Chapter 3

The air in the room was heavy and constrictive as Mr. Rodriguez's voice boomed, filling every corner.

"I had always thought you were extraordinary-sharp and brilliant-but now you've proved to be heartless, Amelia. Avenging yourself on your sister over trifles.”

Amelia's breath hitched, disbelief and anger warring in her chest. Her hands were shaking all over as she balled them into fists. "Petty reasons?" Her voice cracked, disbelief turning to fury. "Oh gracious Lord! Father, did you just call sleeping with my husband petty!?

Shut up!" Mr. Rodri­guez's fist hit his desk, shak­ing the frame of a family photograph. "You knew it was Catherine, and you still dared to call the police? Are you trying to humiliate me, Amelia?" His words cut like a whip, sharp and cutting.

Amelia's heart was pounding inside her chest. Her head among her thoughts was a mess, tangled confusion with rage. "What in the name of all that's holy is going on right now, Dad? I humiliated you?"

Her father's eyes blazed; his stare was cold as ice. "You disgraced this family. Do you at all fathom what you have done?

Humiliation? What could I have done that's worse than what their betrayal has done? Amelia felt she was caught in a spinning nightmare she couldn't wake up from.

"I didn't humiliate you, Father," she returned, her words even, though inside she quaked. "Catherine deserves everything she is getting right now. Both she and Ronald played me for a fool!"

Mr. Rodriguez leaned forward. His glare pierced into her. "And you feel good now, don't you? You have put your husband and sister behind bars. Have you thought what this means to our reputation? To your sister's future?

Amelia stared at him, her mouth dry. Every word, a crack in her heart. Why is he protecting her?

"It feels like a dream, isn't it, Dad?" she said coldly, the coldness in her tone carrying an argument of many years. "You have never taken care about me. Never."

Her father's silence spoke volumes; the truth hung between them in the air as an unbearable load.

"Catherine betrayed me! My very own sister! I was cheated on by Ronald! What could I do? Sit back and wish them a happy life together?" Her voice cracked as her anger gave way to anguish.

"Shut up!" he roared, scrambling to his feet. "There was a thousand different ways to play this, Amelia, but you had to go and burn us all to ashes!"

And as he spoke, the words lashed at her in a tempest, and she reeled from them. Amelia's world dipped, buckling beneath her feet.

He spat, "No one, no one has the right to do that to their family. Whatever she did, she is your sister."

Amelia was table-tongued in an instant. Wasn't she the villain now? Her father had just branded her the monster with his words.

Amelia's chest was tight, the anger bubbling just beneath her surface. "I'm done with this conversation, Dad." Her voice came out low, full of venom. "No one-no one-gets away with betraying me. Not Ronald. Not Catherine. Not even you." Her heart thundered in her chest, a wild desperate rhythm threatening to break free.

Mr. Rodri­guez's face hardened. "You will apologize to your sister, Amelia. Or you'll lose your share of this company. That's final."

A harsh laugh burst from her lips, bitter and broken. "I don't need any of you. I'd rather lose everything than apologize to that slut." And with that, she was out the door, her father's enraged voice dissolving behind her.

---

Amelia sat in her car and stared blankly at the steering wheel. Everything from the world outside faded into a blur for her. It was too much, too raw, too real. She was shaking as she tried to catch her breath. It was her ringing phone that snapped her back into reality.

"Mum," she said softly into the receiver.

The voice on the other side was cold, full of detestation. "You dare call me Mum after what you have done?" her stepmother rasped out-the words were venom, seeping into Amelia's veins.

"Let's get one thing straight," Amelia fired back, her voice steady but her heart hammering. "You've never liked me. And I haven't done anything wrong, so maybe you should be asking your precious daughter what she's done."

Her stepmother snickered, the tone of her laughter very sharp and scornful. "You can't even keep a man, and now you're trying to blame somebody else for your failures. That's why Ronald chose Catherine over you!"

Amelia snapped her jaw shut, words cutting into her like shattered glass. "Maybe I can't keep a man, but at least I don't inherit the talent of seducing one. Like mother like daughter, isn't that right?"

There was an uncomfortable, deafening silence coming from the other end.

"What did you say?" her stepmother let the sentence quaver with rage.

"You heard me," Amelia said, her tone cold. "You and Catherine-both cut from the same filthy cloth."

"How dare you— binds

"Enough," Amelia said sharply, cutting her off. "I'm done with this conversation."

She had hung up without awaiting a reply, her hands shaking as she grasped the steering wheel. It's too late to turn back now.

---

Amelia finally arrived, to be received by a very warm Mrs. Melissa-for she was the housekeeper and had raised her more as a mother would have than her own stepmother could have done.

“Welcome home, Mrs. Amelia," she greeted softly; her kind eyes full of concern. "It's already late, why are you still up?" Amelia asked, giving her a faint smile trying to mask a storm brewing inside.

“I couldn't sleep not till I knew you were home safe," Mrs. Melissa said in a low, soft gentle smile. "Shall I prepare you something to eat?

Amelia's eyes welled up, and she took the older woman's hands in hers. "Thanks, Mrs. Melissa. You've always treated me like a daughter… more than my own mother ever did."

Mrs. Melissa pulled her into her arms, embracing her with her warm arms that Amelia so desperately had needed. "You are the daughter I never had," she whispered to Amelia.

The two embraced tightly, holding on as the weight of Amelia's broken heart hung in the air between them. After some time, Mrs. Melissa slowly drew back. "What are you going to do now, dear?" She wiped her tears away and gave a small smile. "I'll sign the divorce papers." Mrs. Melissa nodded. "I stand for you, dear. You deserve better."

– –

Amelia sat at the glass table that night, staring at the divorce papers. She signed them with a shaking hand; the bleeding ink was like the last farewell. Her gaze wandered to their wedding picture on the table. She picked it up and flung it onto the floor, where the glass shattered into pieces. I will never forgive you for breaking my heart, Ronald," she whispered, clutching the broken photo frame against her chest. "But I still love you.

And that's what hurts the most. She had written a letter and left it on the glass table, then walked out into the darkness, her face streaked by tears.

The night air was chill-as ice that bit into her skin. Her heart raced in her chest as she reached the bridge, the thunder of cars passing below her like the call of sirens. "It's now or never," she whispered, "I'm ready to give it all up, Mum. I am coming to meet you." And with that, Amelia stepped forward.