Chapter 93
Chapter 93
“You and your boyfriend turned me into a fucking joke without even trying. And the worst part is that neither of you seemed to understand what you did to me. So yeah, maybe I wanted you to hurt. Maybe I wanted you to feel even a fraction of the heartbreak and humiliation I’ve been carrying around all this time. And you know what? I’m not sorry for feeling that way. Not one fucking bit.”
Sean flinches at her words, his face pale. I can see her words getting to him. I can see the hurt, the regret, and the sheer awfulness of it. But before he can say anything, Aaron appears and snarls into her face.
“How dare you stand there and say you loved me?” he grits out. “You don’t know the first fucking thing about love. You can’t love anyone but yourself. Even when we were dating—yeah, even if I only got with you to piss Sean off—all you ever cared about was yourself. My money, my attention, my status. That’s all that mattered to you. You’d spend my money without a second thought and then turn around and call other women gold diggers like you were somehow better than them. Do you really think you’re some kind of saint? Some noble, perfect little princess? You’re not. You’re a selfish, judgmental bitch who spends her life looking down on everyone else just to feel good about herself.”
He steps closer, his eyes cold as he stares her down with all the hatred in the world. “You wanna talk about whoring yourself out? Fine. Let’s talk about you. How many times have you spread your legs just to land a guy with a fat bank account? How many times have you screwed someone over to get what you want? You’re a fucking hypocrite, Cora. And it’s time you stop pretending you’re anything other than what you are: a miserable, pathetic woman who can’t stand that the world doesn’t revolve around her. Well, guess what? It doesn’t. You’re nothing special. You’re just another sad, lonely person trying to hurt others because you can’t stand to look at yourself in the fucking mirror.”
Coraline’s face goes pale, and her hands clench. For a moment, I think she might slap him, but she just steps back, her eyes full of anger.
“Fuck all of you,” she hisses, her voice trembling with rage. “You’re all just as fucked up as each other. And you know what? I’m glad. I’m glad you’re all miserable. And I don’t regret a single thing I did. I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.”
With that, she turns around, almost ready to leave. But before she can, the door opens, and two cops rush inside.
Seeing them, Coraline stumbles backward, her body turning stiff.
One of the cops looks around the room and nods at Brian. Coraline sees this and turns to him before anyone can react.
“You… you did this,” she says, pointing a finger at him. “You called the cops.”
Brian doesn’t look one bit bothered by her accusatory tone. He just blinks. “Of course I did. What else were you expecting? To forget it ever happened?”
She opens her mouth to say something, but nothing seems to come out.
“Coraline Edwards…”
When the cops step forward, she finally snaps out of whatever terrible haze she’s been in, reality finally catching up to her. She quickly rushes to Miranda.
“Mom, you have to help me. Tell Mr. Reinhold to ask them to let me go. Tell him. Mom, please. You’re the only one he would listen to. Please, Mom. Help me.”
Miranda is looking at her daughter with tears running down her face. She looks like she’s been betrayed all over again, and I can’t blame her. It has to hurt to learn that the child you raised with love and care, the child you hoped would be a better person than her father, turned out to be just as rotten inside.
“Mrs. Edwards,” one of the cops calls to her. “We have an arrest warrant for Ms. Edwards. We need to take her into custody.”
Coraline starts crying, desperately clinging to Miranda, who looks like she doesn’t know how to react. Her gaze darts between her daughter and the cops, clearly torn.
“Mom, please. I don’t want to go. Mom, please. Please, help me. Please. I promise I’ll never do it again. I promise.”
“Coraline Edwards…”
Just as the cop is about to reach for her arm, she turns to me and snaps, “This is your fault! You ruined my life. You took away my father, and now you’re taking away my freedom. You bitch! You fucking bitch! I hate you. I wish you would just die. You and your entire fucking family. I wish you’d burn in hell for what you’ve done to me!”
I stay rooted to my spot, watching the cops drag her away as she screams and kicks and thrashes.
It’s only when the door slams shut behind them that the room finally falls silent.
I don’t know what I should be feeling right now.
Relief? Satisfaction? Anger? Or even guilt?
I just… I don’t know.