Sebastian’s POVGranny’s birthdays have been the happiest days of our marriage, that’s for sure.For a moment there, I seem to have seen the Scar I used to know. When I felt her tender body under my plam again, when I saw her lively eyes. When she talked to me.She used to report everything to me. Even a weird-shaped cloud outside her window she would take a picture and send it to me, adding a smiley face. But now, all she talks about with me is the fucking divorce.I don’t want a divorce.Too much is at stake. The stock, the company’s image, Granny’s wrath. I clearly remember how stern Granny was when she heard that the marriage was a deal Scar made by threatening a life. I don’t know how Scar turned Granny around, but Granny loves Scar now, sometimes more than she loves me.Scar keeps using Ava to probe me. About how I can marry Ava now. That’s how I know she still cares about me, she just hides her love away and wouldn’t let me see any. Her way of showing her love used to be nothing
Scarlett's POVI think Granny heard me. In fact, I think half of the party heard me. But Granny is not the kind of person that would embarrass you in public, and I dare not to bring it up myself -- I just yelled at her beloved grandson, and now my ears are burning.I don’t even know what I could say IF she asked. We have never fought in front of Granny before.“How are you doing recently?” Granny chats with me casually, leading the way among the crowd, nodding and returning smiles from time to time, “Sebastian mentioned something about a new job?”I sneak a glance at Sebastian, and he rolls his eyes all the way to the ceiling.So he “complained” something about a new job. No doubt it’s because of Adrian.“It’s because my...hmmm, Mom, mentioned Richard Hanson the other day,” I try to find my words to skip the crazy mess that happened recently without lying...too much, “and I thought maybe I could give my script a try.”“Ohh, you wrote a script?! How wonderful!” Granny exclaims with a su
Scarlett’s POV“Granny, I’ll go check!” I pick up my dress a little, hurrying to leave.“I’ll come with,” Granny says, frowning as she looks over, too. She doesn’t like people raising a fuss at her party, and she would like it even less if she knows who Lilith is.I blurt: “No need, Granny, I’ll sort it out--”But before I can finish, a fair-sounding voice cuts in:“Granny, no need to stress yourself out. I’m sure Scar can take care of the situation...considering that girl is her friend.”Ava Snake Fuller. Of course she would jump out at such a moment. I bet whatever is going on with Lilith, Ava has her hand in it. She’s the only one with a motive to attract sour attention to Lilith.To my surprise, Granny didn’t get any of Ava’s keywords, but asks coldly: “Who are you calling Granny?”The smile freezes on Ava’s face. She quickly flinches to Sebastian’s side and murmurs: “I’m sorry, Mrs. Knight...”Granny shoots her a cold, knife-like glare before she strides in Lilith’s direction like
Scarlett’s POVI used to argue with Ava, when I cared.I don’t care about Sebastian anymore, and I no longer have any desire to “win” over her, especially in a meaningless argument. She has his heart, end of story. I just want to protect my friend right now.Ava always wins our battles by making me the bully. She doesn’t know how to handle my surrender. Utter speechless, she bites her lips in silence, and her dogs move away hesitantly.I grab Lilith’s wrist as I turn to Granny: “I’m really sorry...”“Where are you going?”I almost run into a guy, and I pull to a sudden halt at his words. He replaced the mean girls' group, blocking my way. To think I thought it was fascinating how we shared a rare eye color. Now I just want to hit him in the head when I see his taunting eyes.I KNEW he was part of the evil plan!!!“You--!” I grip his collar to blow out. He grabs my wrist gently, stopping me from doing more damage, but not hurting me as he cuts me off faster:“I thought the fuss was abou
Scarlett's POV“So, you are saying that I bought a knockoff, is that it?”The handsome stranger does not let Lilith go, but looks up at the group of mean girls with a nod. Suddenly all his moves are elegant in my eyes, a pleasure to watch for some reason.I think Lilith feels the same because she is looking up at him with a smitten slash stunned look from his chest.“I--” The mean girls all look at the one standing in the middle, Olivia Keen, Ava’s best friend. She hems and haws, “I mean...”Eyes darting to Ava, she’s too nervous and she needs instructions from her master.“I’m sorry, who are we talking to?” Ava clears her throat and steps up, her tone polite and her voice pleasent. It’s the voice she uses when she wants to impress. Guess it’s universal that the stranger is considered handsome. Or Ava just evaluated the tailed suits on him well.The stranger cocks his eyebrows with an amused look as if pleasantly surprised.I’m nervous again. If Ava wants to come off as charming, she c
Scarlett’s POVThe circle is surprised to utter silence. Aurora frowns -- Granny is resolving the situation on his behalf and he doesn’t seem to understand that. Ava smiles politely with restraint, delivering her disappointment at an “unreasonable liar” perfectly.Even Granny is surprised.Lilith shoots over a worried look at him and he gives her a reassuring smile.The mean girls throw mocks mixed with attacks, but none seem to even land on the stranger. He just stands there with a polite smile, looking directly at Ava.“I’m not sure if I want to answer your question,” Ava pouts lightly, “considering you didn’t answer mine.”About his name? I mean, sure he didn’t answer, but I would hardly consider that an offense--“Why did you--” The stranger takes a step in Ava’s direction and Ava backs a step as if scared.Instantly Sebastian walks up and stands between Ava and the stranger.“I mean no harm. Can I not even talk to the lady who made a pretty mean accusation at me?” The stranger loo
