Chapter 3 His Favorite Lie

Isabelle immediately stepped forward to smooth things over. She took my hand and looked at me with an innocent expression.

"Aimee, don't be mad," she said gently. "They didn't mean anything by it. They're just a little too blunt."

Then she turned to the other women and pretended to scold them. "How could you talk to Aimee like that? Apologize to her."

The short-haired woman rolled her eyes, her tone growing even more vicious. "Apologize to her? Does she deserve that? She's a useless woman who can't even find her own parents."

Then she sneered. "Does she really think she's already the future Mrs. Terrell?"

"What did you just say?" I growled.

My anger finally broke through. I raised my hand to slap her.

But at that exact moment, Isabelle caught sight of Eric's car pulling up outside. A flash of calculation crossed her eyes, and she suddenly stepped forward to block the woman.

The sharp sound of a slap rang through the entryway.

My hand landed firmly across Isabelle's face.

For a second, I froze.

Eric's car had just stopped outside, and when he got out, that was the first thing he saw.

"Aimee, what are you doing?" His furious shout cut through the air.

He rushed over in a few long strides, pulled Isabelle protectively into his arms, and shoved me away.

I stumbled backward and slammed into the shoe cabinet behind me. A sharp pain shot through my lower back, but Eric did not even glance at me.

All his attention was on Isabelle.

He cupped her face with both hands, his voice suddenly soft and full of concern. "Does it hurt? Let me see."

Tears filled Isabelle's eyes as she shook her head in pitiful silence.

"Eric, I'm fine," she whispered. "Don't blame Aimee. She's just grieving."

Her generosity only made me look even more cruel.

Eric's face darkened completely. Still holding Isabelle, he turned his cold gaze on me. "Apologize to Isabelle."

I stood frozen in place.

The pain in my lower back tangled with the crushing ache in my chest until I could barely breathe.

"I didn't mean to hit her," I explained, my voice trembling with injustice. "She stepped in on purpose. They were the ones who started it. They insulted me and my parents."

Eric's expression did not soften. Instead, his gaze grew colder.

"What could they possibly have said that would justify you hitting someone?" he demanded. "Isabelle came here out of kindness to check on you, and this is how you treat her?"

He did not trust what I said. Perhaps, in his heart, Isabelle's feelings always took precedence. The truth was unimportant to him.

I looked at Isabelle's tearful face as she leaned in his arms and suddenly found the whole thing almost laughable.

'Of course. He's always been this way. If Isabelle's feelings didn't matter more than anything, he never would have arranged my parents' so-called deaths just to keep her from getting hurt.'

I took a deep breath and forced down the metallic taste rising in my throat. Then I pulled my mouth into a bleak smile. "Fine, I'll apologize."

Dragging my exhausted body forward, I walked toward them one step at a time.

I looked at Isabelle.

The flicker of triumph in her eyes did not escape me.

"I'm sorry." I apologized, lowering my head as the words scraped out from between my teeth. "I shouldn't have hit you."

Isabelle immediately looked overwhelmed, as if she had been wronged but was too kind to hold a grudge. She shrank deeper into Eric's arms. "Eric, I already told you not to blame Aimee."

Eric patted her back gently, accepting my apology on her behalf.

"Isabelle was frightened," he stated. "I'm taking her home first."

Then he looked at me with disappointment. "You stay here and think about what you did. After all these years, I really have spoiled you too much."

My whole body shook, and my eyes burned instantly. 'So this is what ten years of love and trust mean to him? In his eyes, it is nothing more than a spoiled temper he thinks he allowed me to have.'

Eric left with Isabelle and her friends.

From beginning to end, he never looked back at me. He never asked whether my back hurt after he shoved me into the cabinet.