Chapter 5
Sebastian drove me to Willowcrest Cottage-
the private retreat my mother left me, a place only she and I ever shared. When we were young, he’d always come here with me whenever I was upset.
It used to be our escape from them, from the house, from everything.
Before he left, he looked at me with something unreadable in his eyes.
“Want me to stay the night?” he asked quietly.
I did not turn around, voice glacial. “No. And don’t ever set foot here again.”
His breath caught- ragged and uneven.
Just as the door shut behind him, I heard a whisper, faint as a dying flame:
“…I’m sorry.
“)
I had no intention of going back to that house full of lies-
But
my mother’s things still waited for me there. I brought a moving crew with me, just in case.
I didn’t expect to walk into the living room- and find Vivienne giggling as she smeared bright paint across one of my mother’s last surviving sketches.
The canvas was ruined just smears of color and the echo of something precious, lost.
“Put that down!”
I shouted so sharply she jumped, flinching like a child caught stealing.
Then she stumbled—conveniently–straight into the easel.
Crash.
The last piece of my mother’s world shattered into splinters.
Vivienne scrambled up, slapped herself theatrically, like a child putting on a show, and then dropped to her knees–right on the one intact piece of the ruined stand.
“I’m so sorry, Helena! I didn’t mean to! I was upset and asked Sebastian to bring over some supplies to distract me. Please don’t be angry–I’ll buy you a whole new set, I promise!”
Rage blurred my vision.
My hand flew to the fruit knife on the coffee table–burning with the urge to carve her open.
I wanted to carve her open.
But before I could move, Sebastian stepped between us, holding me back.
“They were just some old drawings,” he said. “If they matter so much, I’ll get you perfect replicas.”
I stared at him, trembling with rage..
“Do you even understand what you just said? That was all I had left of my mother.”
“I know.” His voice faltered. “But you destroyed Vivienne’s future. Isn’t that worth a few pieces of paper in return?”
My fingers clenched tighter around the knife.
“You think you get to touch anything that’s mine?!”
Chapter 5
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Before he could dodge, the blade grazed his hand–not deep, but enough for blood to fall in slow, steady drops.
It dripped steadily to the floor.
“No! Don’t hurt him!” Vivienne screamed, lunging forward. “It’s my fault–don’t take it out on him! He’s a surgeon, his hands—he
needs his hands!”
I raised the knife again, this time heading straight for her face.
“Stop!” Sebastian roared.
I didn’t..
He wrapped an arm around Vivienne and shoved me back with all his strength.
“I said STOP!” My head slammed into the
er
of the
Sebastian froze, eyes wide with horror. He let
of
ww Wall. Warmth spilled down my forehead–thick, sticky, red. “Why do you always do this?” he muttered bivienne and rushed to my side, gathering me into his arms.
what you want?”
The words slipped out of him like instinct.
hoarsely. “You throw yourself over the edge- just to make me feel like the villain… Is that
But even he looked stunned at his own words.
Always?
Helena Whitmore was never the type to hurt herself for pity.
So why did he say it like this had happened before?
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