Scarlett’s POV“Ewww! That’s the truth???” Aurora exclaims, “You SLEPT with him?! Seriously?!”After running into Gabriel at Nightingale, we couldn’t stay there. Instead, we found a small, random bar down the street. A quiet, cozy small place, perfect for girls' talk.Lilith closes her eyes with a desperate look, dying under Aurora’s judgy looks, “Accidently, okay? The key word is accident!”Now that makes sense. Lilith used to be the one handling most of my “code reds”. I can’t imagine two enemies just suddenly fall in love. But then again, Gabriel looked deeply in love though...“But Gabriel?!” Aurora takes a deep breath to calm herself, only to burst out again, “It’s...Gabriel!”Lilith looks just as devastated as Aurora.“When was that?” I ask. If it’s recent, then we might need to buy another set of pregnant tests. A baby not born out of love is the last thing we want...again.Lilith glances at me before darting her eyes off to her glass.“What?” Aurora and I exchange a confused lo
Scarlett’s POVHer words are too shocking that I even forget to cry: “...what?”“You know how Damon was the constable of the Villa area at that time, right?” Lilith asks.Vaguely.“On that day, he was called to the Knight’s house. The neighbors called it in, or something like that. The point is, the Iron Lady made a huge fuss that day, and Ava was the fuss!”“...what?” I blink, not catching up at all.The Iron Lady is Sebastian’s grandma. She basically raised Sebastian after his parents died in a car accident, while protecting the family business against the sharks. Hence her nickname.“Let me,” Aurora pats me on my back, her tone patient and calm, unlike the anxious Lilith, “that day Sebastian took Ava back to meet with his grandma, because...he wanted to marry her, and he needed his grandma’s blessing.”Sebastian can hurt anyone for Ava, but not Granny. He loves her and respects her to the most.“That’s what you couldn’t tell me?” I frown in confusion. So he proposed to Ava. Not like
Scarlett’s POVThey only knew I had “something” Sebastian wanted, and I forced his hand with it. I only told Aurora three days ago when there was no way to hide anything about my family issue anymore.“Hmmm...” I cut in before Aurora could tell her, hesitating. Aurora purses her lips.I don’t want to let too many know about the blood transfusion thing, because I don’t want to be seen as a victim. That’s Ava’s specialty. Besides, with Lilith’s temper, there is little telling what she would do if she knew about Jack Fuller’s deal.“What?” Lilith darts her eyes between me and Aurora, “What can’t I know?”I suddenly understand why Lilith would struggle to tell me that secret. Sometimes there are things that you keep from your loved ones, only to protect them.“You should have told us, Scar, a long time ago,” Aurora says gently. She is the most sensitive among us, and she is the most mature, “I understand your concern, but we are not ‘people’, we are your friends, and we would understand yo
Scarlett’s POVI choke on my drink. It gets in my nose and tears spout out.“I mean...” After a string of heavy coughs, I finally came back to life with the help of several tissues. Lilith and Aurora glare at me like I’m some criminal, “I told you, unprecedented treatment. The doctor had only a theory in his mind when we started, so...”“Exactly how many times did you donate?!” Aurora demands. She is like a mom again.“Five...” I flinch, feeling guilty though I had no reason to be.Every time it was a failure, all but this last time. And even before it cured her, he kissed her as if he was sure he no longer needed me. I can’t look back at myself to see how pathetic I was.“Every time was within safe range, though.” I add, but they are not hearing it.Aurora loses her cool, ranting to Lilith about any and every bit of “crime” she knows about the Fullers. Lilith ignores my effort to explain as she curses with Aurora, demanding to know more. I enjoy how they defend me, but also worry abou
Sebastian’s POV“Why? Did something happen to Ava?” Scar frowns with a shrug, folding her arms.She is not even trying to be sarcastic, and that’s the most sarcastic part.I thought my words would make her happy, like before. I know she is really hurt this time, but I thought her eyes would light up with sparkles even though she would try to maintain a cold face to fish for more comforting words from me, like before.But there is none.I never knew her watery purple eyes could be so cold like dry ice. It stings to look at her eyes like that.You really want a divorce? I dare not ask. She would only say yes, even just to hurt me.My mind has been in turmoil since Adrian messed it up. I can’t imagine Scar asking for a divorce for real, but she hasn’t been home for almost a week now, and she is not planning to any time soon. I’m not used to this. The whole house feels different now.It’s no longer a home. Just a house.I used to think it was silly for her to stay up for me when I got home
Scarlett’s POVDid I hear him right?!The man who never treated me like his wife, who kept a relationship with my sister on the side when married to me, who tormented me like I was his enemy for five years, is now accusing ME of treating marriage too light?!What is our marriage to him anyway? Nothing but trash!“Fake marriages, yes!” I suppress the urge to shout at him, but I can’t help my tone turning cold, “Still heavier than you have been treating it though.”“Is that how you justify you and Adrian?!” He lets out a disbelieving laugh as if I’m being ridiculous.Adrian??? I sent that guy ONE message and now I’m the one cheating?!“No! How about I justify it with my fucking husband kissing my sister behind my back?!” I finally did it. I didn’t want to bring it up to add to my humiliation, but he just had to force it out of me.I thought I could put it down, but it fucking hurts!He doesn’t hate me saving his Ava over and over, he doesn’t hate me when I stay up with some snack for hi
