Her eyes shifted to me. “You love him, Clara. You should understand that sometimes sacrifices are necessary.”
I stared at her, my chest tightening. “So everything you did… everything you showed me…” My voice dropped. “Was any of it real?”
Regina didn’t even hesitate. She looked at me like I was being naïve.
“You were the one who started the lies,” she said coldly. “Be grateful I even allowed this marriage. You came from nothing. I made you somebody.”
My breath caught.
“You wouldn’t be standing here if not for us,” she added. “So don’t you dare ruin what we built.”
Then she turned, heels clicking sharply against the floor, each step echoing like a final warning before she disappeared out the door.
Silence swallowed the room.
Then Damien spoke again.
“You can file for divorce if you want,” he said, voice suddenly low and controlled, “but remember this—I know where your grandmother is. And she still needs her medicine, doesn’t she?”
He didn’t wait for a response. He just left.
The door shut behind him.
And I stood there, frozen.
My cheek burned. My hands trembled. My entire body felt like it was collapsing inward as everything I had built—every lie, every sacrifice, every illusion—cracked at once.
No.
I couldn’t stay like this. I couldn’t keep drowning in this life.
I forced myself to move, grabbing my things, heading toward the door—ready to leave it all behind—
But then a voice stopped me.
“Not leaving yet?”
Camille was there, leaning casually against the doorway like she had been waiting for that exact moment. Her lips curled into a smug smile, eyes shining with quiet amusement.
“Are you really that easy to break?” she asked lightly.
I clenched my fists. “Camille, not now.”
She ignored me.
“You should leave,” she said simply, almost casually. “My sister’s back. She’s Ethan’s real mother—and Damien’s real love. She’s the one who belongs here, not you.”
For a split second, something inside me wavered.
Leaving suddenly sounded so simple. Walk away. Expose everything. Disappear from this mess of lies and control.
But that feeling didn’t last.
Because I had fought too hard to get here.
I wasn’t going to be erased so easily.