<h4>Chapter 211: Chapter 211</h4>


    <strong>Skr</strong>


    I tap my nails against the marble table as the café hums around me, pretending like I don’t care that Katherine iste. The little bell above the door jingles, and when I look up, there she is. My stomach knots.


    She hasn’t changed much. She has the same neat bob, same careful posture, same air of self-assurance that makes me feel like a messy sketch beside her finished painting.


    "Katherine," I say, pushing up from my chair. My voicees out too bright, too eager. I hate that I sound like I’m begging before we even begin.


    She stops a step short of the table. "Skr." Her tone is neutral. It’s not hostile, but not warm either. She sits down across from me, sets her purse neatly on the seat beside her, and folds her hands. Everything about her screams controlled. My palms sweat just watching her.


    I smile because that’s what I do. Pretend I’m unbothered, pretend I’m the tough one. The waiter drops off coffee. I take mine in both hands like it’s a lifeline.


    "Thanks foring. I wasn’t sure you’d say yes."


    Katherine stirs her coffee without looking at me. The clinking of the spoon against porcin is the loudest thing in this café, at least to my ears. My hands are mmy, my throat dry, though I tell myself to stay calm. I’ve been rehearsing this meeting for days, turning over every possible way it could go. None of those versions feel anything like this suffocating silence.


    "It’s been a while," I say, forcing a lightness into my voice I don’t feel. "You look good."


    Her gaze lifts just enough to meet mine, then slips away again, like she can’t stand to look at me too long. That stings more than I expect. Katherine used to be one of the few people who <i>saw</i> me and treated me like a human. With her, I used tough until my stomach hurt. Now she looks at me like I’m a stranger.


    "You wanted to talk." Her voice is steady, controlled, but not warm. "So, talk."


    I bite my lip. I tell myself not to sound defensive, not to start this by begging. I have to be honest and even vulnerable. That’s what people want, right? Honesty?


    "I know I hurt you," I begin. "I hurt a lot of people. I wasn’t thinking clearly, and I made choices I thought—"


    "You thought what?" Her voice cuts sharp like ss. "That framing Demi and siding with Liam would do what? Fix your life? Make you feel better?" She sucks in her teeth. "I hope you didn’t call me here to waste my precious time, Sky. Trust me, I’ve got better ces to be."


    I flinch at her coldness. Yeah, I understand she’s hut that I lied to her about everything. I understand she’s disappointed in me because I used her friend, Demi. Because I schemed with Liam and tried to tear down an entire family whose sons had—stupidly—offered me a second chance. She’s angry because she used to believe I couldn’t hurt a fly and I made her look stupid in front of her loved ones when I bared my ws.


    I force a fakeugh. "Come on, Kat. It’s brunch. Neutral ground. Just two old roommates catching up..."


    She arches an eyebrow. "Neutral ground doesn’t erase or justify what you did."


    "I know. I know, okay? I messed up. But you haven’t given me a chance to exin. You just cut me off."


    "Alright. The floor is yours, Skr. Go ahead and exin. What exnation could possibly justify what you did? You worked with Liam to destroy Demi. You lied to everyone. Including<i> me</i>."


    Her words m into me, harder than I prepared for. "It wasn’t like that," I argue, though I can hear how weak it sounds. "I was—lost. I didn’t know who I was, Katherine. I had no one. And Liam... he—" She sighs softly like she’s already sick of my excuses. I swallow hard. "Look, I wasn’t lying about everything. I was... broken. Angry. My dad never cared about me, not like he cared for my brothers who, mind you, were too busy being Brett Rollins’ golden boys, and I—"


    Kat leans back, shaking her head. "You always have an excuse, Skr. Always a reason for your terrible actions. Firstly, it’s your father, then your brothers, then your past. It’s also Liam. But when do you actually take responsibility?"


    The words crawl under my skin. I feel them burning. I want to protest, but deep down, I know this is what people whisper about me. Katherine just says it out loud. "That’s why I’m here." I insist, my tone a bit desperate. "I’m trying to change.


    Katherineughs, but there’s no humor in it. "That’s exactly what scares me. You fooled me once, remember? I thought you were so innocent, so harmless. You had me convinced you couldn’t do any wrong. And then you turned on Demi, on all of us. Tell me—why should I believe this isn’t just another act?"


    "Frankly, you shouldn’t. There’s nothing I can do to sway your mind if you’re already hell bent on distrusting me. I know I fucked up big time but can you really me me? My past..."


