Chapter 16
Sloane clung to Damien’s leg, her sobs soft and broken, every inch of her trembling with helplessness.
But Damien just looked down at her with nothing but cold detachment. Towering over her, he gave her a cold, unfeeling glance, then kicked her aside without a
word.
“Funny. You actually remember I was the one who protected you all those years,” Damien said, his voice tight with hurt. His eyes locked on hers, filled with a pain he wasn’t even trying to hide. “After everything I did for you, this is how you choose to pay me back?”
He took a slow, deliberate step toward her. The weight of his fury pressed down on her like a collapsing ceiling. She could hardly breathe.
“Damien, wait… you’ve got it all wrong,” she stammered, scrambling backward on the floor. “I didn’t love them. I never did. It was all fake. I only ever loved you. I just used them… I wanted to push them toward Aurelia, so you wouldn’t have to marry her. I did it all for you, Damien. For us.”
Swallowing her fear, Sloane dragged herself toward him, sobbing as she clung to the last shred of hope. “Please, Damien. You have to believe me… I only did this so that we could be together.”
But too bad–Damien wasn’t buying it.
He didn’t even flinch. He kicked her away again, his voice sharp and merciless. “Shut your mouth, you bitch!”
She doubled over, clutching her stomach. “It hurts… Damien, how could you do this to me
Before she could finish speaking, Damien was in front of her again. This time, he didn’t hesitate. He slammed his foot into her stomach, sending another jolt of pain through her body.
“You wanna know what cuts the deepest, Sloane?” Damien grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head up, forcing her to meet his eyes.
“It’s that I truly believed you were my family. Back at that hellhole of an orphanage, when I was starving, when my stomach cramped so bad I couldn’t sleep, I still gave you my food because you told me that blood didn’t matter and that real family was about love. You said even if the whole world turned its back on us, we’d still have each other–that we’d always belong to each other.”
As those words hung in the air, Milo suddenly lost it.
“Damn it! That bitch told me the same damn thing. That’s why I fell for her!” he shouted. “I grew up with nothing—no family, no love. I just wanted something to hold onto… and then she showed up, telling me I mattered, telling me she loved me that we’d always have each other.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, the others started chiming in one after another. “She said the exact same thing to me!”
”
“That bitch! She played all of us! She knew we were starving for love after being tossed aside by our parents, and she used that to manipulate every single one of us!
