"Just looking at you makes me sick! One day, I'll make sure you're disfigured. My aunt says bad women deserve to be ugly!"
The venom in his young voice should have stung, but all I could hear was an echo of the past.
I remembered when Stephen was three, burning with fever. I had stayed up for two nights straight, neither eating nor sleeping, just to take care of him.
When his fever finally broke, exhaustion weighed on me. My hair was a tangled mess, and dark circles were painted beneath my eyes, making me look like something out of a ghost story.
But he had wrapped his tiny arms around my neck, his childish voice sweet and soft.
"Auntie is the prettiest! Even prettier than a fairy!"
That memory was from another lifetime.
As he grew older, Tessa’s visits became frequent, and with each passing year, his hatred for me deepened.
I picked up the dart, rolling it between my fingers before calmly taking aim.
"Stephen, have I ever taught you that when you hurt someone, you'd better be ready to face the consequences?"
He knew my aim was deadly. I had grown up in the countryside, perfecting the art of hitting my mark, stones, birds, targets. I never missed it.
For a brief moment, fear flickered across his face. But then, stubborn as ever, he straightened his back and shouted, "You can't scare me! You seduced my dad and made my mom so angry she died! You stole her place! I have to get revenge for her; I’m not afraid of you!"
"If you’ve got the guts, kill me now! Otherwise, next time, it won’t be a dart; I’ll throw acid on you instead!"
With that, he spun on his heel and bolted into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.
My hand lingered in the air, frozen in place, before I finally let out a quiet, bitter laugh. The dart slipped from my fingers and landed in the trash.
I had made this set of darts as a birthday gift for him. I never imagined they would one day be turned against me.
Suffocating under the weight of reality, I returned to my room and silently packed my belongings into a suitcase.
Laughter spilled from the bedroom at the end of the hallway, bright and unrestrained, cutting through the silence like a blade.
By morning, as I stepped outside, the sight before me drove the dagger deeper.
Tessa was playing shuttlecock with Stephen, his laughter filling the crisp morning air. His small face was flushed with excitement as he threw himself into her arms, eyes sparkling with admiration.
"Auntie, I like you. You look just like my mom, and you can even play the piano pieces she composed! You’re so much better than a certain useless fraud."
His next words came with cruel innocence, each one sharper than the last.
"Seeing you is like having my mom back. Can you marry my dad? I want him to divorce that scheming, barren woman; I want you to be my mom!"
Tessa gently wiped the sweat from his forehead, her voice soft and soothing. "Stephen, you shouldn’t say such things about others. But if your father is willing, of course, I can be your mother. Your sister in heaven would be happy, too."
Then, as if only just noticing me, she turned with a feigned look of apology. "Miss, Stephen is still young and speaks his mind. Please don’t take it to heart."
Despite sharing the same birth mother, Tessa had never once called me her sister.
Stephen shot me a glare before grabbing Tessa’s hand and pulling her toward the study, no doubt to ask Carlos to divorce me.
That suited me just fine.
Just as I was about to leave, a firm hand seized my arm.
My brother Ezekiel Cavendish’s voice was sharp and accusative. "What kind of wife are you? You can’t even hold on to your own husband? How could you let Tessa and Carlos be alone together? Thank goodness Stephen was there last night!"
"Carlos only loves Evie. Tessa looks like her; what if she catches his attention? I refuse to let my sister be anyone’s substitute."
I met his gaze; my voice calmed yet cutting. "I’m your sister too. Why is it fine for me to be trapped in a marriage where I don’t even have a place in his heart?"
Ezekiel frowned, blurting out without hesitation, "That’s different! Even if Tessa never marries, I can still ensure she lives in luxury. But if you leave the Davis family, you’ll have nothing."
So that was the truth.
He couldn’t stand the thought of Tessa being used as a replacement, yet he had no qualms about keeping me shackled for the sake of his own interests.