    She cuts me off. "Stop. Stop right there. You always do this, Sky. You turn every bad choice into someone else’s fault. Yes, your childhood was hard. Yes, you were neglected by your dad. But you still had it better than most, like Demi. She <i>lost </i>her parents, Sky, in a gruesome and suspicious way. She had reasons to suspect they were murdered. She could have stayed bitter forever but she didn’t. She forgave and chose peace over hate. She changed even though it was hard. And you—" She shakes her head, disappointment shimmering in her eyes. "You’re still ming the world because daddy didn’t obsess over you growing up."


    Her words burn. Why is it my fate to always getpared to one person or the other. At first, it was my brothers. Now, it’s Demi.


    I want to tell her I’ve been carrying wounds since I was a kid—shoplifting, drinking, spiraling just to be seen. I want to tell her about the nights I cried myself to sleep while my father barely noticed I existed. I want her to <i>see</i> me, just once, as more than the screw-up.


    I lean back, my chair creaking. "So, what? Demi’s the gold standard now? She’s the perfect saint and I’m just the viin inparison?" My chest tightens. "I know I messed up. I know Demi forgave when I didn’t. She chose to let go of the past, and I—I don’t know how to do that. I’m not her, Katherine. I can’t be her."


    "No one is asking you to be like her but it wouldn’t hurt to borrow a leaf from her book. If you want people to trust you again," Katherine says evenly, "you have to stop making excuses and start taking responsibility. Own your ws. Admit your choices. Until you do that, you’ll keep losing people who care about you."


    Her wordsnd like stones in my chest. Iugh, but it sounds brittle. "You make it sound so easy."


    "It’s not easy," she says. "But it’s necessary."


    "I just want my friend back," I whisper, the mask slipping. "I miss you, Kat. I miss having someone to talk to and God knows I have a lot to get off my chest."


    Katherine studies me for a long, unbearable moment. Then she sighs, shaking her head. "I don’t know if I can do that, Skr. Not until you start owning up. Not until you stop ying the victim. Until then... I can’t trust you. I won’t."


    The finality in her tone punches the air from my lungs. I open my mouth to argue or even plead, but she’s already standing. She leaves money on the table for her coffee.


    "Panic pricks my skin. "Kat, wait—please—" My voicees out shaky and desperate. I hate myself for how it sounds, but I can’t stop. "Can we at least share a meal? It’s been so long!"


    She grabs her purse, sliding it over her shoulder. "I can’t be friends with someone who refuses to face themselves, Skr. Not again."


    She turns and walks away. Her back is stiff and her steps precise. She doesn’t look back.


    I sit frozen, my coffee untouched. Everyone else in the café goes on with their brunches, their softughter echoing as they chatted about their little lives.


    And me? I’m a mess. I’ve always been a mess. I want to run after Kat and scream that she doesn’t understand me, and that I’m trying. But I sit still because deep down, I know she’s right. They’re all right about me.


    By the time I leave the café, my smile is gone. I drive home with the windows down, hoping the wind will rip the ache from my chest.


    I continue muttering under my breath about Katherine, about Demi, about this endless cycle of being measured and always foundcking. By the time I get home, anger simmers hot beneath my skin. All I want to do is just toss my bag down and copse on my bed.


    But when I unlock my apartment door, the air inside feels wrong. It’s too still and too heavy. I step inside, kick my shoes off, and freeze. There’s a scent in the air reeking of cheap cologne and stale cigarettes. My throat closes. That smell. No, no, no.


    Before I can reach the light switch, an arm snakes around me from behind. A beefy hand mps over my mouth trapping my guttural scream. I kick and thrash against it but he’s stronger. He always was.


    "Miss me, sweetheart?" His voice is low, dangerous and too familiar despite the years between.


    My stomach drops to my knees. He spins me and rams his fist into my face. When Ie to, I’m tied up on my own sofa. My wrists burn from the ropes, and my heart ms against my chest. He’s here. He’s really here and he nned this. Of course he did.


    When I finally manage to focus my stinging eyes, I see him. The man I thought I left behind. The man who once made me feel alive and invincible, only to cage me. He is my greatest and most foolish mistake as a lost, broken teenage girl.


    He crouches, "Well, well." His voice is smooth, mocking, but beneath it, rage simmers. "You’ve been avoiding me. Months without a word. And after everything I’ve done for you."


    I shake my head, words tumbling out fast. "You—what are you doing here? I thought you were still locked up."


