Chapter <b>3 </b>
I stormed out, skirts whipping as 1 headed straight for the gates.
The house guards didn’t darey hands on me; they kept stepping back, watching helplessly as I left the estate.
I climbed into the carriage and ordered it toward the townhouse on East Street.
On the way, Theodore’s carriage passed mine–we missed each other by minites,
When I stepped down at the townhouse, bystanders immediately understood why I’de.
They pretended to busy themselves, but I saw the way their eyes lingered.
Grace knocked at the door.
A lilting voice rang out from inside- “So soon? Couldn’t bear to leave already?”
The door swung open.
Serena froze when she saw me, her smile stiffening, her words dying in her throat.
Two secondster, she forced augh.
“Well now, my dear sister–inw! Doe in.”
We studied one another–she was refined, poised, still striking despite her years.
Gracefully aged, every inch the polisheddy.
I stepped inside. Serena closed the door behind us, smiling like porcin about to crack.
“I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding. I wasn’t expectingpany, but won’t you sit for tea?”
Her smile never faltered, but it was glued in ce, brittle as ss.
“I suppose Theo hasn’t exined our rtionship properly. We’re practically brother and sister.
If not for him, I wouldn’t have a roof over my head.
I’ve told him again and again not toe so often, but you know how he is–he’s been trailing after me since we were children.”
She caught herself, feigned a gasp, and tapped her lips with mock regret.
“Oh, forgive me. I shouldn’t chatter so.”
I only smiled, saying nothing.
We stood there in the courtyard, locked in a standoff.
She imed to invite me for tea but never moved from the doorway.
I smoothed my sleeve, voice slow and deliberate.
“I only came to ask a few questions, Mrs. Thomas. Then I’ll be on my way. Tea can wait.”
Her smile slipped, her eyes cooling.
“Why is thedy of Rockefellow House wandering the streets alone?”
Chapter <b>3 </b>
Her mask dropped entirely, and for the first time I saw the hatred in her gaze-
<b>as </b><b>if </b>I had stolen something that belonged to her.
She pressed her lips together, refusing to speak.
But I knew.
She was desperate to be free of the Thomas name, desperate not to waste her years as a lonely widow.
She knew she had another option.
“So you’ve already decided Thomas is dead, haven’t you?” I asked, my tone razor–sharp.
Serena stiffened, anger shing, but said nothing.
“And you’re willing to abandon the child you bore him? To chase after another man instead?”
Her fists clenched; fury rippled through her frame.
She hadn’t expected me to know so much.
Every word I spoke tore anotheryer from her mask until her raw, ugly desperationy bare.
“Ha!” she spat. Herugh was bitter, half–mad.
“And who the hell are you?”
“I’m just taking back what was mine all along.”
Her words cut me. A thief used by the thief herself.
Pain seared through my chest, tears threatening, but I swallowed them down.
Then- “Ahhh!”
Serena shrieked, yanking at her own hair, pping herself hard across the face before crumpling to the floor.
Pitiful. Calcted.
The door burst open.
Theodore rushed in, his eyes zing with panic–and without so much as a nce at me, he scooped Serena into his arms.
“My God, Serena!” He stroked her reddened cheek with trembling fingers, all tender concern.
I stood there, hollow, as the man I’d shared a bed with for three years held another woman like she was his whole world.
Serena was ruthless–even willing to harm herself to y the victim.
Theodore finally looked at me.
Cold. using.
“If you have a quarrel, take it out on me.”
“Why torment Serena? She’s suffered enough! Can’t you show her the slightest kindness<b>?</b><b>” </b><fn0ffc> ??? ????? ???????s ??? ?????s??? ?? fin?novel</fn0ffc>
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