Chapter 14
In an instant, every single thing Calvin had done for Charis flashed through his mind.
He remembered how, time and again, he’d quietly handed over the things Nettie cherished–always for Charis’s sake. From that middle school scholarship, to the guaranteed spot in the university’s graduate program, to that prestigious international dance competition–even Nettie’s own rise to the top. He had given them all away.
Smack!!
Smack! Smack! Smack
Calvin suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself hard, over and over.
What was wrong with him?3
How could he, for the sake of such a cruel, manipulative woman, have personally shoved his own little sister–his only family in the world–straight into hell?8
Fuming with rage, Calvin shot to his feet and strode out of the room. Just as he rounded the corner, he caught Charis on the phone.
“Charis, I’m going to kill you!”
His furious roar exploded like thunder. Charis’s heart nearly stopped. The call was still ringing, but she couldn’t hear a thing. The atmosphere seemed to freeze, a chill crawling over her skin.
Slowly, she turned around. Calvin and Hurst stood there, their faces dark with fury.
Sweat soaked through her back.
She knew.
She was finished.
Everything was over!
It was only when Calvin dragged Charis down to the Beaumont family’s basement for a brutal reckoning that Nettie truly saw the man before her. He was merciless, violent, utterly unforgiving.
Charis fell to her knees, begging desperately, her forehead banging against the cold floor as she pleaded for mercy. Calvin’s eyes, however, were pure frost
Even when he pressed the red–hot branding iron to her skin, he didn’t so much as blink. The stench of burning flesh filled the air, but Calvin’s gaze never softened–if anything, it only grew colder, full of disgust.
Hurst, standing beside him, thought the punishment was far too lenient.
Only then did Charis understand, with sickening clarity, that she’d never truly stolen Calvin and Hurst away from Nettie. It had all been a performance, a delusion spun from her own lies. Now that the truth was out, everything she’d taken by deceit was slipping right back to where it belonged.
She had never been a part of Calvin or Hurst’s hearts. She wasn’t even on the same level as them. The only reason they’d ever done anything for her was pity–never love, never sincerity.
Watching Calvin and Hurst spiral into madness over Nettie’s death, Charis finally realized just how delusional she’d been. The past ten years had been nothing but a cruel joke.8
In the end, she confessed everything with a twisted smile, as if it were all just a game. She thought, at least she’d managed to steal ten years of happiness through lies and manipulation. Even if she died now, it was worth it–after all, Nettie had gone before her.
But Calvin and Hurst weren’t about to let her off that easily. They had no intention of letting Charis die–not yet. She had to live, to spend the rest of her life atoning for what she’d done to Nettle.
First, they forced her to kneel in front of Nettie’s memorial, bowing her head and begging for forgiveness, over and over.
Then, they made her relive every vicious thing she’d ever done to Nettie–feeling every ounce of pain, humiliation, and helplessness she’d once inflicted.&
Finally, they made sure she experienced it all in the flesh. A gang of thugs dragged Charis into a dark alley, just as she had once arranged fok Nettle. Same stormy night, same ruthless men, same blood–curdling screams.
Only this time, Charis was the victim. And this time, there were countless reporters snapping photos of her humiliation, and hordes of angry fans hurling abuse 8
In the end, Charis was reduced to what Nettie had become.
Her legs crippled, her left ear deaf, doomed to spend the rest of her life shackled to a catheter.