Scarlett’s POVThis time he pays attention: “You asked me to marry you--”I raise my hand again. This time he catches me before I could slap him: “Enough is enough, Scarlett Fuller! What are you trying to say!”“The deal, was that I give Ava all the blood and bone marrow and any other parts that she wants from me,” I look right into his eyes, speaking as my throat hurts like a knife is cutting in, “and you, my secret crush for years, will give me a chance to win your heart.”“You are the one who came to me with a proposal, Sebastian Knight. Remember?!” I finally said it, and my tears poured out as I finished my condemn with a broken voice, “You are the one who didn’t deliver the deal!”His eyes open wide in shock, and he stumbles back two steps with a disbelieving face.“I--” He stumbles on his words, too, “I thought that’s what you wanted...”“You knew I was in love with you, and you KNEW, that you could just slap me with a marriage on paper and still get my end of the deal,” I say w
Scarlett’s POVWho says bitching is lame and you should always take the high road?I took the high road and all I got was humiliation, pain, and a late “thank you”. I didn’t want to bitch about it, but it surely felt great!After the night where I lashed out at Sebastian, I have seen a new light in my life. My heart doesn’t hurt every damn second for him, and I can finally focus on my own life with a fresh view. I wasn’t ready to move on when I signed the divorce papers, but I am now.I feel like I was given a new life.I thought it would take long before I could get used to him being with Ava after the divorce, and I thought it would hurt until I could finally be numb.Turns out, all I needed was to speak up and get it over with. Maybe this is the “closure” people talk about.“Miss Scarlett?” The reception at the Dunn Corp’s headquarters comes to me with a flattering smile, “The CEO is ready to see you if you follow me, this way.”I don’t sign my last name unless I absolutely have to.
“Scar!” Scar left when Sebastian was dragged down by the Fullers. By the time he catches up, she’s already by a pure black luxury car waiting right outside of the Fuller’s gate. Scar wasn’t going to wait for him until Sebastian hurried up a few steps and put his fingers between the half-closed door. If he has to be honest, he is surprised that Scar didn’t close the door on his fingers anyway. But Scar turns visibly impatient at his way of stopping her. “You just never settle for what’s yours at the time, do you?” Scar says coldly, standing behind the door when Sebastian feels like the door is the furthest distance in the world. A cold snort lands quietly in the car. Sebastian hears. On the back seat sits that masked man, Silco. That name upsets him. That man is using Scar, if he is not playing her also, he knows. He looked into that guy, and found nothing. Nothing! That’s not normal, and it's not at the level of resources he has. Maybe that man doesn’t exist on papers, meaning a
The phone call changes Scar back to the vengeful fallen angle. For now. “I’ll go after Johnny Vanderbilt for what he did on his part, thanks but that’s none of your business…” Scar curves her lips, her devil like grin has no warmth, sending chills down the spine of her enemies, “I hope your family really have no trouble with your lousy explanation on cheating, Mrs. Fuller. But for now, I want my mom’s necklace.” Anna shakes her head slowly with mercy in her eyes, as if Scar is just a misbehaving child who doesn’t know better. “What happened to you, Scarlett?” Anna insists on calling Scar the name she gave her, ignoring Scar’s words, “Are you seeing anyone for these episodes? It’s not a light thing. If you need help—” “Not from you!” Scar spats with cold anger, “Stop with the hypocritical act of yours! You just don’t know when to stop even after your true color is exposed, do you? I was wondering where Ava got that from.” “How dare you talk to my mom like that!?” Ava shrills, blow
For years Scar has been wondering where Ava got the lying and acting from without a hint. It was right under her nose. It was Anna Fuller, Ava’s mom who is so good at lying that Scar didn’t even notice anything wrong! Anna cost Scar’s mom, and Anna’s daughter took Scar’s baby! Like mother, like daughter! She won’t let them get away this time! She can’t unite with her mom and baby with peace before she gets justice from this pair of snakes! “You need to talk to your father, honey—” Anna Fuller reaches for Scar’s face like the perfect mom she paints herself to be. Sebastian pulls Scar back a step, blocking her with his body as he grunts warningly: “Anna, stop it.” She turned on the manipulating machine again. But Scar heard Anna already. Letting out a cold snort, Scar murmurs slowly: “My father…” The laughter is full of bitterness, anger, hatred and disappointment, everything but what should associated with that word. “Scar…” Sebastian tries to pull her close, but Scar remains wh
