When I walked into the Farley estate, I saw Corinne seductively sitting in Clark's lap without a care.
She had her arms wrapped around his neck, her voice syrupy and coy. She didn't so much as glance in my direction, as if I was a mere maid delivering a package.
Clark noticed my empty hands and frowned.
I walked up to him, my chest tight with bitterness, but I forced myself to stay composed.
"Clark, I'm not your family's servant. We're done."
He stood and yanked me into his arms.
The cold bite of his cedarwood cologne enveloped me. He brushed the loose hair from my forehead.
"Gilly, I never once treated you like a servant. Those are just the Farley family rules for a prospective bride."
"Corinne had a falling out with her family. She just got back to the country and has no one looking after her. I'm only doing what any friend would do."
I wrenched myself out of his arms. The tears I'd been holding back spilled over but this time, I couldn't stop them from falling one after another.
Two years ago, my father was diagnosed with kidney failure. Every day since, he'd been kept alive by dialysis at the hospital. We waited and waited for a transplant spot, but people with connections kept cutting the line. He grew thinner by the week, wasting away until he was barely recognizable.
In all my years with Clark, aside from his help covering my father's medical bills, I had never accepted a single gift or dollar from him.
Even when I accompanied him to important events, I turned down the designer gowns he sent over and spent months of my own salary renting a dress instead, terrified the Farleys would brand me a gold digger.
But for my father's transplant, I swallowed my pride and for the first time in all our years of togetherness begged him for help.
And yet, he merely sighed before pulling me in his embrace- 'I cannot abuse my family's influence like that Gilly, your father can get a kidney when it's his chance. Don't be selfish, you must think of other lives as well."
And then there was the incident a few months ago, when I fell down the stairs at a gala while carrying plates. Shattered porcelain sliced my forearm open to the bone, blood pouring everywhere.
He knew the best plastic surgeons in the city but didn't care enough to make a single call for me.
I was left with an ugly, jagged scar on my arm. All he said was that long sleeves would cover it.
So that was how it worked for Clark Farley. Helping Corinne was doing his duty. Everything about me was irrelevant.
I wiped my eyes and turned to leave.
The doorbell rang. Corinne got up to answer it and came back leading a girl by the hand, beaming.
"Gilly, don't rush off! Today's my cousin's graduation. Let's all have dinner to celebrate."
I looked up at the girl's face and froze where I stood.
"This is your cousin?"
Clark grabbed for my arm, trying to pull me away, but Corinne cut him off.
She pressed herself against Clark's side, and the words that left her mouth coiled around me like a snake.
"My cousin Maura Pruitt graduated top of her class. Her thesis was published in a prestigious journal, and she's already received offers from several major international firms. The sky's the limit for her."
My eyes burned red. I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted copper, my whole body shaking.
I wanted to lunge at that girl and tear her face apart.
A year ago, my graduation thesis had been plagiarized and published in an academic journal under someone else's name. The moment I found out, I exposed the plagiarist on the university forum, reported it to my professors, and emailed the journal directly.
But public opinion turned against me completely. Not only did I fail to reclaim what was mine, I was accused of being the plagiarist, charged with defamation, held in custody for fifteen days, and then expelled.
All I'd heard at the time was that some powerful young man named Farley had pulled strings.
I never imagined that girl was Corinne's cousin.
Which meant there was no question. Clark had done it for Corinne. He had personally destroyed the degree and the recognition that belonged to me.
Revulsion and fury hit me at the same time, rushing to my head until the room tilted and I could barely stand.
I shoved Clark's hand away and screamed with everything I had:
"Clark Farley, you make me sick! We are done. For good!"
I spun around and bolted toward the villa’s front door, when my should merely touched Corinne.
She let out a startled cry, stumbled back a few steps, and collapsed onto the ground.
Clark seized my wrist, his dark, brooding eyes locking onto mine in rage
"Gillian Fox! How long are you going to keep this up!"
