Chapter 2

2: 2

Meeting my anxious eyes, my sister froze for a beat.

Sensing something off, Mom knitted her brows and asked, "What's going on?"

Call the police, now!

Kitty! What are you standing there for!

When my inner voice did no good, I reached for the phone clenched in Mom's hand.

But Kitty spoke first. "Sis says she's really happy Maxwell came."

"She says whatever we do, don't drive him off, or she'll cut ties with us."

Boom——

My outstretched hand froze in the air, and the last thread of reason in my head snapped.

I stared at my sister spouting nonsense in front of me, unable to believe it, cold crawling up from the soles of my feet.

At her words, Mom yanked her hand free of my grip.

Her eyes, when they turned to me, were full of disappointment. "Melody, I think you've truly lost your mind!"

"If you won't value yourself, then just wait until you're sorry."

Sensing the standoff, Maxwell looked me up and down, his gaze locking onto my chest.

His throat worked with a nasty leer, and he stood and came toward me.

"So Melody likes me this much, huh."

"Then tonight will be our wedding night."

I clenched my fists on guard, but just as the man got within thirty feet of me, there was a crack.

Mom had stepped in front of me.

She grabbed the vase off the table and hurled it at Maxwell as he tried to talk his way through, her voice cutting him down. "Get out!"

"I will never marry my daughter to trash like you!"

"The twenty thousand dollars, I'll give it back to you. But if I ever see you again, don't expect me to be nice!"

I lifted my eyes to Mom's back, and the sting rushed to them at once.

I picked up the lipstick off the table and wrote: Just now my sister twisted my words. That man is a murderer...

Before I could finish, Kitty suddenly pushed forward and shoved me aside.

She hooked her arm through Mom's, all affection, and scuffed her slipper right across the words I'd written.

"Mom, Sis isn't grateful at all."

"She says it's Maxwell or no one, or she'll die!"

Mom whipped her head around and caught sight of my hands smeared with lipstick, the glaring red making her think I'd hurt myself.

She flared up instantly. "Melody!"

"Are you so worthless you have to destroy yourself?"

It's not true!

Kitty is lying! Unable to say a word, all I could do was lift my hands again and sign frantically.

But I'd forgotten. Mom couldn't understand any of it.

The thought pulled a bitter twist to my lips.

I glanced at the man being driven out the door, then at my sister standing there pretending to worry about me.

I couldn't hold back anymore. I lunged and grabbed her hair, and we were tangled and fighting.

Why? Why do you keep hurting me!

Aren't we sisters? What good does any of this do you!

I screamed it inside, but the laughter in my sister's eyes only deepened.

Her lips moved without a sound: Because this way, Mom will love me more.

Full of provocation.

Through her pained sobbing, my grip grew heavier and heavier, as if to pour out every twisted grievance she'd forced on me over the years.

Seeing the commotion grow, Maxwell slipped out in the chaos, afraid of getting mixed up in it.

When pulling us apart failed, Mom called the police.

By the time the officers arrived, I was still on top of my sister, blood on my fists.

Mom scooped her up, aching over her, and glared at me.

Her voice came out ice-cold. "I want to press charges against my daughter Melody, for attempted murder!"