My fingers curled around the handle of my suitcase, but I said nothing.
“I’ve thought it over. Since you care so much about your adoptive mother, I’ll go with you to pay your respects. We’ll burn these offerings for her, fulfill your filial duty. Just don’t wear white again.”
“Also, I’ve already agreed to let Stephen call Tessa ‘Mom.’ She looks like Evie; maybe it will ease his longing for his mother.”
I almost laughed.
For seven years, Stephen had never once called me ‘Mom.’ And Carlos had never corrected him.
It turned out that the one thing I had longed for the most—all it took to receive it was a face that resembled Evie’s.
I let out a soft, bitter chuckle. “There’s no need. Once I leave, I’ll have nothing to do with the Davis family anymore. My adoptive mother has nothing to do with you, President Davis. And as for Stephen calling someone ‘Mom,’ that’s none of my concern.”
Carlos parted his lips as if to speak, but before he could, Tessa came running over, her face drained of color.
In her trembling hands, she clutched a black-and-white photo.
It was a picture of her, but her face had been defaced with lipstick, the features scribbled over until they were unrecognizable.
And scrawled across it, in bold, jagged letters, ‘Die.’
The image was unsettling, downright terrifying.
Tessa trembled, then threw herself into Carlos’s arms, her sobs trembling through the air.
“Brother-in-law, I was just looking for you with Stephen. We thought you might be in Dahlia’s room when we didn't find you. But the moment we walked in, we saw this photo.”
“I never imagined Dahlia would hate me this much. I just don’t know, does she despise me, or does she hate this face of mine? After all, I look so much like my sister…”
The moment those words left her lips, Carlos’s expression darkened completely.
“Dahlia, it seems I’ve been too lenient with you,” he said coldly. “That’s why you keep making mistakes, again and again.”
“Kneel. Bring out the family punishment.”
Because this involved his beloved late wife and the sister she adored, he didn’t even grant me a chance to defend myself. In his eyes, anything I said was nothing more than an excuse.
The bodyguards seized me, forcing me to my knees. They pried open my hands.
Then came the first strike.