Chapter 3

Fiona POV

His expression changed instantly.

Shock, rage, and undisguised revulsion.

He swung his hand and knocked the cup off the nightstand. Glass shattered everywhere.

"You think you can get what you want with these disgusting tricks?"

"Five years in that place, and this is all they taught you?"

My body froze.

The sound of shattering glass snapped me back to brief clarity.

I looked at his eyes burning with fury.

He'd misunderstood.

He straightened the shirt I'd pulled open, the disgust in his eyes nearly overflowing.

"Look carefully. I'm not one of those people from that place."

"As for you,"

He paused, each word like a knife.

"I have absolutely no interest."

With that, he turned and slammed the door.

The loud crash dragged me back to that dark night.

I curled up on the floor, my body still shaking.

Sounds came from the next room.

First, Winona's tearful consolation.

"Don't be angry. She's still young, maybe she just... likes you too much."

Then Luca's voice, suppressing his rage.

"If she'd been well-behaved, I could've treated her like a sister. But she had to disgust me this way."

Then came deliberately amplified sounds of intimacy.

The woman's laughter, the man's breathing, the bed creaking...

The nights in that place sounded just like this.

The sounds came from all directions, inescapable. Behind those sounds were the cries of girl after girl.

I covered my ears, but the sounds only grew clearer.

I crawled up and knelt on the cold floor, facing that direction.

Once.

Twice.

I slammed my forehead against the ground. The pain seemed to numb the torment inside.

Blood soon blurred my vision.

I chanted like someone possessed.

"Fiona doesn't have feelings for Luca anymore."

"Fiona doesn't have feelings for Luca anymore."

I had to kill the part of myself that still held hope.

At breakfast the next day, I appeared in the dining room right on time.

My bangs covered the wound on my forehead.

Luca frowned, about to speak, but Winona spoke first.

"The weather's nice today. Come with us to the polo club. We're picking out the engagement venue, and you can help us decide."

I didn't want to go out. I just wanted to hide.

"I..."

"Go."

Luca cut me off coldly, leaving no room for refusal.

I could only nod.

"...Okay."

On the club terrace, green grass stretched as far as the eye could see.

Luca went to take a call, leaving just Winona and me.

When the wind blew, all warmth vanished from her face.

"Having feelings for your guardian, how shameless."

My body trembled.

She sneered and set down her coffee cup.

"You think you hid it well? Your diary, your drawings-I knew about them long ago." She lowered her voice. "Five years ago, he could send you there. Five years later, I can too."

"Don't let anything go wrong at my engagement party. You need to disappear."

I thought of those torments, and my teeth began to chatter.

Looking at her, I used all my strength to promise.

"Don't worry..."

"I'll leave."