Chapter 4

I hailed an Uber back to the apartment, intending to search his study one more time.

Unexpectedly, as I reached the door, muffled sounds echoed from inside.

It sounded like a leather belt striking bare flesh.

I clamped a hand over my mouth and took two steps back, my heart pounding in my throat.

"This is what gets you off, isn't it? Two years playing house with Chloe must've been so boring."

"You really are a pathetic little pet. You crave the pain."

Tiffany's mocking, sultry voice drifted through the door.

I took a sharp breath and shoved the door wide open.

Tiffany sat on our living room couch in sheer black stockings and stiletto heels. Julian was kneeling at her feet, his shirt unbuttoned.

I glared at Julian with pure hatred.

"What are you doing?"

Julian scrambled to his feet in a panic, stammering excuses that made no sense.

Tiffany stood up leisurely, not the slightest bit flustered.

"Long time no see, straight-A student."

"Can't an old friend catch up with an old pal?"

She tilted her head, watching me with the exact same condescending cruelty from high school.

My fingernails dug so hard into my palms that they pierced the skin, fighting the instinctive terror wired into my bones.

"Did you enjoy prison? Congratulations on getting out."

She burst into hysterical laughter, as if I had told the funniest joke in the world.

"Prison? Hahahahaha! Oh, absolutely. All thanks to you!"

Julian cut in abruptly, stepping between us.

"Enough! Chloe, I'm going to take Tiffany home first.

We all need to move past what happened back then. Just think about it and calm down!"

Without another glance at me, he wrapped an arm around Tiffany's waist and walked out the door.

I collapsed onto the couch.

Move past it?

What about my mother?! She was completely innocent!

Just to satisfy Tiffany's sick, sadistic boredom, my mother was drugged into psychosis and jumped to her death.

And the monster responsible suffered zero consequences.

I told myself over and over: hold it in. Endure it until you find the evidence!

Around dinner time, Julian came back.

He sat across from me at the dining table. After a heavy silence, he spoke first.

"Chloe, why can't you just let it go?

We were young back then. Tiffany was immature, but it's been two years! Are you going to stay trapped in the past forever?!

Besides, Tiffany already paid her price!"

His voice grew heated, almost defensive.

Paid her price? What price did she ever pay?

I stared blankly at my plate and kept my mouth shut.

He let out an exasperated sigh, sounding defeated.

"You want that old evidence, right? Fine. I'll tell you the truth: it's gone."

My head snapped up. I stared at him, stunned.

"The day after you handed it to me two years ago, I burned every single page!"

My mind went completely blank. Tears spilled silently down my cheeks.

Two years of relentless torment, my broken wrist before the SATs, my mother's horrific death... all wiped away with a casual "I burned it"?

Perhaps the raw hatred in my eyes was too intense, because Julian's gaze turned cold and annoyed.

"Stay here and reflect on yourself. I'll pick you up in three days!

If you're still this obsessed, I'll bring the therapist back to help you get your head straight!"

He slammed the front door behind him, leaving me alone in the dining room to shatter completely.

Three days later, Julian returned.

He carried a designer dress in a gift box and helped me slip into it.

"Chloe, happy birthday."