3
When I woke up, my eyes met Adrian’s. They were red–rimmed and bloodshot.
The next thing I knew, he threw a blood pack, and it splattered across my face.
His voice was like ice.
“Quite the performance, Rosalie. Too bad Penny found the blood pack you had prepared. Faking a collapse in front of all those peo- ple just to frame me… your little schemes have gotten much more clever.”
I stared at him, stunned, for a long second.
Then i grabbed the vase from the nightstand and hurled it at him.
A satisfying line of red bloomed on his forehead, and only then did the inferno in my chest die down to a simmer.
My voice was a raw rasp. “You idiot. Get out. I don’t want to see your face.”
Adrian let out a sound that was half–laugh, half–scoff, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “Penny and I are moving out tomorrow. From now on, you can throw your tantrums all you want. There will be no one left to stop you.”
1 turned my head away, my voice flat and cold. “Good. Out of sight, out of mind.”
But the moment the door slammed shut, tears streamed down my face like broken strings of pearls.
That bastard.
I muttered curses under my breath as I got up and pulled a worn, yellowed photograph from a drawer. It was a picture of our family
of four.
My trembling fingers traced the smiling faces of our parents.
Mom, Dad… your precious daughter is dying tomorrow, and there’s no one left to even claim her body.
Just as I regained a sliver of strength, Penny showed up at my door with a food container.
She wore the same smug, triumphant smile I had come to despise. She laid out the food–a spread of rich, greasy dishes.
Chapter 1
14:43
The cancer had spread everywhere, even to my stomach. I could barely handle liquids, let alone something so heavy with oil and
salt.
I looked at her, my eyes cold, and pointed to the door.
“You have sixty seconds to get out. When time’s up, I’m throwing this food, and you, out the window.”
Penny gasped, covering her mouth in mock surprise. She looked me up and down, her voice dripping with exaggerated pity.
“You really are sick.”
“Is this what they call karma, Rosalie?”
The words had barely left her mouth before I snatched a bowl of hot, red soup and flung its contents directly at her face.
The scalding liquid made her shriek in agony. The sound was music to my ears, and a slow, satisfied smile spread across my face.
But at that exact moment, the door opened.
Standing in the doorway was Adrian, his face as black as thunder.
Behind him stood a dozen doctors and nurses, their mouths slightly agape in shock at the scene before them.
One of the doctors couldn’t help but ask, “Mr. Sterling, who exactly is the patient?”
Adrian pulled the weeping, red–faced Penny into his arms.
He remained surprisingly calm as he instructed the butler to see the medical team out.
“We don’t need doctors. Call the morgue. They can wait to collect her corpse.”
His voice was devoid of all emotion. “She’ll kill herself with one of her fits eventually.”
He glanced at the food spilled on the floor.
“And don’t bother bringing her any more of this.”
I laughed, a raw, broken sound, and shouted at his retreating back.
“Hey, you bastard! On the day of my funeral, don’t forget to burn the house down for me too!”
In all the years of fighting with Adrian, going hungry was nothing new.
But this time was different. I couldn’t bear it.
The searing pain in my head and the gnawing ache in my stomach sent me into waves of dizziness. I’d pass out at my computer, wake up, and pass out again.
I was racing against the clock, knowing that every second was precious. After all this time, my investigation into our parents‘ death was finally bearing fruit–and all signs pointed to Penny’s family.
After another sleepless night, fueled by nothing but adrenaline, the chain of evidence was complete. I backed up one copy and sent another to the police.
With that done, I dragged my exhausted body back to my room.
I wanted to close my eyes for the last time in this room, a place that still held the warmth of our family.
But when I opened the drawer, the spot where our family portrait should have been was empty.
