When Revenge Kills, Love Prevails

dreds of people, all dressed in expensive clothes, laughed and talked around me, their voices a

She moved like she owned the world, and in this room, she did. Her eyes found me, and a slow, crue

ugh for everyone nearby to hear. "I w

nch. I just nodded, n

ng. She stopped right in front of me, looking me up and down. "We've invested so much

t at first, then growing louder. I could feel their

," I managed to sa

ather's coat. He's feeling a chill." Her tone was light, but her eyes were hard. It wasn't a request. It was an orde

e with anger and helplessness. But

y, feeling the weight o

mother got sick. The rare disease she had required treatments that cost more than I could ever make in a lifetime. The bills piled up, each one a

pectable young man, someone who could be a good influence on his wild, uncontrollable granddaughter. He offered to cover all of my mother's medical bills and fu

. I didn't know the truth. I didn't know about her obsession with her step-brother, Liam Hayes. I didn't know that

n it got worse. She would force me to answer to his name in private, punishing me if I refused. The public humiliation, like to

bed. Her smile, even when she was in pain. She was the only reason I endured this. For her, I would do anything. I would swallow my prid

r phone buzzed. She glanced at it, and her face twisted with fury. It was a picture of Liam wi

e hissed, her voice low and venomous. "If you were mo

her twisted logic, my own ph

aid, sounding urgent. "You need

ld inflict. I dropped the coat and ran, pushing past the shocked face

. My mother was gone. The doctor, a kind man who ha

ice breaking. "The new medication w

payment for the emergency reserve... it was canceled thi

ing her party, at the exact moment she was deciding how to humiliate me next. She had done this. She had let my mother die.

ething else was slowly forming. A cold, hard certainty. The deal was broken. The reas

e calm settled over me.

taxi straight back to the Hayes mansion. The party was over, but the lights were still on. I walked past the

. "What do you want? I

e rented for me. I set it on the polished marble table between us. Then I took out t

said, my voice flat,

her face, but it was quickly replaced by

in the eye for the first time wit

ppet behind. I didn't have a plan. I didn't have any money. I didn't have a future. But as I wal