73%


    0


    ?


    Frushed


    Tessa remained silent, refusing to even nce at Ronan. Her sole desire was for her shattered body to heal as quickly as possible.


    Ronan’s smile faltered, the cracks beginning to show beneath his forced calm. Yet he stubbornly masked his frustration, speaking to her with an air of helplessness. “Still mad at your brother, huh?”


    He paused, then continued, voice softer but firm. “I know what’s in your heart. Tessa. But I can’t do what you want.”


    “You’re my flesh and blood. Everything I’ve done has been for you.”


    For her?


    A bitter, hollowugh curled behind Tessa’s cracked lips. For her–meaning letting her suffer and swallow every injustice? For her–meaning allowing the real culprit to roam free?


    Before she even awakened from that endless void, Riley was crushed beneath the weight of me.


    Now that she was awake, where was the justice? Where was Scarlett behind bars?


    Was love–Ronan’s love–just another form of cruelty?


    If she could move, she would have pped him hard across the face.


    Atst, Tessa’s eyes snapped toward him–eyes aze with loathing and venomous hate.


    She wanted to shout “Get lost!” but her body betrayed her; mute and motionless, she could only send her fury in a zing re.


    Ronan, however, dismissed it as childish stubbornness. He reached out, brushing a pale strand of hair from her face, coaxing softly, “Tessa, please don’t be difficult.”


    “You’re still too weak. Anger won’t help your body heal.”


    Knowing full well she didn’t want to hear this, he pressed on regardless.


    A surge of rage exploded in Tessa’s chest, scorching hot and wild.


    Go away. Just go away!


    Her mind screamed in torment.


    She hated Ronan with every fiber of her being–for his blind loyalty, for his cold heart, for her own helplessness trapped in a broken body.


    Her eyes burned with fury, as if willing to incinerate the brother who had betrayed her sopletely.


    Ronan’s gaze wavered under her hateful stare. Uneasy, he averted his eyes and busied himself with tidying the bedside table, muttering, “Once you’re stronger, I’ll send you abroad. The healing there will be better.”


    173


    Aug


    Each word felt like a serrated fang digging into Tessa’s raw wounds.


    Go abroad?


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    Finished


    Right now, all she could think about was exposing the truth–clearing Riley’s name and bringing Scarlett’s monstrous treachery to light.


    Yet Ronan’s mind was elsewhere, plotting to send her away, to silence her before she could roar.


    Her chest heaved violently with every breath, as if the fire within threatened to consume her.


    She fixed Ronan with a venomous re–his face, once familiar, now as repulsive as a traitor’s snarl. She wished she could tear him limb from limb.


    Summoning every ounce of strength, her throat burned like wildfire as she strained to force out a single word.


    “Leave!”


    Ronan froze, unprepared for such fierce defiance from his broken sister.


    Surprise flickered in his eyes before he sighed heavily. “Tessa, you’ve grown up. It’s time to be sensible.”


    That sanctimonious tone poured fuel onto Tessa’s zing fury.


    Her trembling hands clenched the sheets until her knuckles whitened, the seething hatred tightening its grip on her.


    Her lips quivered, desperate to speak but only managing ragged breaths.


    Unmoved by the storm within her, Ronan babbled on.


    “Scarlett grew up with you. You were spoiled, and she was the only one who stayed by your side. I don’t want to see you lose your only friend.”


    “And I believe Scarlett. What happened back then wasn’t intentional. She must regret it deeply. Let’s just stop digging into it, okay?”


    “You two are friends. Don’t you remember how kind and innocent Scarlett is?”


    Every syble was a dull de dragging across Tessa’s bleeding heart.


    Her wide eyes pierced Ronan as if he were a stranger.


    In her soul, she screamed: Friends? The woman who turned me into a lifeless husk, who imprisoned Riley with lies–how could she be a friend?


    Scarlett kind and innocent?


    The cruelest joke she had ever heard.


    If not for overhearing that wicked father–daughter conspiracy by ident, maybe she too would have


    213


    ?


    73%


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    Finished


    believed in Scarlett’s fa?ade.


    But the truth wed its way out: it was that vile secret that condemned her to this fate.


    Even more absurd, the fools who called themselves her family–her mother and Kael–continued to shield Scarlett, burying their own daughter and sister beneath lies and pain.


    One day, they would drown in regret for their foolishness.


    Retribution.


    It wasing.


    It alwayses.