Chapter 17
Fury consumed every cell in my body as I stormed across the corridor to Ethan’s bedroom door,
I pounded on it with both fists, the sound echoing through the house like thunder.
“Ethan! Scarlett! Who on earth entered my room?” I demanded, my voice raw with rage.
The door opened after several long moments. Ethan stood there with an irritated expression, his blue eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
“What are you yelling about in the middle of the night?” he snapped, his voice sharp with annoyance. “Can’t you let people sleep?”
My chest heaved with barely controlled anger as I glared at him. Every breath felt like fire in my lungs.
‘Ethan, did you enter my room just now?” I asked, my voice trembling with the effort to contain my fury.
He frowned deeply, his expression shifting from irritation to cold denial.
‘Who would enter your room? Don’t make a fuss over nothing,” he said dismissively. “I’ve been reading contracts here all evening.“.
His casual dismissal made my blood boil even hotter. I said nothing more, turning abruptly away from him.
If it wasn’t Ethan, then there was only one other suspect in this house.
I walked straight toward Scarlett’s guest room at the end of the corridor, my steps determined and purposeful.
Ethan followed closely behind me, clearly worried that the situation was about to escalate beyond his control.
When I reached Scarlett’s door, I didn’t bother with polite knocking.
kicked the door hard with my foot and shouted, “Scarlett! Open the door right now!”
My ferocity made Ethan hesitate behind me. This wasn’t the gentle, easily bullied Emma he thought he knew.
This was someone pushed beyond her breaking point.
After several tense moments, Scarlett finally opened the door slowly. Her eyes were full of manufactured anger and false indignation.
‘Emma, are you completely crazy?” she asked with feigned shock.
Without hesitation, I grabbed Scarlett’s wrist in an iron grip and began dragging her roughly toward my bedroom.
‘What are you doing? Let me go!” she cried, struggling desperately against my hold.
She staggered as I pulled her forward, her feet barely keeping up with my determined pace.
‘Emma, let me go right now!” she pleaded, her voice rising with panic.
ignored her protests completely, focused only on getting answers. When we reached my bedroom door, I threw her inside with enough force to send her stumbling.
7:40 pm D D D D
Scarlett staggered backward, her knees hitting the wooden cabinet heavily. She screamed in pain as she collapsed to the floor.
“Are you insane?” she gasped, clutching her injured knees.
I stood over her, my eyes cold as winter ice. “Did you break my necklace? Why were you in my room?”
Scarlett’s eyes flickered with obvious guilt, but she tried to maintain her innocent facade.
“I… I didn’t! I was in my room the whole time,” she stammered. “Don’t accuse me of things I didn‘ do!”
But I had caught that telltale flash of guilt in her expression. I stared at her with sharp, penetrating eyes.
“Really?” I asked with deadly calm. “Because when I came out of the bathroom, I happened to catch a glimpse of someone in a red dress at my door.”
The lie came easily to my lips, but it served its purpose perfectly.
Hearing this, Scarlett blurted out defensively, “You’re lying! I was wearing a white dress when I went there–I just changed into this red dress…”
The words tumbled out before she could stop them. As soon as she realized what she had revealed, her voice gradually disappeared in panic.
She had just confessed to being in my room.
My tone became arctic as I interrupted her scrambling attempts to backtrack.
“So this red dress is what you just put on, right? What exactly were you doing in my room?”
“Why did you break into my room for no reason?” I pressed mercilessly.
Scarlett swallowed hard, her throat working convulsively. She couldn’t find any words to answer
my accusation.
Suddenly, Ethan stepped forward and positioned himself protectively in front of Scarlett.
“That’s enough!” he roared, his voice filled with righteous anger. “Don’t make such a big deal over
a broken ceramic necklace.”
His dismissive tone made something snap inside my chest.
“If it’s really that important, just buy another one,” he continued with infuriating casualness. “Why are you bullying Scarlett over something so trivial?”
The sound of my palm connecting with his cheek echoed through the room like a gunshot.
I had slapped him with every ounce of strength in my body, my hand stinging from the impact.
Both Ethan and Scarlett stared at me in complete shock. Neither had expected this level of resistance from me.
“Get out!” I screamed, my voice hoarse with rage and grief. “What qualifications do you have to forgive on my behalf?”
My grandmother’s ashes were scattered across the floor like dust, irreplaceable and irretrievable. And he called it trivial.
I knelt down carefully, beginning to pick up the scattered ceramic fragments and precious white powder that had once been my beloved grandmother.
Chapter 17
2
50.00
7:41 pm D
Each piece I collected felt like gathering up fragments of my broken heart.
Although Ethan was clearly furious about being slapped, he still stepped in front of me as I tried to leave.
“Emma, you can’t leave me,” he said, grabbing my hand roughly. “I won’t let you go.”
I looked at him–really looked at him–and realized I couldn’t physically overpower an Alpha.
But I wouldn’t be trapped here. I would rather die than go back to this life.
My eyes fell on the silver letter opener lying on my dresser. Without hesitation, I picked it up and pressed the sharp blade against the tender skin of my throat.
“Ethan, listen carefully,” I said, my voice steady despite the cold metal against my neck. “I will never accept you as my partner again.”
The blade bit into my skin slightly, a thin line of blood appearing.
“If you don’t let me go today, I would rather die here than spend another moment as your prisoner.”
