Chapter 37 : Self-Defense

Ophelia's POV

To my utter dismay, it was Catherine who stood before me. It was as if I had somehow accidentally summoned her by thinking about her. The way one might conjure a demon from the depths of hell. Given what she was putting me through, it seemed an apt comparison.

If that was the case, that I was somehow indirectly responsible for her presence, then I desperately wished I could take it back. There was no one on earth who I wanted to encounter less than Catherine.

"Ophelia, I knew I would find you here," Catherine sneered, looking down at me in utter distaste as if I were a cockroach she happened to spy scurrying across her floor. "We need to talk."

"That won't be necessary. I was just leaving," I assured her, grabbing my coat hastily and heading for the door. "I'm sure you and Taylor have many important things to discuss, and I have no desire to intrude."

I also have no desire to see you, I thought, perhaps unkindly, but the woman was driving me insane. She even