“Gabriel,” Scar suddenly turns to the big dumb bear, “There was a time when you bullied me at school and were caught by the teacher. When my teacher asked you to give her mom’s number, you said the wrong number before you quickly changed it. Except it wasn’t a ‘wrong’ number, was it? It was the number you were told to memorize when you were a kid before it was changed to her current one. Why did she use this phone number for twenty years without any trouble when you had to memorize two?” Gabriel opens his mouth like a big mole who digs through its ceiling to the ground by accident. “Mom…?” Gabriel stammers, looking at Anna like a lost boy. He doesn’t know how he could not fall into Scar’s trap. There is no way because it’s not a trap. It’s an endless dark hole in his mom’s past that as much as she’s trying, she’s failing to cover up. “That’s too stretched, don’t you think?” Ava struggles, “Just because of a name and a random mistake—” “Silco pulled the info of the owner who owned
“Oh my poor Scarlett…” Anna Fuller grips her chest with a hand as if her heart pains, her soulful eyes filled with tears glimmering, “You had a few rough years, I know…I wanted to look for you but…” But Jack didn’t let me? But Ava would be heartbroken? Anna said none of those words, but knowing her too well, Scar knew what the indication was. Scar tilts her head, as if seeing Anna for the very first time in her life. In some way, yes. That’s how Anna Fuller talks. Painting herself as the most pitiful person in the world even when you are the real victim, at the same time indicating that someone else is at fault, anyone but her. She might have never told Scar to hate Jack Fuller, but every time when she “comforts” Scar, she paints another layer of hatred over Scar. Like when Jack Fuller ignores Scar, instead of sitting both of them down and talk it out like a proper mom should, Anna would secretly go to Scar when no one else is around, and say things like, “It’s okay, baby, you st
Looking at Gabriel’s steaming head, Scar giggles, waving her hand indifferently. “I came with big money behind me this time, and that’s why your fox of a father and snake of a sister are treating me with a basic manner. They know they can’t push me around but they are not stopping you from pissing me off because they want to see what I can do about your disrespect. Do you know what that means?” “Bullshit!” Gabriel grunts, but he can’t help but glance in his father and sister’s direction either. “I’ll tell you what I will do to you,” Scar stops spinning her phone, putting it in her purse as she stands up, her look bored and cruel, “That little precious company of yours that’s misleading you into thinking that you are not pure valueless trash? It’s going down in exactly three days. I know it doesn’t exactly hurt them,” She nods in Jack Fuller and Ava’s direction, “I mean, how could it when they never cared about you?” “You—” Gabriel wants to shout, but Scar cuts him off— “BUT, I’m
Scar was already at the Fullers when Sebastian made it. The last time Sebastian was with her in Jack Fuller’s living room was five years ago now, yet he feels like it was only yesterday. It might have something to do with the fact that he barely lived a day since. Just surviving. Sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed elegantly, Scar swings her foot lightly with an indifferent look. She is in a business set: white, tight blouse and straight short skirt. A pair of high heels, of course indicating one thing: She’s here for serious business. Just not the kind Jack Fuller looks forward to. That much is obvious because the owner of the living room sits right across Scar with every line of the muscle on his face stretched tight, as if facing a cannibal monster. He is scared, and he ought to be. Though Scar wouldn’t claim it, she’s still a Vanderbilt. Damian has all but thrown everything the Fuller had into fire in the past five years. Ava and her dad did little to improve Z-House’s
“Please, can you come over?” It’s Ava again. Sebastian listens to her sobbing calmly, his face so cold that his new secretary subconsciously holds her breath as she pauses her morning brief for the call from who she was told to be the boss’s wife. Didn’t he give his wife a million-dollar wedding? As a gossip, Emma is sure that she saw the wedding of her new boss on the front page somewhere. Even after years, she still remembers the bright smile of the bride in the newspaper. That’s why she was so excited when she got the offer— A genuine billionaire who spoils his wife to such? He must be a gentleman in person. He is. He is professional in work, but also kind to the staff. He is the definition of a gentleman… Except to his wife. Emma glances at Sebastian again, her heart bumping fast both for excitement AND nervousness. Sure, she has a crush on him. But who doesn’t? Money. Look. HOT body. He has got it all. But when he talks to his wife, he has this dark aura around him as if h
Scar’s POV I’m meeting my Alice today! That’s the only good thing happening in this hellish city. Alice is Lilith’s daughter, also the little sun that shone the brightest light into the past five dark years. I spent barely a month in jail before I was transferred, mainly because my body was failing. It was a dark time for me. Postpartum depression. I couldn’t eat, and even if I did, my body wouldn’t take it. All I could remember from that black month was puke, dizzy, and blackouts. I heard that prison could be a dark place, but I didn’t even get to experience that part— Everyone avoided me because I looked like I would die on them if they even just laid one finger on me. After that I spent nine months in the hospital, and after that an asylum. Well, they decorated that as a “mental and physical reconstruction facility”, when I knew it was just another name for asylum. I know because I lost it, for a long while. For two years I couldn’t talk. I didn’t lose my voice, I know. Bu