6
Sybil’s eyes darted around frantically for a moment before she composed herself, defaulting to her usual
damsel-in-distress persona.
“Julian, darling, don’t listen to Rosalie’s lies! She’s just jealous that you love me, so she’s trying to drive us
apart!”
“Drive us apart?!” Julian bellowed. “You’re the one who drove me and my wife apart! If it weren’t for you, Ros
alie never would have gotten hurt like this!”
Sybil fell silent for a beat, her gaze flickering to me, then back to him. A new strategy formed. “Julian, I didn’ know she was really hurt! You know how she is, always playing these little games at home. How was I supp
osed to know this time was real?”
My mother stormed into the room and slapped Sybil hard across the face. “How dare you slander my daugh ter! I know what my daughter is like, you little witch!”
Sybil shrieked, but this time, the crowd of onlookers just stared, their faces cold and impassive. No one
moved to help her.
Desperate, she turned her tear-filled eyes to Julian. “Julian, darling, you love me most, remember? If she hadn’t tricked her way into your bed, I would have been your wife! How can you treat your precious Sybil like
this?”
That was the wrong thing to say. Julian’s eyes turned red with fury.
He grabbed Sybil by the hair and yanked her to her feet. “Don’t think I don’t know that the drugged drink was meant for me. You were the one trying to climb into my bed! If Rosalie hadn’t accidentally drunk it, your pathetic little scheme would have worked!”
Sybil’s sobs grew more hysterical. “No, Julian, darling, it’s not true! Don’t listen to her! I love you! I jumped into a river for you!”
She punctuated her plea with a few practiced coughs.
In the past, this display would have melted Julian’s heart, sending him rushing to comfort her.
But now, he just slammed her head against the wall.
“You jumped in the river because you were running a pathetic pity play after you got caught selling corporate secrets! Are you still trying to lie to me, even now?”
Sybil shook her head wildly. “No… it’s not like that…”
12.58
Chapter 2
12.58
The elder Mr. Wheeler, who had been watching from the doorway, had finally had enough. He strode into the room, thumping his cane on the floor for emphasis. “Are you going to stand there and claim that I, the patria rch of this family, am lying?”
Seeing the old man step forward, Sybil was finally rendered speechless.
She looked around the room in a panic. Everyone-my parents, the elder Mr. Wheeler, even Julian-wa: staring at her with pure, unadulterated loathing.
Only my expression remained calm, distant.
She must have mistaken my detachment for a lifeline. She began to crawl towards me on her hands an <nees. “Rosalie, please, save me! I never really wanted to hurt you, I just… I just love Julian so much…”
turned my head away.
spoke a single sentence to my father. “I don’t want to see her again.”
Before my dad could even respond, the elder Mr. Wheeler spoke, his voice booming with authority. “If it wer en’t for the memory of your own father, who worked himself to death helping to build this company, a veno nous creature like you would have been cast out of this family long ago!”
Julian stepped forward, and with one final, brutal slap, sent Sybil sprawling, blood trickling from her nose and
mouth.
Get out,” he snarled.
Realizing the game was truly over, Sybil scrambled to her feet and fled the room like a beaten dog.
After she was gone, Julian returned to my bedside, his voice soft and pleading. “Rosalie, the viper is gone Please, can you forgive me now? I understand everything. The person I truly love is you. Just give me one more chance. Let us start over. Let me make it all up to you, please?”
looked at him, my heart a placid, empty lake.
Not a single ripple.
was the treasured daughter of the Thorne family, the heir to a financial empire. And yet, for the love of this one man, I had been brought to ruin.
I had made that mistake once. I would not make it again.
As for the man before me…
One betrayal is enough. There are no second chances.
