<b>+28 </b>Pa


    <b>Chapter </b>100


    (Scarlett’s POV)


    The air leaves my lungs in one sharp rush.


    Jasper is in bed with Virginia curled against his naked chest. Her arm draped possessively across his body, his head tilted back against the pillows.


    When she sees me, Virginia doesn’t look surprised. She looks triumphant.


    “Oh,” she sits up slowly, the sheet falling away from her bare shoulders, her voice dripping with fake


    sweetness. “You came.”


    I can’t speak. Can’t move. Can’t think past the roaring in my ears. This is what I had always been afraid of. What I suspected all along between them but never dared to believe.


    “I’m so sorry. I know how this must look. But Jasper… he begged me to stay. He said he couldn’t bear for me


    to leave.”


    My hands clench into fists at my sides. The pain sharp and brutal and overwhelming.


    “We didn’t mean for it to happen,” Virginia continues, stroking Jasper’s chest with gentle fingers. “But when I told him I was leaving… he broke downpletely. He said he’d been lying to himself, that he’d always loved me. One thing led to another and…” She shrugs delicately. “I hope you don’t mind.”


    Hope I don’t mind.


    The words echo in my head. Is this what a normal human should even say? I stare at them. At Jasper’s


    motionless form. At the way her body curves against his like a snake.


    But then I really look at Jasper’s face. <fnc7b7> Read full story at Find_Novel(.</fnc7b7>


    His eyes are shut tight, not the rxed expression of sleep. His skin has a gray tinge that makes my stomach


    clench. There’s something wrong with the way he’s lying there – too still, too unresponsive.


    I think about the evening. The way he carried Lily on his shoulders. The way heughed at her silly jokes and


    bought her trinkets at the parade.


    He said Virginia was like a sister to him. Always had been.


    Then what is this?


    (Virginia’s POV)


    The look on Scarlett’s face is priceless. It’s everything I’ve imagined and more. Standing there with her fists


    clenched and her face white as paper, she looked devastated.


    Broken.


    She deserves it. For taking my ce in this family. For stealing the life that should have been mine.


    <b>I </b>snuggle closer to Jasper’s unconscious form, making sure Scarlett can see exactly how intimate we look together. The more pain she’s in, the happier I feel.


    “I’m sorry you had to find out this way,” I purred, letting just the right amount of mock regret creep into my voice. “But Jasper and I… we have history. A connection you can never understand.”


    Scarlett just stares at us. Good. Let her suffer. Let her feel what I’ve felt all these years, watching her live my life.


    But then something changes in her expression. The devastation fades, reced by something cooler.


    She walks to the bed, and I tense. Is she going to attack me? I can’t have that. My face is my pride. If she scratches it and leaves a scar…


    Then I hear her call out, “Jasper.”


    He doesn’t move.


    “Jasper!” Louder this time.


    Still nothing.


    “He’s sleeping soundly,” I smirk, confusion creeping into my chest. Why isn’t she crying? Or screaming? At least, she should run out, right? “Don’t waste your energy.”


    But Scarlett ignores me. She moves around to the other side of the bed, studying Jasper’s face with an intensity that makes me nervous.


    Wanting to regain control of the situation, I pull back the covers, revealing a naked Jasper in only his


    underwear.


    “How interesting.”


    Wait. What’s with her reaction?


    “For a man who supposedly made passionate love to you for hours, he’s remarkably… out cold.”


    My mouth goes dry. “We… we’ve been at it for hours… he’s exhausted…”


    “Really?” Scarlett’s eyebrows arch. “He was so drunk he hasn’t even stirred since I walked in here shouting his name, but he was lucid enough to do the deed with you?”


    I scramble for an exnation, but she’s already moving on.


    “You know what else is interesting, Virginia? It wasn’t Jasper, but you who texted me tonight.”


    The blood drains from my face. How could I make such an elementary level mistake?


    “You orchestrated all of this, didn’t you?” she continues, her voice growing stronger. “The hotel room. The


    champagne. The rose petals. This whole pathetic scene.”


    “You’re being ridiculous-”


    “Am I?” She turns to face me fully, and there’s something in her eyes that makes me step back. “You know


    what? It doesn’t matter.”


    “What?<b>” </b>


    “This.” She gestures between Jasper and me. “These childish games. You don’t need to do this, Virginia. You don’t need to leave Avalon either, You’re James and ir’s biological daughter. They need you here.”


    I blink, thrown off bnce. This isn’t how this was supposed to go. She’s supposed to be broken. Devastated.


    “What about Jasper?” I ask, grasping for some way to hurt her.


    Scarlett looks at him for a long moment, and I see something flicker across her face. Pain, maybe. Or regret.


    213


    *Jasper was my past,” she says quietly. “My mistake. I have Lily now. I have my bakery. I have a life that


    doesn’t revolve around him, trying to hold onto something that was never really mine to begin with.”


    She meets my eyes, and her expression is clear with resolve.


    “I’ve moved on, Virginia. So maybe it’s time you did too.”


    Violet Moon


    #Vote#!