The next morning, the sound of footsteps jolted me awake. I sat up quickly, my body tense, listening. The shuffle of skirts, the rustle of cloth, drawers being opened—people were in my room.

My hands gripped the blanket. “Who’s there?”

No one answered. The movements continued, steady and purposeful. Panic surged through me, hot and sharp.

I reached blindly toward the small table beside my bed, found the vase, and hurled it to the ground. It shattered into pieces with a violent crash.

“I said, what do you think you’re doing?!” My voice cracked as it echoed against the walls.

The room went still for a heartbeat before a cool, practiced voice replied. “The master ordered us to pack your things. The new mistress will need this room for her clothes.”

The words hit me like ice water. I clenched the blanket until my knuckles ached. That voice… I knew it.

“Mildred.” My chest tightened. The head maid. The woman who had practically raised Carlisle and, later, my Emily. She was more than just staff; she was family once. But over the years, she had turned cold, her influence warping Emily’s heart against me.

I wanted to scream at her, to claw at the betrayal spilling through my veins, but my tongue stilled. If I fought her now, if I rebelled, there would be no way left to beg Carlisle to take me back. Mildred was too important.

She gave a sharp order to the others. “Continue.”

The maids resumed packing my things into boxes, each thud of folded fabric and click of latches like nails hammered into my coffin. My hands shook as I bit my nails, struggling to think. This had to be another phase—Carlisle’s way of punishing me whenever a new woman caught his eye. He always came back eventually. Always. This had to be Cosette’s idea, whispering poison into his ear, demanding more, demanding everything.

I couldn’t sit still. I stumbled out of the room, ignoring the startled gasps of the maids. My bare feet padded against the cool floors as I made my way toward the dining hall.

Halfway down the corridor, a sound stopped me cold.

Laughter. Emily’s laughter. Bright, genuine, the kind I hadn’t heard in years—not from me.

“Thank you, Ms. Cosette!” she chirped. “I really love this so much! You’re the best! I finally found someone with as much fashion sense as me!”

My chest tightened.

Cosette’s voice followed, playful and smug. “Oh, Emily, I’d be so happy if you could call me Mother. After all, I’ll be marrying your father soon.”

I froze. The words struck like a dagger. Marry? My knees weakened, and I clung to the wall for balance.

“What… what do you mean?” My voice slipped out before I could stop it.

Silence. Then Emily’s irritated tone: “What the... since when were you there?”

I staggered forward, each step heavier than the last. “Carlisle,” I called out desperately, searching for his presence. “What is she supposed to mean? I thought this was just another phase—like always. You kick me out when you have a new woman, but then you come back. That’s how it’s always been! But divorce? Marriage? With her? What—”

Emily cut me off, her words sharp as glass. “You’re really an idiot, Mom. Can’t you get it? Dad is going to marry Ms. Cosette—I mean, Mother Cosette. It’s a fact. And I love it! My idol is going to be my mother. Isn’t it great?”

Her voice was full of excitement, joy, pride—the kind of joy she had never once given me.

I staggered, the world tilting beneath my feet. A pain deeper than my illness, deeper than my blindness, pierced through me.

“Why?” My voice broke, tears spilling hot down my cheeks. “Why are you all doing this to me? I did everything for you. I accepted everything. Every phase. Every humiliation. I tried to understand, to endure, because I thought if I loved you enough, it would make up for my blindness. I thought love could replace everything I lacked.”

My shoulders shook. “Do you… do you even love me?”

The room was silent for a long moment. And then Carlisle’s voice finally came, calm and unflinching.

“Our marriage was a mistake.”

The air left my lungs.

“The woman I loved was your twin,” he continued coldly. “Selene. The reason I married you was because I thought I could feel her in you.”

Selene. My twin sister. My other half, who had died in the same accident that stole my sight.

My knees buckled, but I clung to the wall. “Selene…”

“I tried to love you, Emma,” Carlisle said, softer now, almost regretful—but the words still cut like blades. “But I couldn’t. The divorce settlement will be enough for you to live on. Don’t worry about Emily. She looks so much like Selene. I’ll take good care of her.”

His chair scraped against the floor. “Goodbye, Emma.”

The sound of his footsteps faded, leaving me surrounded by the echo of his words.

