“Cassandra,” she whispered, reaching for my hand. “I’m so glad you’re finally home. I prayed for you every night.”
I yanked my hand away. My nails dug into my palms to keep from clawing her face.
Isaac frowned sharply. “Enough. Don’t take out your bitterness on Naomi. She’s suffered enough already.”
Suffered? My child was dead. I was thrown in prison. And Naomi was standing here, adored and protected.
From the corner, I heard my brother’s voice.
“Cass, you should be grateful Naomi forgave you. If I were her, I’d never let you set foot in this house again.”
Their words swirled around me, choking me. But I ignored them and went upstairs. I headed straight to Solana’s room. It was the one thing that had kept me sane everyday in prison… the thought of feeling her presence again in this room.
But I got the shock of my life when I opened the door. Solana’s things were gone. And in its place, were all of Naomi’s belongings. Her dresses were in the closet. Her perfume was on the vanity. Solana’s pink fairy room had been turned into a sanctuary for Naomi.
I staggered back.
“I needed a room,” Naomi said flatly, appearing behind me, as if that excused it.
“There are six rooms in this house, you could have had any other room.”
“I wanted this one.” She said nonchalantly. “It’s the one with the best view.”
“How dare you!?” I yelled, like something had snapped inside of me. “Was killing my daughter not enough? Did you have to completely erase everything about her too? What did I ever do to you?”
Naomi stared at me like I was crazy, and then she burst into laughter.
“You want to know what you did? You stole my life, Cassandra. Isaac should have been mine. All of this should have been mine! The money, the love, the respect. You stole it!”
“You’re insane, Naomi. All I have ever done is be a good friend to you. I took you in when you had nowhere else to go, and this is how you repay me?”
I didn’t wait for her to say more. I was seeing red now. I didn’t know what possessed me, but I was tearing the room down before I knew it. I shoved her make up off the vanity, tore her clothes down from the racks, and then I headed to the table and pushed the flower vase off of it. It fell to the floor and sent pieces flying everywhere. When I was done, I turned back to Naomi who was staring wide eyed.
“You think you’re crazy, don’t you? You want to see crazy?” She yelled. “I’ll show you crazy!”
Naomi walked to the nearest shard of glass on the floor, and pressed her foot on it. It all happened so fast.
“Fuck! Isaac!!!!!” She yelled out in pain, holding her bleeding foot with her hand.
Isaac and Julian came running in an instant. His eyes widened when he saw the state of the room. Julian ran to hold Naomi.
“Cassandra, what did you do?” Isaac asked.
Naomi sobbed. “I was just trying to console her. I know how hard life in prison must have been for her, but instead, she hit me, and then she did this to my room and pushed me over the glass!”
“Oh you freaking liar-” I didn’t even get to finish my sentence before Isaac slapped me.
“You would think spending all that time in prison would teach you, but I can see that you’re just as evil as you’ve always been. I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
Tears stung my eyes, but the last thing I wanted was to give them the satisfaction of watching me cry.
“What happened to my daughter’s things?” I asked.
“We threw them out. It’s not like they were needed anymore.”
Something inside me snapped. “I was gone for 8 months! You gave her my life. You took everything from me and gave it to her.”
His face hardened. “You brought this on yourself. Stop trying to blame others for your sins. You better clean this up, or I swear, Cassandra, you won’t like what I’ll do to you.”
When he was done raining insults at me, he and Julian helped Naomi out of the room, carrying her like a fragile little princess.
My heart ached, but my resolve was sharper than ever.
This time, I would not beg for love. I would not beg to be believed.
I swore that I would find evidence of their crimes and expose it for the world to see. I would not let them win this time.
That night, in the silence of a guest room reeking of dust, I pulled out the only lifeline I had left. My phone. My hands shook as I dialed the number I’d memorized long ago but sworn never to use.
The line clicked. A familiar voice answered.
“… Cassie?”
Tears stung my eyes, but I stayed calm.
“Anthony… I need you,” I whispered.
“Oh my God, Cassie. I saw you on the news. Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine, I just… I made a mistake. I should’ve never chosen Anthony. You told me you would wait for me no matter how long it took. I’m ready now.”
There was a pause. “Are you sure, Cassie? I’m not playing games.
“I’m done begging them to believe me. I'm going to leave Isaac and I want to be with you. But first— I’m going to make them pay for everything they did to me and my child. This time, I won’t let them win.”
