Chapter 13 - The Girl They Couldn’t BuyClara and I met in the library after giving our statements.
Away from the ballroom, the mansion felt strangely quiet.
Rain tapped the tall windows.
My hands still shook when I held the coffee someone had brought me.
Clara noticed.
“You don’t have to pretend with me.”
I laughed softly.
“I thought pretending was the only thing keeping me standing.”
She sat across from me.
“I used to think rich women were safe.”
I looked at the bruise darkening under my eye.
“So did I.”
Clara smiled sadly.
“Guess men like him don’t care what kind of cage you live in. They just care whether they think they own the key.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Because she was right.
Julian had not attacked me because I was weak.
He attacked me because he believed the world would stay weak for him.
Clara reached into her purse and took out an old envelope.
“My first statement,” she said. “The one they made me withdraw.”
She slid it toward me.
“I kept a copy.”
My throat tightened.
“Why?”
“Because some part of me knew the truth deserved to outlive my fear.”
I picked up the envelope carefully.
The paper was worn soft at the edges.
May you like
A small, fragile thing.
Yet it had survived more than every polished lie in that ballroom.
Related Stories
