Chapter 4Five Years Of Playing Dead For A Lesson I Never Needed

“Was it fun, Graham? Was it fun to lie to me for five years?”

I tore off my cap and scarf and rushed to his side, grabbing his sleeve. “What was my crime? What did I do that was so wrong you had to torture me like this?”

Panic flashed in his eyes. He glanced around at the onlookers and then grabbed my arm, his voice a low, hard hiss. “There are too many people here. We need to go outside.”

“You’re the one who can’t be seen!” I yelled, my eyes burning with tears. I wrenched my arm free. “You and Mom and Dad conspired to trick me—to tell me we were bankrupt, in debt, and that you were doing some grim, humiliating job!”

“But the truth? They’re on a permanent vacation, and you’re driving home every night in a Maybach! I was the only one suffering!” My voice broke into a raw, hysterical cry. “Tell me, Graham! Why? Just tell me, what’s the big deal about spending a thousand dollars when you have billions in the bank?!”

Graham’s face went cold. “I knew you were listening in this afternoon. That’s why you asked those questions.”

He seized my wrist again, his grip tight, trying to physically haul me out of the restaurant.

A waiter suddenly rushed over, grabbing my other arm. “Ma’am, you haven’t paid the check! That’s five hundred dollars!”

Graham froze. His brow furrowed in a familiar, judgmental way. “Did you order the most expensive thing on the menu, Elle? Still haven’t learned the value of a dollar?”

He deliberately let the restaurant’s gaze linger on me for a humiliating moment before pulling out a card.

Outside, Vivianna followed, her voice dripping with false sympathy. “Elle, your parents and Graham only did this to teach you a lesson! You shouldn’t be ungrateful!”

“This has nothing to do with you!”

The nameless fire in my chest exploded. I yanked free of Graham’s grasp and slapped Vivi across the face.

She shrieked, clutching her cheek in stunned disbelief.

Snap!

The next second, Graham’s hand connected with my own face, paying back the blow.

“Elle, are you serious? Would Mom and Dad and I have gone to all this trouble if you weren’t so relentlessly spoiled and vain?” he spat. “You think these five years were easy for us? And you dare to raise your hand? Maybe the punishment wasn’t long enough!”

I stood there, stunned, listening to his icy voice. In that moment, something deep inside me died.

After a long silence, I slowly lifted my head, a mocking laugh escaping my throat.

“Not enough?” I challenged. “What would satisfy you, Graham? My life? Is that enough of a payment?”

“Stop talking nonsense!”

His eyes flashed with annoyance. He called the driver and shoved me into the sedan.

Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I was laughing. “Which home are we going to? The small one or the real one?”

He didn’t even look at me. He pulled out his phone and called my parents.

“You need to come back. Yes, she knows. No, I didn’t tell her. She overheard me!”

BANG!

Graham smashed his phone against the console, his anger radiating through the car. He looked at me, his eyes full of exhaustion and impatience.

“And you have the nerve to cry?” he snarled. “I spent five years in that disgusting apartment with you. I’m the one who gets screamed at now! What are you crying about? Stop acting like you’re the only victim here!”

I was past speech, letting his insults wash over me until the car pulled up to our old, lavish estate.

Five years. I felt like a stranger as he physically pushed me through the front door.

The chilling pain in my stomach returned, churning. I couldn’t hold it back: I bent over and coughed up a pool of thick, black blood.

I scrambled to wipe it up, but Graham saw it. He sneered.

“Nice prop work, Elle. Trying to make me feel guilty? Save the dramatics for Mom and Dad. That cheap little act won’t work on me.”