Chapter 21
YVETTE’S POV
Sitting up in that damn hospital bed with tubes in my arm and pity in every nurse’s eyes. Fake miscarriage. Crocodile tears. I had the act down, but the bastard didn’t even come. Not a single visit. Just Allen dropping by like some fucking errand boy.
“Where’s Austin?” I demanded, my voice cracking like glass.
Allen didn’t even flinch. “Busy.”
“Busy?” I laughed, sharp and ugly. “I lost his child and he’s busy? Are you kidding me?”
Allen’s eyes stayed flat. “He said you’ll be taken care of. That’s all.”
“Taken care of?” I screamed, snatching the water glass and hurling it at the floor. It shattered just like the last pieces of my patience. “I don’t want his goddamn money! I want him here!”
Allen didn’t even blink. “Stop yelling. The whole floor can hear you.”
“Good! Let them hear me! Let them hear how the great Austin Livingston abandoned the womar who was carrying his baby.” My throat burned, my eyes stung, but it wasn’t grief. It was rage molten and choking.
Allen only sighed. “You’re wasting your breath. He doesn’t care.”
My chest twisted. “He cared before. He loved me. He chased me. He chose me over that slut.”
Allen stared cold. “Did he?” Then he left, just like that.
I grabbed the food tray and hurled it across the room, plates smashing, soup splattering agains the wall. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would explode. I clawed at the blankets kicked the IV stand down, ripped everything I could reach.
“Fuck you, Dahlia!” I screamed into the empty room. “You think you won because you’re wearing fancy dresses and smiling for the cameras? You think being the Castillo princess makes you untouchable? I’ll show you untouchable. I’ll break you in ways your perfect Maximilian can’t fix.”
I grabbed my phone with shaking hands and hit my grandparents’ number. They had to listen. They always listened.
The line clicked. My mother’s voice, cold and clipped. “Yvette, do you know what time it is?”
“Don’t give me that tone!” I spat, pacing barefoot across the broken glass. Blood smeared under my toes but I didn’t care. “Austin’s ignoring me. Everyone’s ignoring me. Do you know what i feels like to be humiliated by that bitch? She’s parading around as some sainted heiress while
I’m stuck in here like a fool.”
Father’s voice came through next, deep and steady. “Calm down.”
“Calm down? She ruined everything. She was supposed to die. Your thugs promised me she would die! Why is she alive, huh? Why is she on every goddamn newspaper, smiling like a queen? Why those thugs didn’t finish the job?”
Silence. Then Mother hissed, “Watch your mouth, Yvette.”
I laughed, high and shrill. “Don’t tell me to watch my mouth. I deserve answers. I’m your only daughter. You owe me!”
Chapter 21
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3:27 pm
Father finally spoke again. “Listen carefully. The Castillos deserve worse than death. That girl should never have existed in their world to begin with.”
I froze, my breath catching. “What the hell are you saying?”
Mother’s tone dropped to a venomous whisper. “We took her from them. We sold her off. Because we were not going to let another Castillo child inherit that empire.”
I gripped the phone tighter, my nails digging into my palm until I bled. “You… you did that? You kidnapped her?”
Father’s voice was stone. “The Castillos were too proud. Too strong. We broke their line, we crippled their legacy. And now she crawled back from the dirt. That’s on us.”
pressed the phone to my ear, my eyes wild, my lips trembling from fury and delight all at once ‘So she isn’t just some brat who got lucky. She’s the mistake you tried to erase.”
Mother’s voice slithered through the line. “Exactly. And if you want her gone for good… then we inish what we started.”
started laughing. Loud, broken, echoing off the wreckage of the room. Blood dripping from my eet, tears streaking my face, glass glittering around me like a crown of shards.
Then let’s finish it,” I whispered. “Let’s kill the little princess once and for all.”
The McKinneys showed up like ghosts. My parents never walked into a room. They invaded it Cold, polished, draped in silk and diamonds, their eyes sharper than any knife.
Mother’s lips curled the moment she saw me sitting in that hospital bed.
You embarrassed us. Again. Crying over that Livingston boy as if he’s worth your spit. Do you hink we built our empire so you could look like a desperate fool?”
clutched the blanket tighter. “Mother, I tried. I kept Austin in my hands for years, but that slut-” Father cut me off with one flick of his wrist. His voice was low, venom sliding under his words. We should have drowned that Castillo girl the day she was born. Tossed her body in the sea and let the fish chew on her bones. But no, your mother got sentimental. We sold her instead. Fate is laughing in our faces now.”
My jaw dropped. “You… you knew she was Castillo? From the start?”
Mother didn’t even blink. “Of course not at first. But looking at you now… you failed us, Yvette You let her crawl back and shine like some goddess while you play the pitiful mistress.”
‘I can fix it,” I hissed. “Just help me finish her. She cannot live.”
Father leaned closer, “You will shut your mouth and stop your tantrums in public. You will behave like a McKinsey. You will not scream, you will not smash glasses, you will not claw at shadows. If you want us to move, then you will stay obedient. Do you understand?”
I nodded, my throat dry. “Yes, Father.”
Mother’s nails clicked against her glass as she sipped her wine. “We’ll take care of her. The Castillos think they’ve won, but they don’t know how ruthless we are. You will watch and learn. If you ever humiliate us again, Yvette, you’ll wish you had been buried with that bitch baby the night she was stolen.”
Chapter 21
טופ
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3:29 pm PD
Their words sank like ice into my veins. I was nothing but a pawn to them. A breeding horse they
dressed in silk.
I got discharged and moved into their villa. Secluded, silent, crawling with guards. Austin didn’t even bother to call. Not one message. Nothing.
I paced my room, nails digging into my arms. “You bastard,” I muttered, staring at my phone “You used to crawl after me. Now you can’t even lift a finger? All because of her?”
Downstairs, my parents whispered plans. I heard Dahlia’s name laced between their schemes always Dahlia, Dahlia, Dahlia.
I pressed my head against the door and whispered back, “She is not taking everything. She is not taking him.”
But deep inside, paranoia ate me alive. Austin slipping away. My parents pulling strings couldn’t even see. And Dahlia standing at the center of it all, untouchable, smiling like she already won.
I opened the drawer. My hand shook when I touched it for the first time. Cold, heavy metal. The weight of power. The weight of finality.
I lifted the gun, my finger brushing the trigger, my reflection staring back at me through the polished steel.
“Dahlia,” I whispered, my lips curling into a smile that didn’t feel like mine. “If I can’t have him, n one will.”
3:29 pm DDD.
DAHLIA’S POV
