dn't want
e she hadn't saved but couldn't forget-and against ev
to come
rapped in the same cold disappointment that ha
e house where she had grown up feeling like a guest in someone else's l
d in the doorway. Her face was p
ame came out lik
the
ther' me.
he threshold, and the
on murmuring on a low news channel. Her father, Kennedy Ramsdale, stood
re
tched a pillow to her chest like a shield. When she saw Cynthia, she
unded on Cynthia, her voi
any idea what
nked. "What
the back of a chair. "The divorce. The video you submitted to the
one he slapped in front of our children. I'm the one walking away from a marriage that has been
ather turned from the window, and his voice
her a homewrecker. A criminal. She almost didn't get out of b
urelia. Her sister's should
is performance before. Every time Aurelia faced consequences, the tears came. E
ia said quietly. "I've finally stopped s
at the accident was your fault. That you were the one driving, not Aurelia. A
. It came out b
estroy my own reputation
w you trapped Kane into marrying you. Everyone knows you've been a thorn in
wo pour every resource into her while I begged for scraps. Who paid for her first dance lessons? You did. Who paid for mine? I worked
gh," her fat
ng now. "She's not fragile, Father. She's lazy. She's never had to fight for anything because you've always cleared the path fo
pped forward,
caught h
t held it there, suspended in the air between
said, her voice low and stead
d. But Cynthia let
and pleading. "Cynthia, please-I didn't ask for any o
e the night I married him. Don't pretend ot
d, something ugly flickered across her f
rned towar
dn't m
e place-because of course he did. Of course her parents ha
Julia trembling with fury, at Kennedy standing like
ed to
hia said.
e press is destroying her. You know that's not f
in my experience, people who speed and hit other peop
ed. "You're bei
difference. You're just not
r her arm. Sh
nth
t tou
ix this. You're going to talk to the
to tell the
e gripping her elbow hard enough to
in Cynth
e could think, before she could stop he
d through the r
one f
it. He stood there, breathing hard, one h
a didn't wait to s
nked the door
r father's stunned silence. Not at Aurelia's tear-streake
nth
sidewalk a
oon, I will make you regret it! I will take everything!
stop. She d
back of a passing taxi and
n the rearview mirro
thia gasped. "Any
ack window, Cynthia saw Kane standing on the side
in the distance until h
ulled out
here no one had hit her, but somehow felt bruis
aude's numb
I need you to com
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