Chapter 38: Shattered Deception
Chapter 38: Shattered Deception
(Olivia’s POV)
Bella’s eyes gleamed with malicious satisfaction as she continued her assault on my mother.
“Your precious mother wasn’t the saint you think she was,” she taunted, her voice weak but dripping with venom. “She was a home–wrecker who destroyed my mother’s happiness.”
Each word felt like a dagger to my heart. I struggled to maintain my composure as Bella twisted the knife deeper.
“She knew exactly what she was doing when she seduced my father away,” Bella continued, her breathing becoming labored. “She didn’t care that my mother was pregnant. She only wanted what wasn’t hers.”
Her accusations triggered a violent coughing fit. The heart monitor beside her bed began beeping frantically, its alarm piercing the tense atmosphere of the hospital room.
Graham rushed to Bella’s side, adjusting her pillows and reaching for the call button.
“Bella, please,” he urged, his voice strained with concern. “You need to calm down. This isn’t good for your condition.”
She pushed his hands away, her eyes wild with rage and jealousy.
“Don’t pretend you care!” she spat, her face contorting with fury. “I see the way you look at her. You still love her, don’t you?”
Graham froze, his expression unreadable.
“You’re just waiting for me to die so you can go back to her!” Bella rasped, her eyes flashing with accusation.
The monitor’s beeping intensified as her heart rate spiked dangerously. A nurse appeared at the doorway, alarmed by the readings on her station.
Graham ran his hands through his hair, exhaustion evident in every line of his face. For the first time, I saw genuine realization dawn in his eyes as he looked at Bella.
“This isn’t love,” he said quietly, more to himself than to her. “This has never been about love for you, has it?”
Bella’s face paled even further, if that was possible.
“What are you talking about?” she whispered.
“This,” Graham gestured between them, “has always been about beating Olivia. About taking what was hers.
It was never about me.”
The truth hung heavy in the air. Even Gloria seemed momentarily silenced by the raw honesty of the moment.
Graham stepped back from the bed, his shoulders slumped with the weight of his realization. “I’ve been such
a fool.”
He turned toward the door, clearly intending to leave. Bella’s monitor beeped even more frantically as panic
overtook her.
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“Graham, wait!” she cried, reaching for him desperately. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!”
Her thin fingers clutched at his sleeve, tears streaming down her hollow cheeks.
“I love you,” she sobbed, her voice breaking. “I know I’ve been terrible. I know I’ve been jealous and manipulative, but please don’t leave me. Not now.”
Graham paused, his back still turned to her. The conflict was evident in the rigid set of his shoulders. Gloria stepped forward, her usual aggression replaced by genuine maternal concern.
“Please,” she begged, her voice uncharacteristically soft. “She doesn’t have much time.”
For a moment, Graham seemed swayed by their pleas. He half–turned, his expression torn between pity and exhaustion.
Bella must have sensed his emotional withdrawal. Her grip on his arm loosened, ar across her face.
omething dark flashed
With surprising strength for someone so ill, she yanked the moonstone healing bracelet from her wrist and hurled it across the room.
“If you won’t stay for me, then she can’t have this either!” she screamed.
Time seemed to slow as the bracelet arced through the air, heading straight for me. Before I could react, it hit the floor at my feet with a crystalline c***k that echoed through the room.
The moonstone shattered into pieces, fragments scattering across the polished hospital floor.
Silence fell, broken only by the persistent beeping of Bella’s heart monitor.
Graham was the first to react, whirling to face Bella with fury etched across his features.
“What have you done?” he demanded, his voice shaking with rage. “Do you have any idea what that bracelet
meant to Olivia?”
Bella’s lips curved into a spiteful smile despite her weakened state.
“Good,” she whispered. “Now she knows how it feels to lose something precious.”
I knelt slowly, gathering the broken pieces of what I believed was my mother’s treasured heirloom. Each fragment felt cold against my fingertips, nothing like the warm, living stone I remembered.
Graham knelt beside me, his voice low and apologetic.
“Olivia, I’m so sorry,” he murmured, helping me collect the shards. “I never thought she would do something
like this.”
I remained silent, focusing on the task at hand rather than the storm of emotions threatening to overwhelm
- me.
Bella watched from her bed, unapologetic and defiant despite her deteriorating condition.
“It’s not my fault she didn’t catch it,” she said petulantly. “If she valued it so much, she should have been more
careful.”
My father, who had remained silent throughout the confrontation, finally spoke.
“It’s just a bracelet,” he said dismissively, waving his hand. “In some cultures, breaking jewelry is considered
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< Chapter 38: Shattered Dec…
good luck–it wards off evil spirits.”
I rose to my feet, the broken pieces clutched in my palm.
“How convenient for you to say that,” I replied coldly. “But you’re wrong about one thing. When a healing stone shatters near the ill, their fate is sealed.”
Bella’s face drained of what little color it had left.
Gloria stepped forward, her eyes blazing with hatred.
“You spiteful little-” she hissed. “That bracelet should have been buried with your mother. Then none of this would have happened!”
A slow smile spread across my face, surprising everyone in the room.
“You know,” I said conversationally, “I had a feeling something like this might happe
I opened my hand, letting the fragments of the shattered bracelet fall to the floor.
“Which is why I gave Bella a fake.”
With a flourish, I pulled back my sleeve to reveal the real mone healing bracelet, its authentic warmth
radiating through the room. The stone glowed with a soft inner light that no imitation could match.
“Did you really think,” I said, “that I would hand over my mother’s most precious possession to someone who has stolen everything else from me?”
The shock on their faces was priceless. Gloria’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, while my father’s eyes narrowed in calculation.
Bella’s monitor beeped erratically as her rage threatened to overwhelm her fragile system.
“You tricked us!” Gloria finally managed to sputter. “The agreement is invalid! You didn’t fulfill your end of the
bargain!”
I raised an eyebrow, my confidence growing with each passing second.
“I promised a bracelet in exchange for the dissolution agreement,” I said calmly. “I delivered a bracelet. The fact that it wasn’t what you expected doesn’t invalidate our contract.”
Graham stared at me with newfound respect, though I couldn’t care less about his opinion anymore.
“The agreement stands,” I continued firmly. “I’ve reclaimed what rightfully belongs to me and my mother’s
bloodline.”
Gloria was speechless with rage, her hands clenched into trembling fists at her sides.
I turned to Bella, who looked smaller and more pathetic than ever in her hospital bed.
“You’ve lost, Bella,” I said quietly. “You’ve lost Graham’s respect, your dignity, and now this petty victory you thought you had.”
Her face contorted with fury as the reality of her defeat sank in,
“This isn’t over,” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the beeping monitors.
I adjusted my sleeve, concealing the bracelet once more.
“For me, it is,” I replied, turning toward the door. “I have what I came for. The mate bond will be officially
Chapter 38 Shattered Dec…
dissolved on Monday, and I’ll never have to see any of you again.”
As I reached for the door handle, Bella’s voice rose to a desperate shriek.
“Take it from her!” she demanded, her voice cracking with the strain. “If you love me at all, you’ll get me that
bracelet!”
The medical equipment beeped in alarm as her condition deteriorated with each word, the stress of her outburst proving too much for her disease–ravaged body.
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