Secrets 254
She had been just as impatient back then, wishing Scarlett dead on the spot.
But Rebecca was her own daughter.
For Rebecca, she had done countless things she once hated when she was young.
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despised, turning into the very sort of woman she
And now–before age had even dulled her use–her daughter was treating her like this?
What, then, had all her sacrifices been for?
What did it mean that she had twisted herself out of shape for Rebecca’s sake?
“Why are you yelling at me?” Martha’s voice suddenly sharpened, the pearls at her throat trembling with her heaving breath.
“It’s your fault!”
Rebecca was already fuming.
Now, with her fury boiling over, she unleashed it all.
“If you hadn’t given Scarlett such good conditions, how would she know so much? She even learned some esoteric arts”
“It’s because of you that I was humiliated today!”
Martha finally understood.
The so–called miracle healer–Scarlett had exposed it.
Scarlett knew these arts?
She hadn’t known.
A flicker of resentment stirred in her heart.
Hadn’t she stripped away every resource?
She had even whispered to school administrators to hold Scarlett back.
But Scarlett had risen as if blessed with divine favor.
Without help from anyone, she had impressed Calvin enough to enter his lab.
She had even won award after award.
In the end, Martha had reasoned that Scarlett’s success reflected well on the Joyner family, so she had stopped interfering in academics
But in every other way, she had been
She stifled Scarlett’s social life, pushed away he
true friends, leaving her isolated.
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Chapter 254 Shattered Illusions
That way, when the time came to take Scarlett’s kidney, the girl would have no one to turn to.
And yet Scarlett had still shone–still managed to master fortune–telling!
“How was I supposed to know that bastard child would learn such things? I fed her leftovers, dressed her in hand–me–downs, anything to keep her from rising up against you!
She stepped closer, nails digging into Rebecca’s wrist. “I kept her shackled, didn’t I? You think I didn’t want her to stay an organ bank forever?”
“But she was still the Joyner family’s eldest daughter. Before you returned, appearances had to be kept
“So she went to school–how was I supposed to control what she did there?”
Rebecca gasped at the pain, staring at her mother.
Sweat had plastered Martha’s hair against her temples, her face twisted by a jealousy she didn’t even hide anymore–jealousy of the daughter she had never once treated kindly.
It was almost laughable.
Rebecca had never wanted to admit she envied Scarlett.
How could someone like her be worth such feelings?
But now…
She realized she and Martha had both been living in a lie.
Blind to everything beyond their own delusions.
Seeing her daughter stunned and silent, Martha took it as agreement, as submission. Remembering Rebecca’s earlier attitude, her anger flared even hotter.
“Now you regret it, don’t you?”
She flung Rebecca’s hand aside and stalked to the liquor cabinet, downing half a glass of whiskey in one go. Drops of condensation ran between her fingers.
“Look at you! Aside from chanting a few fake incantations, what else can you do? Others can save lives with a few needles, and you? You sneak patients‘ records from nurses and pretend it’s prophecy!”
Her gaze swept across the corner of the living room, landing on the dusty shrine Rebecca had insisted on keeping, claiming it gathered spiritual energy. The incense had long hardened into clumps.
Her rage spiked. She snatched it up and smashed it to the floor.
Rebecca collapsed onto the sofa, flinching at the crash of shattering porcelain.
The sound jolted her into clarity.
Moonlight streamed through the stained glass, scattering colors across the floor.
Every one of Martha’s words stabbed into her eyes like needles.
The past Martha had tried to crush hid Scarlett’s defiance of fate.
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Chapter 254 Shattered Illusions
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And all the jewels glittering on Rebecca’s body were nothing but shells built on lies.
“And what are you, huh?” Rebecca ground her teeth, rage spilling over.
“You’ve used both me and Scarlett as tools. I’m just the more useful one because I’m your blood! I was stolen as a child, dragged back, shoved into a life I never wanted! You forced me to live apart, forced me not to call you mother. You thought everything you arranged was for my good–but you never cared about what I wanted! You’re not even worthy of being a mother! And you think I regret it?”
Rebecca swept her arm across the table.
Glasses and trinkets clattered to the floor, shattering into pieces.
Martha froze.
She had never seen Rebecca like this before.
This wasn’t how her daughter was supposed to be.
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