Chapter 50
The next moment, I couldn’t stop the bile rising in my throat; I vomited everything.”
I didn’t care about the pain anymore. I dragged myself up, hand over hand, until I reached the third–floor balcony.”
Like a butterfly breaking free, I spread my arms.
If what she said was true… then I really did deserve to die.§
I took a step and closed my eyes in despair.
But just as I felt myself falling, a hand yanked me back by the collar of my shirt.
I spun around and looked into Brody’s face. For a moment, I felt the faint flicker of hope.
“Brody… Do you… Do you finally believe me now?” I asked.”
fruit knife
But instead of answering, he grabbed a fruit knife and drove it straight into my palm.
“You think you get to die?” he snapped. “If you die just like that, what happens to Valeraine, huh? What about my brother–in–law? You die now, and the world’s gonna tear them apart. Your friends will rip them apart!“}
“That’s right!” Grandma agreed. “You try to die the second you mention divorce? Everyone’s gonna pin the blame on Killian and Valeraine! Is that your plan? Frame them with your death? How cruel can you be?!”
“If you really want to die,” Dad said, “then fine–but not now. You don’t get to choose now!“}
My grandparents and parents–all of them glared at me like I was some kind of monster.}
I wanted to explain, to tell them I only attempted to do it because of what Valeraine whispered to me.
But before I could get a word out, she suddenly started laughing.
“Oh come on, Zadie, I was messing with you! Look how scared you got!“!
She pointed at me, then at Brody, giggling.
“Just look at the two of you. Do you even look like twins? You really believed everything I said, Zadie? You’re so gullible.“)
“Gullible? I think she’s rotten to the core,” Mom said. Before I knew it, her hand had already landed on my cheek.
“You think this little stunt will make us turn on Killian and Valeraine? Let me make one thing clear,” she added. “Even if you die, none of us will shed a single tear!”
Then she shoved my phone into my hand.”
“Now open up your TrustPay account. Link it to Valeraine. Right now. Or you’ll regret it later!”
I glanced around, trying to read their expressions–every single one of them looked at me like I was their enemy.
In my past life, I had been the same. I was forced to share access to my account.
But they were still afraid I’d go against them. helpless puppet under their control. From that moment on, I had nothing left to rely on.
They wanted to completely disable me, so they cut my tendons and made me a
But not this time. As long as I kept my passwords to myself, they couldn’t touch a single cent. Everything Killian ever spent came from the money I wired him.”
to myself, they couldn’t touch a single cent.
I loved him so much I kept funding his life–but I never told him a thing about my finances. Every account I had was locked with a pattern. No one could access them with my face ID.
