Behind me, Corinne let out a cry of pain, tears rolling down her cheeks like pearls.
Clark rushed over and pulled her into his arms, his eyes full of nothing but concern for her.
"Gillian, you actually put your hands on someone? Is this how a future Farley wife behaves?"
A flash of jealous hatred crossed Corinne's face at those words, but she kept crying, all delicate and pitiful, and lifted her head with practiced fragility.
"Gilly, I'm sorry. I just wanted to share the joy of my cousin's graduation with you. And I'd heard your cooking was wonderful, so I wanted to try it for myself. I never meant to upset you."
I let out a cold, contemptuous laugh and looked at Clark.
"Are you two done with the performance? Can I leave now?"
Clark frowned, his tone sharp with displeasure.
"Where are you rushing off to? I'll let it slide that you hurt Corinne. Stay and prepare dinner for us, and I'll forgive you."
Maura walked over, her expression hovering between a smirk and a sneer. "She's right, you know. Someone who got expelled from school is only fit to sweep floors and cook meals."
My vision went red. I glared at her, every muscle in my body coiled tight.
Corinne stepped in front of her cousin, her face a mask of false sympathy. "Maura, don't say that. Gilly has worked herself to the bone for the Farley family all these years. It hasn't been easy for her."
Clark nodded approvingly at Corinne, then turned to me with undisguised impatience.
"Gillian, I wish you'd learn a thing or two from Corinne. Stop making everything into a fight and putting me in an impossible position."
My heart plummeted. Corinne had planned this from the very beginning.
She had used the thing that cut me deepest to provoke me, to make me lose my composure in front of everyone.
Clark waved his hand, and a second later, the bodyguards seized me and marched me into the kitchen.
Before long, Corinne followed me in, a smile on her face.
"Gilly, let me help you."
Clark wrapped an arm around her waist, his voice low and tender.
"Corinne, don't bother with this kind of rough work. You'll hurt your hands."
The moment those words fell, my chest tightened painfully as if my lungs were squuezed shut.
Every winter, it was I who did all the back breaking work in the freezing kitchen. The cold water seeping through my palms burned it until frostbite covered every inch of my once delicate skin, itching so badly I couldn't sleep
Clark used to hold my hands in his and breathe warm air over them.
"Baby once you marry into the family, I promise you won't have to suffer like this anymore."
I lowered my head, swallowing the tears back threatening to spill, my voice barely spoke, stripped of all warmth.
"If Miss Pruitt wants to help so badly, let her. I am done serving the Farley family."
Clark stared at my face, his smile unreadable.
"Corinne was right about you. You can't handle even a little hardship."
"I'm the one who had her invite you here to cook tonight. If everyone's satisfied with what you make, I'll tell my mother right away that I want to marry you."
I stood there, speechless, the absurdity of it washing over me. Five years of devotion, reduced to this.
I had waited on his family's elders day and night while he took Corinne around the world.
I had chopped vegetables and scrubbed dishes in the dead of winter while he sat at the head table with Corinne, eating and laughing.
And now he said I couldn't handle hardship. Everything I had given was nothing but a joke.
Corinne watched the color drain from my face, a glint of satisfaction in her eyes.
She walked over to me and picked up a pastry I had just finished making.
"It's a day for celebrating. Let's all calm down."
She took a bite while it was still warm.
The next second, she shrieked. The plate slipped from her hands and shattered at my feet.
"Gillian! You knew I'm allergic to peanuts!"
"Even if you're angry at me, you didn't have to make peanut pastry just to hurt me!"
Shards of porcelain sliced into my shins and the tops of my feet. Blood ran freely down my skin.
My eyes went wide.
"I didn't know..."
A hand clamped around my wrist like an iron vise. Clark's grip was so brutal it felt like he was crushing the bones beneath the skin.
"Gillian, how dare you!"
"Attacking Corinne, right in front of me, again and again!"
Corinne crumpled to the floor in an exaggerated show of distress. He flung me aside to get to her, and the back of my skull cracked against the sharp corner of a cabinet. Blood dribbled down my head as the agonizing pain drilled in center of my head making me dizzy.
Clark turned back to look at me, his eyes bloodshot.
"You're vicious. Don't blame me for being heartless."
In that case, I’ll make sure you get a taste of what it feels like to have the one you cherish most be hurt!
