Chapter 8
The sunset glowed in the distance.
Ember and I locked the shop door and were just about to leave when a muffled voice sounded behind us.
“We understand. We won’t… disturb you anymore.”
I couldn’t tell who said it. All I heard was Madre Natalie’s quiet sobbing. My steps paused, but I didn’t turn back. I walked
toward the dying sunlight. Ember squeezed my hand tighter.
“Amelia, I’m not like them. I’ll stay with you. Always. You’re the best person in the whole world. And tonight. I want your
lasagna.*
I smiled and nodded. “Alright. I’ll make as much as you want.”
Behind us, the three of them stood in utter silence, not making another sound.
After that day, they truly stopped appearing. Life returned to peace. Until one afternoon, when the glass door was shoved
open violently.
Rhea stepped inside surrounded by bodyguards, carried her pregnancy like a shield, her hand clutching her stomach as if
it were the only currency she had left.
Except she didn’t look composed at all, her eyes burned with venom.
“Amelia, why are you still alive? You should have died in that alley ten years ago! You should have died when they hated
you most! You are a stain on a life I’ve spent ten years bleaching white!”
I lifted my eyes to her and only then noticed how thin she’d become beneath her designer suit. Dark circles bruised her
eyes. All the pampered glow she once had was long gone.
I didn’t bother engaging. I continued wiping the counter. “If you’re not buying anything, please leave
My calmness enraged her.
“You opened this shop just to make them feel guilty, didn’t you? Stop pretending you’re above it all! Dominic is my
husband. The child in my belly is his! Why can’t you leave us alone?”
“Vincent and Mother are my real family. You stole twenty years-wasn’t that enough?”
She looked hysterical, as if I were the one who had wronged her. After a moment of silence, I walked up to her and
slapped her across the face.
While she was still stunned, I slapped her again.
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“So in your mind. I owed you back then?”
Rhea clutched her face, shrieking. “You filthy bitch, you dare hit me?! Hold her down!”
The men in black suits started moving, but I was no longer the powerless foster daughter they once toyed with
I grabbed the metal mop handle by the door and drove it into the front man’s kneecap, sending him to the ground.
Ember burst out from the kitchen with a rolling pin and swung it with zero hesitation.
Chaos erupted. A trembling female assistant whispered, “Ma’am, should we call Mr. Ashford and Don Vincent-
Rhea’s face went corpse white. “Silence! If a word of this reaches the press…”
Before she could finish, the shop door burst open.
Dominic stood in the doorway, voice cold enough to freeze the room.
“Rhea. What are you doing?”
Chapter 8
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