Chapter 2
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Elise slapped me again.
“You’re just like your deadbeat father, no respect at all! I’m your real mother, not some stranger off the street! But ev- ery time I talk to you, it’s like shouting into the void!”
My cheeks were burning red and swollen, but that pain didn’t compare to what I felt inside.
“The day you brought Rachel–the daughter you had while cheating–into the Quinn family, you stopped being my mother.”
Elise’s eyes flickered, then turned cold and vicious.
“If anything happens to Rachel because of your little stunt, you’re as good as dead.”
C
In my last life, I didn’t find out the blind box draw had been rigged until I was nailed into a coffin.
Of course, Elise wanted Rachel to marry for money, but she also had a secret to keep hidden.
I was nothing more than the sacrifice used to cover that up.
And now? I just wanted to watch them tear each other apart like rabid dogs. Their secrets had nothing to do with me
anymore.
I rubbed my cheek and spoke calmly.
“I’m getting married. To Neil. Call it payback for all those years you spent throwing money into keeping my dad alive.”
Elise’s expression flickered.
Neil Houle–a Chicago socialite, rumored to be impotent, known for a strange temper and for swinging both ways.
They said he’d already loved a thousand people to death, if not more.
Lately, he’d been looking to settle down and find a wife.
If I didn’t marry soon, Elise would force me to wed some thug or beggar off the street.
So why not name Neil first?
Because I already knew that Neil wasn’t as simple as the rumors made him sound.
Elise smiled.
“Good. My sweet girl. Then sit tight and wait to be a bride.”
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Chapter 2
She strutted off, swaying her hips like she’d already won.
I let out a quiet sigh.
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My room was on the far west side of the Quinn’s residence, and on the way back, I had to pass through the garden.
It was noisy there now, full of movement and chatter.
Rachel sneezed delicately into her hand.
“Leroy, who planted these lavender flowers? Doesn’t that person know I’m allergic?”
Leroy looked at her with pity in his eyes and gently held his handkerchief over her nose.
Then he turned to the gardener.
“Tear out all the lavender in this area. And that swing set? Get rid of it. Any birds‘ nests in the way–clear them out too!”
That patch of lavender had been something my dad picked up off the roadside during one of his rare lucid moments.
He told me that even if he wasn’t around anymore, the flowers would be.
I stared wide–eyed at the gardener’s shovel as it struck the soil.
“Wait a second!” I shouted, stopping them.
Everyone froze and looked toward Leroy, waiting for his reaction.
His expression was unreadable.
“You think this place is your personal playground? That you can plant whatever you want, do whatever you want? Or is it that you’re actually trying to trigger Rachel’s allergies?” he said.
I was five when my dad brink of death. I snuck into the Quinn’s residence, begging Elise to help save him.
She was about to kick me out when her husband at the time–Leroy’s father, Charlie Quinn–saw me.
He said it was fine to raise a few extra kids. Consider it charity.
And that’s how I ended up living at the Quinn’s residence for 20 years.
Back then, Leroy would play with me and the house staff, even though I was shy and withdrawn. He once told me that Quinn’s residence would always be my home.
Next to that patch of lavender was a little wooden sign Leroy had made when we were kids.
It read, “A place just for Cecilia and me. Our forever home.”
I lowered my eyes, ignoring the rotted old sign, and gave a deep bow.
“Mr. Quinn, Ms. Davidson… I’m sorry. I didn’t know the rules. But please, Mr. Quinn, don’t destroy the flowers. I’ll
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Chapter 2
clean it all up myself…”
Leroy seemed thrown off by my bow.
Rachel suddenly started trembling.
“Leroy, I feel so dizzy…”
Her delicate voice brought him back to his senses.
With a wave of his hand, he barked, “What are you all standing around for? Get rid of it!”
The lush lavender was pulled into the shredder, and crushed into a mess of purple pulp.
“No!”
I lunged forward without thinking, grabbing onto anything I could.
Leroy, startled, let go of Rachel, and she stumbled backward into a tree.
“Are you out of your mind?!” he shouted.
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He pulled me away, eyes red with frustration–but then he noticed something in my hand, a single lavender bloom… and the rotted piece of wood.
“You…” he murmured.
My tears spilled over.
“You said you couldn’t sleep, remember? That’s why I planted the lavender Dad gave me to help you sleep better.”
The wooden sign crumbled entirely in my hand.
“Leroy, I don’t have a home anymore.”
Leroy stood frozen, reaching out like he wanted to hold me.
But at that moment, Rachel let out a piercing scream.
Up in the tree, from the birdhouse I’d made with my own hands, a clump of caterpillars fell right onto her.
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