Chapter 4
I wanted to walk away—but the moment Scarlett’s e unwrap the gifts
eyes welled up blurry, Damien’s fingers clamped around my wrist like a manacle, forcing me to
My heart stopped the second those “gifts” came to my sight…
Every item was a carbon copy of the counterfeit luxury goods that had destroyed my mother’s last hope.
Handbags Dresses, Shoes
A perfect recreation of my ruin.
Tears blurred my vision, yet the logos burned through the haze like brands on flesh.
Then came the memory–mom’s gaunt face contorted with guilt as she refused all the treatment just to spare me some hope to live on my life..
“My sweet Julie…all those boys thought you were too proud to date but you only refused because you didn’t want to burden them…
“It’s me…I’m the burden. Forgive me
Even dying, she’d blamed herself
Her wasted form stilled forever, bearing to the grave only sorrow-
cannot say. Some grief is not a wound that heals, but a room you never leave.
sorrow for my sake. Whether I endured that day or remain forever drowning in it, I
While Scarlett leaned in, her whisper a venomous caress, “Well, actually, about that charity? It’s a Kingsley subsidiary.”
“One word from Damien could’ve saved your pathetic mom.
“But he chose my happiness over your mother’s life.”
White noise filled my skull
bother…the wicked are laughing
And you died apologizing
My palm connected with Scarlett’s cheek before I realized I’d moved.
The slap echoed through the marble foyer.
Scarlett’s p
perfect skin bloomed crimson, her Oscar–worthy tears already flowing Damien seized my arm, shielding her with his body. e you lost your n mind?1”
“Have
Yet when he saw my tears, his hand faltered–reaching for me instead.
I recoiled.
The room erupted. Our classmates‘ stares carved me into caricatures.
Gold digger. Psycho Homewrecker. I could almost hear the words sworn out in their hearts.
Scarlest pressed a delicate hand to her cheek, playing peacemaker–even as her lips shaped words meant only for me
whom you…
“Those loan sharks to y
gave out your naked photo as collateral for the loans for your mon’s medical bills?”
“They never intended to give you money.”
“Just wanted to watch you beg like a whore.”
Ice flooded my veins
Tlunged only for Damien to wrench me back. “Juliette! Think of the baby!”
Then the phones chimed
Achorus of notifications.
My hands shook as I looked down–and there they were,
The photos.
Every humiliating, degrading frame from my darkest hour, flooding the group chat
Trash will always be trash…” someone muttered.
Scarlett’s eyes gleamed with triumph–an instant before she grabbed my hand and pushed herself down the grand staircase.
“Ah!”
Her scream pierced the air as I slammed into the banister, white–hot pain searing through my abdomen.
“Scarlett!”
Damien released me so fast I stumbled. He caught her at the bottom, cradling her like shattered porcelain before glaring up at me.
“This is beneath even you.” His voice trembled with disgust. “Apologize.”
He didn’t see how the pain stole my breath.
Didn’t care that they’d taken my mother, my dignity, my very soul.
All he saw was the madwoman they’d made me.
The silence was a living thing now–every guest a juror, every whisper a verdict.
Their eyes said it all: some looked down on me, some pretended to care, a few were practically licking their lips at the drama,
At this ridiculous mansion full of fake smiles. At these people who’d sell their grandmothers for gossip. At the man who promised to cherish me, then handed me the scissors to cut my own heart out,
The joke, it turned out, was on me.
And in that moment, staring at my gilded cage and its vipers, I laughed.