Scarlett’s POVEveryone can see that Ava lied at this point, and so could Olivia. And she chose to throw Ava under the bus, instead of herself--Olivia was the one throwing insults at Lilith, and if she apologized, she would come off as the bully. But she insisted that she did it only to extend justice for her “best friend”, and now that friend who lied, is taking all the heat.“I--I never showed you a dress! Olivia...” Ava shoots her head up at Olivia, her voice shivering with pain, “I’m sorry if you misunderstood anything, but I never said Lilith’s dress was a knockoff...”“But you said--” Olivia spats back, only to freeze with a horrified look.I shake my head slowly. Olivia is too naive. She doesn’t know. Ava is very good at lying, and she never leaves any loose strings when she lies. The most likely case is that Ava “indicated” to Olivia and others that she has the same dress as Lilith. Maybe a line or two about how Lilith is poor.And that gave Olivia the impression that Lilith c
Damian’s POVI'm looking for my sister.She was lost 20 years ago, and I have been looking for her.All I knew was that she was lost in North Dakota. I mean, that’s where we found Mom’s body. My baby sister wasn’t with her. The policeman announced her death years ago, telling us that maybe she was eaten by an animal. What a ridiculous reason to provide a family in grief.I have begged the police to not give up but they called it still. I even wanted to sue them, but Dad wouldn’t let me. They aren’t the one at fault.I was.And I couldn’t live with that.That’s why I became a lawyer myself.I have seen my share of darkness in humanity, and I wanted to be able to do something when unfairness like this happen. To me, to anyone.Also, a lawfirm is the best cover for conducting investigations. I graduated early, hurrying through school as fast as I can to start my plan. And I have screened through the whole state of North Dakota for my sister.And three states after that.This is my fourth
In the end, Lilith told Sebastian everything she knew, didn’t get anything out of that man, AND got pushed into the small bedroom -- to avoid Scar.She didn’t notice the door on the wall behind his desk when she first went into his office. The door is small, the room smaller -- just enough for a single bed, a table and a floor mirror. Nothing more. The owner of the room didn’t put any thoughts into comfort when he was deciding the ufnction of the room.The bed is not made. Someone just used it very recently. The table is, magically, messier. On its top piled papers, folders, and notes. Whoever left them there, left them in an order that he might recognize, but no others could.Lilith dares not touch anything. Turning around twice, she ends up standing in the small space between the bed and the door, awkwardly.“Where is your honorable guest?” Scar starts firing the moment she is allowed in. Lilith gets so nervous, her breathe slows down to the lowest, too. Scar might be on fire, think
Sebastian’s words freezes Lilith. His accurate intuiation shocks, but not as much as his aggressive eyes. Looking into his eyes, Lilith knows she can’t win this fight without needing him to say those words. She has seen how tamed this man can be in front of Scar, and that gave her the illusion that he is not dangerous. Not as how any man in his position holding his kind of power should be.How wrong was she.When it comes to anyone but Scar, he is still the predator who is to be reckoned with.She frowns and tries to run, but the man wouldn’t let her open the door: “If you know that Silco might harm Scar and you hide it from me, then it’s on your hand when Scar gets hurt.”“It’s on me when I refuse to deliver Scar into YOURS hands, which are holding Ava Fuller’s filthy bloody ones?!” Lilith fights back fiercely, “Don’t make me laugh! I come here because YOU begged to make amendment, no the other way around!”The man doesn’t show it, but Lilith could see that her words sting. If there
Does she really treat Sebastian differently?Scar doesn’t like touching this question. It stings. He is like a wound on her heart that just won’t heal. Every scar he left on her remains hurting, bleeding, and corrupting nonstop, yet she just can’t seem to gouge it out.If only she could.Why is it so hard to just cut all ties with this man? However she warns herself of the danger this man poses, she keeps finding him back in her life, closer and closer.Unlike Ava who has never even apologized for what happened but basically took all the harm she did on Scar as okay, Sebastian apologizes. He puts up the genuine guilt act all the time. Doing the right thing, that’s his brand. He takes all his chances to apologize, but he still doesn’t understand--His fault is not giving Ava a key to his house. It wasn’t even falling for that simple lie when the
