Chapter 2
Maximo never listened to her explanations.
“The storm was too fierce, so… and besides, the Myers household has other medications.”
“You’re still making excuses!”
“The allergy medicine from the first-aid kit was deliberately tossed away. At the Myers’ estate, besides you, who else would want Winnie dead?”
Maximo’s eyes darkened with anger. “Get outside and kneel!”
Arlette swallowed her words, letting the bitterness seep deep into her soul.
She steadied herself against the wall as she exited.
Outside, she knelt before the gate, where the rain lashed down like knives on her frail body.
The cold seeped into her bones, leaving her aching, as Arlette exhaled a warm breath into the air.
She had come down with a fever.
Her hands, pale and purplish, clutched the necklace hanging from her neck, the pendant etched with a photo of her and her parents.
“Mom, Dad, I will survive this.”
Just a little longer, until she could find a way to sell her parents’ inheritance and gather enough to leave.
She would soon be free.
The sound of thunder grew distant and blurred as darkness swallowed her vision, and Arlette collapsed to the ground.
Half-conscious, she felt as though she had been moved back to a bed.
“Why?”
Maximo’s voice was unexpectedly soft, leaving Arlette unsure if she had traveled back to the past.
Something warm and wet fell on her cheek.
It seemed like tears.
Struggling, Arlette opened her eyes but didn’t see his face clearly.
He stood up.
His large shadow loomed over her, weightless yet suffocating her with pressure.
His eyes glinted with a cold light.
“Being sick doesn’t feel good, does it? Remember this and make amends by Winnie’s side.”
“Don’t ever think about harming her again.”
Each word cut into Arlette’s already battered heart like a dull knife.
Her heart had already bled dry.
He turned and left.
Arlette lay there in her half-dry, sticky clothes, burning with fever, having not eaten a thing. It felt as if invisible hands were squeezing her brain, causing a pain so intense it shook her very soul.
Yet she didn’t utter a single cry, her eyes hollow as she watched his resolute back fade away.
A mocking smile played on her lips.
She had dared to imagine he’d shed a tear for her.
The pain was so intense she couldn’t tell if it was her heart or her body that hurt more, her vision darkening. Instinctively, she reached for her neck.
Empty.
The necklace was gone.
Arlette, her head heavy, sat up and searched the bed frantically.
Nothing.
She stumbled out of the room, staggering toward the entrance. She hoped she had simply dropped it outside when she fainted earlier.
That necklace was her lifeline.
Arlette crawled on her knees, scouring the ground thoroughly.
A bad feeling tightened like a string around her heart.
Her blood froze.
“Don’t bother, it’s not here.”
Winnie’s haughty voice cut through the air above her, sharp and dripping with smug satisfaction. It was impossible to tell she had nearly died from an allergic reaction not long ago.
Arlette’s heart sank completely.
It was her doing, again.
The fever drained Arlette’s strength, leaving her limbs weak. She couldn’t stand. All she could do was lift her head with effort to look at Winnie, her voice barely a whisper.
“Give it back to me.”
“I beg you…”
Winnie let out a peal of laughter, finding great amusement in her misery. Then her expression turned fierce, her eyes wild as she stared down at Arlette’s pitiful state.
“Maximo is mine!”
Arlette’s fingertips trembled.
She had long sensed Winnie’s obsessive, almost deranged possessiveness over Maximo, which was far from the feelings one should have for a sibling.