He froze, his eyes flickering. He didn’t answer right away.
“Rachel, you’ve always been strong. A face isn’t essential to you.”
Ha. Not essential.
“In that case…”
“I won’t apologize. I won’t hand over anything. Do whatever you want—kill me if you must.”
His face turned to stone.
“If you insist on being stubborn, then don’t blame me. Until you come to your senses, you’re staying right here.”
And so, I was placed under house arrest.
Ethan would sometimes come, always late at night, reeking of alcohol and exhaustion, his gaze heavy with conflicted affection.
He stood at the doorway, never stepping inside, repeating the same hollow words again and again.
“Rachel, stop making trouble. I love you, you know that. Once Lily’s condition stabilizes, once the storm passes, we’ll go back to the way things were, alright?”
Each time, I answered him with silence.
His cheap love made me sick.
Life went on this way. Though I was under house arrest, Ethan Blake never lowered my living conditions. Other than being unable to leave the mansion, everything else remained the same.
The disturbance came from Lily.
I had poured etching acid on her face—by all logic, it should never have healed. Yet now, only faint scars remained. Clearly, someone had spent an enormous amount of money.
Using her recovery as an excuse, she naturally moved into the mansion, right next door to me.
I didn’t want to deal with her, but she came knocking herself.
“Rachel, have you been resting well these days?”
She smiled gently, not waiting for my reply, strolling into my room on her own. Her gaze finally landed on the ruby ornament—a gift Ethan had gone to great lengths to win at auction for my birthday last year.
“Ethan is such a sentimental man. He even left all these things of yours here.”
She stroked the ruby lightly, her tone tinged with false regret.
“But he said some old things bring back unpleasant memories. It’s time for a change.”
I sat on the couch, not even lifting my eyelids.
“Speak plainly. Or get out.”
Lily’s face stiffened.
“Rachel! How dare you be so arrogant? Are you still living in the past? Look at who’s standing by his side now!”
“You think ruining my face means you’ve won? Ethan only cherishes me more! He’s told me more than once that you’re like a rotten stone—hard, boring, nothing like me…”
Her words stopped abruptly.
Because I had shot to my feet, seized her wrist, and twisted it back.
“A stone? Boring?”