A mistake. That was all I had been.

The daughter I gave my soul for, the husband I clung to, the life I tried to preserve—all of it crumbled before me, and there was no light, no sight, no warmth left in the world.

Cosette’s laughter rang again, sweet and triumphant. “Well, that’s settled then.”

I stood rooted in place, shaking, as though my very bones were breaking.

The rain beat down like endless needles, soaking me to the bone. My suitcase handles slipped in my palms as I stood at the gates of the mansion I had once called home. The same mansion where I had laughed, cooked, prayed, and begged to be enough.

Now I was cast out.

The maids hadn’t looked at me when they shoved the suitcases outside. They had only muttered that “the master’s orders” left no room for pity. The door shut behind me with a dull thud that echoed like a coffin sealing shut.

I stood there, trembling, water running down my face, mingling with tears that wouldn’t stop. My body felt numb, yet my heart bled in every corner.

This—this was the price of my weakness.

Every cruelty from Emily, every insult from Carlisle, every laugh from Cosette—they stabbed sharper in the rain. I pressed my fist against my chest and asked myself the question I had avoided for years.

When did it all begin to fall apart?

And I knew the answer.

It began with the accident.

The memory clawed its way back through the storm.

Selene’s laugh still echoed in my mind that night we drove down the winding coastal road. She was radiant—my twin, my mirror, though she always shone brighter. I had been at the wheel, the radio humming softly as the wind tangled our hair.

Then—the screech.

The car swerved, the world spun, and before I could even cry out, we crashed through the guardrail.

The sea below swallowed us whole.

My head slammed against the dashboard, white light bursting behind my eyes. My vision shattered, colors bleeding together, the world spinning like a broken carousel.

“Emma!” Selene’s voice screamed through the chaos, sharp and terrified.

The car filled with icy water. She kicked at her door, again and again, grunting, gasping, until finally it burst open. A rush of water dragged us, but she grabbed me with desperate strength.

“Hold on!” she shouted. Her arm hooked under mine, dragging my limp body toward the surface.

I tried. God, I tried. My chest burned, my sight dimmed, but Selene pushed and pulled until at last we broke through the water. I choked on air, my lungs searing with life.

But she didn’t stop. She pushed me higher, forcing me toward safety.

I clung to her hand. “Selene!”

Then—a tug.

Her scream tore through the storm as something below dragged her down.

Her foot was caught.

She thrashed, kicking, gasping. “Emma—help me!”

I reached for her, but my body was heavy, my head spinning from the blow. My sight wavered in streaks of gray and red.

Selene’s face was the last thing I saw. Her lips moved beneath the water, her hair swirling around her like a dark halo. She was slipping, sinking—

And I was powerless.

The world tilted, blackness smothered me, and when I woke again, Selene was gone.

Forever.

A sob tore out of me as I clutched my suitcase to my chest in the present. My tears blended with the storm. “Selene… I’m sorry. I should’ve saved you. I should’ve done more. If I weren’t so weak, you’d still be here.”

My voice broke. “You wouldn’t have left me like they did.”

I pressed my forehead against the hard case, rocking as if it could cradle me. For years, I had carried the weight of her death like chains. I believed I deserved this loneliness, this rejection. Maybe Carlisle was right—maybe I was nothing but a mistake.

And then—

A voice slipped through the storm. Smooth. Mocking.

“I’m glad you’re still here.”

I stiffened, lifting my head. The raincoat rustled as the footsteps drew near. I knew that sound. I would know it anywhere.

“Cosette,” I whispered, my stomach twisting with dread.

She chuckled, the sound cutting through the rain like a blade. “So pitiful. Standing here in the storm like a stray cat no one wants.”

I wiped my face quickly, forcing myself to stand tall despite the water soaking through my dress. “Are you here to mock me again? Is it not enough that you stole my husband and daughter? Must you watch me crawl, too?”

“Oh, Emma,” she purred, drawing closer. “You think so little of me. I don’t just want to mock you. I want to crush you.”

I gritted my teeth, clutching my suitcase tighter. “I have nothing left to say to you.”

“Perhaps.” Her tone sharpened, playful malice dripping in every word. “But maybe you’d like to know the truth about your sister. About Selene.”

