Chapter 36

Chapter 36:

Everything that was happening felt like déjà vu. Except this time, the roles were reversed. I was the one living my best life, while she took my place.

We stood in uncomfortable silence, our minds racing with thoughts.

I didn’t know why I couldn’t let her go. The strange urge to help her pricked at my conscience. What was wrong with me?!

“If… you need… anything… I can assist,” I stammered, struggling to find the right words as her appearance shattered my heart.

Once the high and mighty Nathalia, now reduced to the lowest of the low in the blink of an eye.

I couldn’t stop the questions swirling in my head as I stared at her sunken eyes.

Even if she wasn’t my sister, as I once thought, I still cared about her.

How was she coping with her new life?

How were the workers treating her, after the way she had mistreated them in the past?

Was she suicidal? Her appearance screamed depression, just as I had expected.

What was her reaction every time she saw her former parents?

And how did she feel now that she was an orphan? Alone and scared?

The fact that she had no one to talk to would only make things worse for her.

I blinked rapidly to hold back tears as memories of how she almost died flashed in my mind.

After my father killed her mother in a blind rage, he pulled the dagger from her heart, turning to Nathalia with a wicked look on his face.

It took everyone’s intervention to stop my father from driving the dagger into Nathalia’s chest.

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We kept convincing him it wasn’t her fault—Valerie was the one to blame—before his fury finally subsided.

Convincing him not to kill Nathalia was one thing, but persuading him to keep her as his adopted daughter—after all the memories they had shared—was another. He refused vehemently, insisting that he wouldn’t father the child of a whore and a cheat.

The pain from the betrayal by his mistress and his driver drove him to madness, making him lash out in ways that felt rash and unjust. But at least it was better than banishing or killing Nathalia. She shouldn’t be punished for the sins of her parents.

“I don’t need anything from you,” her weak voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “You’ve done more than enough, and I’m grateful that I’m alive.”

My jaw dropped in surprise as I stared at her, my eyes wide.

Was this Nathalia speaking to me so politely?

Or was I dreaming?

I hadn’t known she had an ounce of respect until now. We stared at each other for another minute, as uncomfortable silence stretched between us.

My eyes hovered over her body, studying every detail.

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