Chapter 22

Aria’s POV

Every single person in the room stares at me in shock, as if I have just drawn a knife to threaten Susan.

“A–Aria. Why do you feel this way?” Susan stammers, her voice trembling as she bursts into faux crocodile tears. Please, that must be one of the only acts she is truly skilled at. She raises a storm with those tears that aren’t even real.

“Aria! How could you hurt your sister this way? Apologize right now, young lady, or else!”

“N–no, Mother. I know Aria must hate me right now, and I understand,” Susan says, standing from the sofa with tear streaks snaking down her face as she approaches me.

This just fuels the fire within me. I want to scream, to expose her deceit for everyone, but I take another deep breath to steady myself.

“Understand?” I ask incredulously, narrowing my eyes. “You have no idea what I feel. You have no idea about all the sacrifices I’ve made or the opportunities I’ve passed up to support us, and yet here you are, wallowing in self-pity, acting as tho