My breath hitched. The rain was loud, but her words thundered louder.

“What are you talking about?” I demanded.

Cosette leaned close, so near I could hear the smirk in her voice. “Don’t you wonder who was really behind that accident? Because I know. I know exactly who caused Selene’s death.”

The storm roared around us, but all I could hear was the pounding of my own heart.

The rain didn’t stop. It chased me down every street, drowning out the noise of the city and soaking through my thin clothes until my skin burned with cold. My suitcase dragged behind me, wheels catching in the cracks of the pavement, but I barely noticed.

Cosette’s words looped endlessly in my mind.

“Don’t you wonder who was really behind that accident? Because I know.”

I clenched my jaw and shook my head hard, as if I could fling her voice out into the storm.

“Why do you think I would believe anything you said?” I had spat at her before walking away.

Her laugh still echoed in my ears—sweet and mocking. “True, nice to hear you finally have some brain at least. It’s up to you to believe me or not.”

But she hadn’t stopped there.

“Don’t you know anything about the relationship between Selene and Carlisle? His father never agreed with her. Selene was too strong for a woman. His mother—oh, she was the worst—too conservative, too narrow. She wanted Carlisle to marry someone like me. Someone educated. Someone classy. Someone perfect.”

Her pause had been deliberate, cruel. "So, maybe you know where this is coming from? Or are you too much of an idiot to figure it out?"

I remembered how my lips had trembled, the words escaping me before I could stop them. “Did they… order that accident?”

Cosette’s delighted hiss cut through the storm. "Bingo! Though the one who came up with the idea was Mildred. But the order—it came from Carlisle’s parents."

Now, stumbling blindly through the rain-soaked streets, I pressed a trembling hand against my mouth. My stomach turned.

Carlisle’s parents.

The very family I had bent myself backward for, trying to please. The ones I had begged to accept me. I had tried so hard to smile, to serve, to be small enough, obedient enough, gentle enough—anything so they might approve.

And all this time… they had killed Selene.

My knees buckled. The wet ground met me harshly, gravel scraping against my palms. The rain pelted harder, as if the sky itself mocked my weakness.

I wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

I don’t remember how I reached the cemetery.

The storm guided me, or maybe it was Selene herself pulling me toward her grave. My hands found the cold stone, familiar under my fingertips. I traced her name carved into it. My throat burned.

“I tried, Selene,” I whispered. My voice cracked. “I tried to love them. I tried to love him. Even after they took you away from me.”

The tears came hot and fast, washing down with the rain. I pressed my forehead to the grave. “How pathetic is that? I gave my heart to the very family that murdered you.”

A sound escaped me then—something between a sob and a laugh. It started small, shaky, but it grew louder, twisting into something wild.

I laughed.

I laughed until my body shook, until the grief splintered into something sharper. My laugh was sad, then bitter, then mocking—until finally it curdled into something dark.

“What a cruel joke this is,” I choked out between gasps. “The man I devoted myself to… his family killed you, Selene. And he… that bastard fcking knew. He didn’t stop them. He didn’t protect you. He just stood there, too afraid, too weak—like me. Maybe that’s why he married me in the first place. Because I was weak enough to accept it.”

My fists struck the wet earth.

I cursed them all.

By name, one by one, letting each syllable drip with venom. Carlisle’s parents, who ordered Selene’s death. Mildred, who whispered the idea into their ears. Cosette, who delighted in tearing me apart. Emily, who spat at me as if I were less than dirt. And finally Carlisle himself, the coward who let it all happen.

The words tore out of me raw and jagged, carried away by the storm, but they left me hollowed and burning at the same time.

Then, as the fury ebbed, a thought flickered in the darkness. A name.

Sebastian.

Yes. Sebastian.

The one person left who had not abandoned me. The only one who might still stand on my side.

My hands fumbled desperately to my bag. My fingers searched blindly until I felt the smooth rectangle of my phone. I clutched it like a lifeline, my heart hammering.

“Sebastian…” I whispered into the rain, my lips trembling. “Help me.”

I pressed the phone to my ear, my breath shuddering, waiting for the line to connect.

And in the silence between the storm and the ring, I realized—this was only the beginning.