    "Not anymore." He smirks, dragging his hand through my hair before yanking it hard. Pain shoots through my scalp. "I took the fall for you, remember? Prison bars, concrete floors, all because I was loyal. And what do I get when Ie out? Silence. Not even a postcard from my favorite girl."


    I shake my head frantically. "I didn’t ask you to—"


    His hand shes, cracking across my face. Pain explodes in my cheek. I bite back a cry, tears springing to my eyes.


    "You don’t get to talk to me like that, you ungrateful bitch." he growls. Then he grabs my chin, fingers digging in until it hurts. "Always ungrateful. I saved you, Sky. I protected you when your daddy didn’t give two scents about where you spent the night because he was too busy stalking your brothers. I’m the one who cleaned up your messes. Remember the shoplifting, bar fights, all that fun you got up to?"


    He grits his teeth. "Who covered it up? Who made sure Daddy Rollins never found out? You owe me. You owe me everything. I made you. I protected you when no one else gave a damn."


    I hate him. God, I hate him. He took advantage of my pain and naivety. He forced me into that life and now he acts like my savior? I swallow the anger boiling within me. My voicees out soft, cating, the way it always does when fear curls in my stomach.


    "I didn’t forget you. I could never. I appreciate <i>everything</i> you did for me."


    "Good girl." He kisses me roughly, possessively, and I feel bile rise in my throat. He pulls back with a smile that makes my skin crawl. "Keep talking. Tell me why you ghosted me then?"


    I just... needed space."


    Heughs, low and sharp. "Space? That’s not what it looked like when you were groveling to your ex-friend Katherine today? Begging for her friendship? Wow, Sky, you’ve gone soft. That’s not the girl I trained. The Sky I knew never begged."


    My pulse races. "I’m not groveling. I’m—"


    "Don’t lie to me." His fingers grip my chin, squeezing until my jaw aches. "You’ve be weak, just like them."


    Tears blur my vision. "I’m trying to do better," I whisper.


    Heughs cruelly. "Better? Don’t make meugh. Have you learnt nothing? You’re wasting your time. Those brothers of yours don’t want you. That little Katherine girl doesn’t want you. Nobody does. Except me. I’m the only one who ever will."


    You think your brothers who just learnt about you would instantly forgive the stunt you pulled and ept you? No way! They’re just tolerating you till they can figure out what the heck to do with you. And Demi—" His lip curls. "You don’t need me to say it but it’s quite obvious she’s reced you. Everyonepares you to her now, don’t they?"


    The words cut because they’re true. He sees it. He always sees the cracks.


    Tears prick my eyes, but I blink them back. "Why are you here?"


    "Because you owe me." He leans close, his breath hot, reeking of smoke. "I need money. Ten thousand. However you get it—your rich brothers, your daddy, I don’t care. But you’ll get it. Or else." He yanks my hair, dragging my head back. Pain shoots down my scalp. I bite my lip so hard I taste blood.


    "I don’t have that kind of money," I protest, panic flooding me.


    "Then you’ll make them give it to you." He pulls out my phone and dangles it in front of me. "Call them. Right now. Let’s see how much they really care."


    My hands tremble as I fumble for my phone with bound wrists.


    "Daddy’s got deep pockets and so do your brothers. Unless you really believe they won’t lift a finger for you." He smirks. "Go on. Prove me wrong. Call one of them."


    Shuddering with fear, I dial Ashal first. He seems like the calm one and given that he was recently in a simr condition, he should be able to understand the urgency. The call goes to voicemail. My heart sinks. I try Asher. My breath quickens and tears spill down my cheeks when I hear..."The number you are calling is not reachable."


    Heughs, cruel and loud. "See? Told you. No one cares like I do. I’m the only one who’ll alwayse back for you. That’s love, Sky and you’d better remember that."


    He presses a rough kiss to my mouth. I squeeze my eyes shut. His kiss isn’t love. It’s possession. He pulls back, smiling like he’s proven something.


    "You have one week to get me my money. Don’t disappoint me, Sky."


    he ropes fall away, but I don’t move. I don’t breathe until the door ms shut behind him. And then I break. Silence crashes down. My wrists are raw from the rope. My cheek throbs. I curl into the couch, sobbing until my chest aches.


    The truth Katherine threw in my face, the lies he shoved down my throat, they all blur together. And in the middle of it, one thought eats at me: he’s right about one thing.


    <i>Maybe no one really cares.</i>


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