him a bright future, our paths forev- er diverged. But he truly seemed to have developed a fierce hatred for me, repeatedly showing disdain, suppressing me, coercing me. Until his own arrogance and blind trust led him into the villains‘ trap.
But Alexander, if only you had been willing to give me even one minute, to listen to me properly, if only you had given me even a sliver of trust, we wouldn’t have reached this point, would we?
