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“We should have just had locked you up,” Shane shouted at her face while her fingers tightened its grip, causing Serenity’s eyes to sting. “At least you wouldn’t have caused us any trouble, and you wouldn’t have been able to flirt with Willem—-”

Serenity whitened.

Melanie stilled.

Shane started to laugh. “Did you think I didn’t know?” In the back of her mind, she could hear the billionaire’s voice, warning her against saying anything remotely cruel to her half-sister, but she ignored this.

She shoved Serenity away from her and was satisfied to see Serenity lose her balance, her back hitting the wall with a loud thud before crumpling to the floor.

“Willem came to my room right after he took your virginity,” she sneered. “He told me that you had made him believe you would be practical, but one look at your face after sex made him realize you were going to be clingy and pathetic. So he told me to do what I can and keep you away.”

Serenity felt faint as she listened to Shane speak, and when her sister was finished, she whispered, “You’re lying.”

Shane’s eyes glittered. “Am I?” she taunted. “If I’m lying, then tell me, how do I know that Willem likes to call you hisengel?”

Serenity’s heart slowly stopped beating.

“Yes,” Shane jeered. “He told me that. Do you want me to tell you the other things he told me? Like how many times he had fucked you?” It was a bluff, but because she knew of the billionaire’s sexual stamina firsthand, she was certain he would have made her half-sister come more than once. And when Serenity whitened even more at her words, Shane knew she had guessed right.

“You probably thought you’d be special, just because you were a virgin when you came to his bed. But you’re not. Youneverwere.” Bending down, Shane tried to pat Serenity’s head, as if comforting a pet, and only laughed when Serenity slapped her hand away.

“I hate you,” Serenity whispered.

“I hate you, too,” Shane cooed.

Serenity slowly pushed herself up. “I’m leaving tomorrow.” Her voice was weak but determined. “And I’m never coming back here.”

“Go then,” Shane hissed, throwing everything to the wind in her rage. “Willem paid me to send you off, do you know? He thinks it’sawkward, having the two of you live in the same city. He’sgrossed outat the idea that you might bump into each other and then you’d start begging him to...” She pretended to think. “Mm, let me see, what was it you said that morning?”

Serenity’s skin crawled.No.Her mind screamed the word out. She had never, never ever thought that her half-sister would have heard—-

“Oh, now I remember.” Shane pretended to sniff.“Please, please wait. Please just tell me...”

Serenity wanted to cover her ears...but she didn’t. Somewhere in her heart, she realized that she needed to hear this, needed to accept once and for all that the Dutch billionaire she had loved was not the man she thought he was.

Shane was looking at her, a catty smile playing on her lips as she asked, “And what did he tell you then, my dear sister?” But she didn’t wait for Serenity to speak, answering her own question.

Serenity watched her half-sister’s lips move, but it was as if she was hearing Willem’s own voice speak the words. His beautifully cultured, strongly accented voice, a sound that made her ache with so much love in one second and then break her heart with so much ease in another.

That’s the problem, Ms. Raleigh.You thought I loved you.

It was Shane speaking the words in front of her but in her mind, it was the Dutch billionaire speaking, rejecting her all over again.

Slowly, wordlessly, Serenity turned her back on Shane and Melanie.

“I hope you don’t think we’ll ever let you come back,” Shane screamed. She didn’t think it was possible to hate Serenity more until that moment. Just looking at the younger woman made her sick.

She hated how dignified Serenity was still able to look and act, hated how without a word Serenity made Shane feel like she was the loser here when it was Serenity who had whored herself and tried to steal Willem from Shane.

Shane watched Serenity start to limp away, and the hatred just grew and grew.

Unable to stop herself, she rushed forward and kicked the back of Serenity’s injured knee. Behind her, she heard Melanie gasp but ignored it, her eyes glued on Serenity. She watched her younger sister fall with a gasp, but it was not enough to make her feel any less empty or cruel, and her hatred continued to grow.

Her mother tried to walk past her to help Serenity, but Shane quickly pulled the older woman back. “She’s a whore, mother,” she said harshly. “She’s used to being on her back.”

Serenity watched her stepmother and sister walk away as she forced her limbs to move. The moment the door closed, she allowed her tears to fall. There had been a tiny part of her that had always hoped, foolishly, that one day Shane and Melanie would love her.

But now she knew that it had been a stupid little dream, as silly as Shane said she had been, in thinking the Dutch billionaire would see her as someone special.