His Family's Secret, Her Vengeful Rise

Rodrigu

designed to break my spirit. But for every tear I shed, every scream that tore from my throat, a layer of my old self chipped away, revealing somet

observe me, sometimes together, sometimes separately. They would bark orders, deliver lectures on propriety and obedience. I would nod, offer a whispered "

e in the virtues of a proper Bruce wife. But my hands, deceptively idle, were busy. I started to scribble in the margins of old ledgers, not poetry, but escape routes. I memor

d. He looked less like my former fiancé and more like a ghost, his eyes haunted by sleepless nights, h

is Celestine' s birthday. My father is throwing an engagement party for them tonight.

e pain, the humiliation, the sheer audacity of it all... it threatened to shatter my carefully constructed calm. But then, a message, a

ptons estate. Tonight.

felt a surge of cold triumph. He was giving me an opportunity. Perhaps out of a sliver of residual guil

on," I murmured, my vo

As he reached the door, he glanced back. "Aurora, about the estate... I know you cherish it. Your mother... I tri

I felt truly connected to her. Celestine was there. And she was poisoning

and soul into. The one that was supposed to be mine. My initial escape plan had focused

the dagger. My initial plan to simply escape this Connecticut prison was a mere flick of a match compared to the wildfire I now intended to unleash. They wante

e monster he was creating. And all because of his obsession with Celestine. That woman, with her falsely sweet smile an

ke of my mother. I had convinced myself that his occasional coldness, his dismissiveness, was just a part of his aristocratic upbringing, his rigid adherence to tradition. I excused his aloofnes

. Lies. He never saw me. He only saw the reflection

lect. Kenton had offered me stability, a sense of belonging. I clung to it like a drow

y, I would swim. And I would make sure everyone dro