Page 128 of Scarred in Silence

“Oh, you think you’re powerful now? You’re still the same damaged little girl who begged for attention in a hospital bed.”

Lucien moves.

Fast.

He crosses the room in two strides and grabs Gideon by the collar, slamming him against the marble mantle. A framed photo crashes to the floor.

“You don’t get to speak to her like that,” Lucien scowls, his voice venomous. “You don’t get to sit in your glass fucking palace and throw stones at the daughter you shattered.”

Verona shrieks. “Let him go!”

Lucien ignores her.

“Do you know where I found her?” he hisses. “Do you have any idea what she survived while you sat here polishing your reputation and pretending she didn’t exist?”

“Lucien—” I whisper.

He doesn’t stop.

“She was half-dead in a stranger’s house, bones showing through her skin, arms littered with tracks. I had to drag her back to life with my bare fucking hands. And you—” he shoves Gideon harder against the mantle, voice deadly low “—you stood by and watched her drown. You let her become prey.”

Gideon spits at his feet. “You think you’re a savior?”

Lucien’s laugh is hollow. “No. I’m a monster. But at least I protect what’s mine.”

He lets go.

Gideon stumbles back, straightening his shirt like that’ll sew his pride back together.

Verona stands, jaw trembling. “I can’t believe you brought him here.”

“I thought you deserved to see what you created,” I say quietly, standing.

Verona sneers. “You always were ungrateful.”

“Ungrateful?” I laugh—a sound sharp enough to draw blood. “You mean for the silence? For the blame? For ignoring the signs until I had to carve them into my own skin?”

Lucien grabs my hand. “We’re done here.”

But I don’t move. Not yet.

“I died in this house long before the drugs, Verona,” I say. “You buried me in pearls and pretended not to hear the screaming. And now you can rot in that silence.”

Gideon opens his mouth, but Lucien turns back one last time.

“If I ever find out you speak to her again, if you so much as look at her the wrong way, I’ll burn this fucking house to the ground—with both of you inside.”

The room freezes.

And then we walk out—silent, united, unbroken.

Not once do I look back.

They already spent years pretending I didn’t exist.

Now?

I’ll return the favor.