Scar couldn’t answer Silco’s question.What kind of a question was that?! She doesn’t treat them differently! They are all her enemies, and they all played a part in that horrifying night five years ago! When Ava bullied her, Sebastian took Ava’s side; when Ava needed her blood, Sebastian was the one plugging the tube into Scar’s wrist; when Ava tried to murder her child, HIS child, he gave Ava the key to their house! So of course she treats them differently! If Ava was a murderer, then Sebastian was just a stupid tool Ava used; if Ava wanted her dead, Sebastian only failed to protect her.So why that question?!Why SHOULD she treat them as equally evil? She doesn’t only because she is a fair person!Having a bloody battle in her mind, Scar couldn’t help but feel angry when she couldn’t pin down where the anger comes from.It was a simple question, one that she does have an answer for.So why couldn’t she?Why did she feel guilty when Silco asked that, and why did she run from that qu
Silco finally nods with a proud smile, seeing Scar had led her to where he was leading her to go: “I think that would raise our chances by a lot, princess.”Scar’s eyes beam, not at the coming win, but at the proud look from Silco.She doesn’t even realize it.Never in the first twenty years of life has she tasted what being proud of feels like, and that’s not because of a lack of trying. For a very long time, she believed so long as she worked hard, she would get the praise from Jack and Anna just like Ava. She never did.It feels amazing.While Scar is enjoying her newfound secret, forbidden satisfaction, Lilith is amazed at the closeness shared between Scar and Silco that her best friend doesn’t seem to even notice herself. Does Scar still remember that she doesn’t even know the identity of this man? Scar looks up at him like a little lamb at her shepherd.What’s with this sudden, almost-father-daughter vibe?!“So we just wait?” Scar asks Silco, “What if they don’t make a move?”“Y
“Silco!” Still in the euphoric state, Scar springs off the sofa, demanding the man like a little girl, “You knew him?! Elijah Green? Did you know what a weirdo he was?! Who tells people that they look like their dead friend on the first time they meet?! Why on earth did you make me go to that horrible party?! You owe me an explanation!”Silco lets out a smirk, “Dead...friend? Interesting...” He laughs at her pout, rubbing her hair as he leads her back to the sofa: “The party was horrible? Then why did I hear that the Fuller’s mother-daughter pair put on quite a show to entertain?”Well, it WAS quite enjoyable when they panicked as their lies spilled all over the floor before Scar picked it up for them.Scar sticks her tongue out.“Sure, she begged me for mercy,” Scar shrugs, throwing herself back into the sofa with a loud sigh, “but they only wanted to keep up their lies in front of the Green Lady. I have been calling her about our deal and she hasn’t picked up yet. Pretty sure I got
“I have heard a lot about you,” Elijah Green grins at Scar, giving a meaningful glance in the Green Lady’s direction.The Fullers are pasting around the Green Lady again, like two buzzing flies that would always come back. Looking over, Scar couldn’t help but let out a snort, “So have I.” She says with a cold voice, “Is that what this conversation is for?”If he is here to fight for Ava, too. Scar frowns. She swears to God! She would—“I think they are lying to mom,” Elijah Green answers tamely, as if he doesn’t even hear the sarcasm in Scar’s tone. In Scar’s surprised look, the man laughs like a marshmallow, with a childish, mischievous shade in there, “Anyone who looks so much alike my dear -- hmm -- friend, couldn’t be a bully.”Every time he says that, he adds a pause in there as if it originally wasn’t a “friend”, but something else there. Weird. Scar thinks.“...but I bet you are fierce, no? I bet you are kind to people, but take the stand if needed,” Elijah Green is still going
Sebastian is afraid.Never in his life has he been so. How could he not? He is in the face of his final judgement. He only got through the past five years lying to himself that Scar hated him because Alice died, when he managed to save Alice. That’s his one shred of hope. That some day, when he could tell Scar that, all will be forgiven and forgotten.But that’s precisely why he dared not touch it. Because deep down, he knows that the answer is likely to be no.He just doesn’t know how to survive that answer. If his actions would never get forgiveness from the one person he can’t live without. Then what?It takes him all his willpower to force his eyes up to meet Scar’s. His throat so dry that it starts hurting. He grips a fist, hides it in his pocket with his whole body stiff like a rock.There is storm in Scar’s eyes.There is anger, of course. Anger for all that has happened. Anger for all his stupid mistreatment and self-righteousness. Anger for all the hurt he used to meet her lo
In so many years to come, Sebastian would be grateful that Scar caved, again.He could see the struggle in her eyes, and the familiar fire that would have driven her to call off the deal. But for several long seconds, she doesn’t say anything.He takes that as an “in” and drags her away.He is not sure what he would have done if Scar chose Scott. It’s not like he could really keep her away from the lead of her mom’s case. He has investigated for so many years, just so he could give her what she wants when she wants it.Just not Scott.Or any other men.“I didn’t know you were interested in eye candy,” Sebastian squeezes Scar's hand punishingly when he notices that long after they arrived at the small table across the room from Scott, she is still gazing in that direction.Scar frowns at his sting. What’s his problem?? Ever since she enter Ava’s proud event, he has been a bother none stop. Just because he has got something that she’s interested, he thought he could walk over her??“I g