The sharp sting of disinfectant slowly pulled me back to consciousness.
"Well, well. A cheap little slut really does have a cheap little life. No matter what anyone does, you just won't die."
Prudence's eyes were full of contempt, her voice dripping with scorn.
I kept my eyes lowered and said nothing, quietly switching on the voice recorder I always carried.
Seeing that I wouldn't speak, she stepped closer and grabbed me by the collar. "Louise, do you really think Charles loves you? He just wanted to play at living an ordinary person's life with you. What a shame. He doesn't even know you're the real eldest daughter of the Pruitts."
"If you'd only said the word, maybe he wouldn't have divorced you at all."
I stayed silent.
Prudence's lips curved into a soft laugh, and she went on. "You're a lot tougher than that son of yours. Flung into the air by a car, and you still wake up this fast. Your boy was different. I barely nudged him with the car and he died right there on the spot. So dull, really."
"Thinking of dragging me into court? What a pity. Charles loves me. He'd never let you get away with it. Take a good look, Louise. These are photos of me and Charles in bed."
With that, Prudence pulled a stack of photos from her bag and flung them into the air, letting them scatter down around me.
Every single photo was different, but in every one of them the two of them were naked, doing things too unspeakable to name.
My heart clenched hard, and a bottomless bitterness spread through my chest.
Whatever last shred of feeling I had for Charles was draining away.
Prudence smiled, smug. "There are plenty more where those came from. On your anniversary, I was the one who tried a hundred and eight positions with him and went through ten boxes of condoms, and only then did he decide to come clean to you himself."
"So you... how pathetic." Mockery flickered in my eyes as I spoke, weak and faint. "Stooping to something like this just to get attention."
Prudence's eyes darted around. Then she dropped to her knees with a thud and, out of nowhere, began slapping herself.
Crack!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The crisp sound of palm against skin rang out through the silent hospital room.
"I'm sorry, Miss Mason, I was wrong. I'm begging you, please don't put these photos out there. My reputation doesn't matter, but Sanchez Group is still Mr. Sanchez's company. I can't let you destroy everything he's built over all these years."
"Let me kowtow to you, all right? Please, don't spread them. You can hit me, curse me, it was my own poor skill behind the wheel that made me run you down, but this has nothing to do with Mr. Sanchez. Can't you leave the innocent out of it?"
And with that, Prudence made a show of getting ready to bow her head to the floor before me.
Before I could even work out what act she was putting on this time,
the very next second Charles's voice erupted, rage barely held in check. "Louise! What are you kicking up a fuss about now?!"
Charles strode in, pulled Prudence to her feet, and gathered her into his arms.
"Charlie, I just came to look in on Miss Mason. I never thought she'd threaten me with these photos, forbid me to marry you..."
"She even said I'm not allowed at the wedding three days from now, that she'll take my place at the altar. I—I was afraid it would hurt the interests of both the Sanchez and Pruitt families, so I begged Miss Mason to let us go..."
Charles's brow furrowed. "Louise, how did you turn into something this unreasonable? You're no different from a shrew."
My voice was hoarse as I threw it back at him. "Right. A CEO of Sanchez Group and the eldest daughter of the Pruitts, both cornered by one commoner. Say that out loud and see if people don't laugh."
Charles's expression stalled for a moment. He held Prudence and murmured, "Don't be afraid, Prudence. You're the eldest daughter of the Pruitts. There's no need for you to bow your head to her."
At the words "eldest daughter of the Pruitts," a flash of guilt passed through Prudence's eyes and was gone.
She feigned innocence. "Just now I was only so worried, so afraid of damaging your interests, that I acted on impulse without thinking..."
She hadn't finished before I cut her off, my voice sharp with scorn. "Was it impulse, or was it just instinct? You'd better learn to tell the two apart."
Back when Prudence was living off my family's support, she'd worn that same pitiful look, dropping to her knees and kowtowing at the slightest thing in front of my parents. In the end, things that were never my fault all got pinned on me.
