Chapter 46

Olivia

“Lucien,” I gasped. “Oh, my God.”

I started for him but was cut short when I heard a loud clap. Then two.

“Dear daughter,” the voice I’d once cherished but now hated with a seething passion spoke, “you finally graced us with your presence, have you?”

She stepped into the light—into the ring—and I met her eyes, scowling. “No thanks to you. I see you have resorted to pathetic tricks to get what you want. Not very original, are you?”

She laughed a deep, sultry laugh, her left brow twitching. “Now there’s the Olivia I’ve always wanted to see." She smiled, almost like she was proud of me or something. “Tell me, did you like my little present? My dear friend Elena helped me set it up. Who figured it out first?”

It was then Elena stepped into the light as well and I could see her clearly. Unlike Penny who had a smile plastered on her face, Elena’s face was stoic, expressionless. She kept her eyes on me while my gaze hovered between them, like if I looked away from one of them, they would make a move I didn’t see coming.

“Elena,” Sydney suddenly called out from behind me, knowing instantly that she hadn’t been able to stop herself. I heard the plea in her voice, as well as the affection and betrayal. “Why?”

“Why?” Penny answered in her stead. “Because you didn’t think she was enough. You were okay with such an amazing person being second when she deserved more.”

“Lucien was never yours to keep and you knew it from the start.” Sydney answered, speaking directly to Elena.

“I changed my mind.” It was first thing Elena had said since we arrived. “Why can’t I have him?”

“You’re full of shit. I’d hoped to give you the benefit of the doubt because you mean so much to me but I can see how that you’re not who I used to know.” Sydney said to her. I only listened because there really was nothing I could say. “What happened to you? You’ve always known your place and that was behind him as both his friend and his protector. How could you betray him like this?”

Elena’s chin raised in defiance, “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

It was a one-liner but we all knew that was that. She hadn’t seen anything wrong in betraying Lucien, and there was no changing someone who didn’t see a problem with their attitude.

“Give him to me,” I said to Penny, fixing my gaze solely on her this time.

“Yes, of course.” She feigned innocence with the expression on her face and it irritated me all the more because I knew she was mocking me. “But first, don’t you want to know why I did what I did?”

She was right; I was dying to know why she had decided to use me in her game of vengeance, why I had been nothing more than a puppet and she the master. But saying yes would mean I was desperate, so I opted for silence. She could interpret it however she wanted.

“I found you in the woods when you were a few months old,” she began. I’d heard this story a couple of times but something told me she was about to say something I’d never heard before. “A tiny little thing you were. I never wanted children, which was why I’d prevented myself from ever getting pregnant.”

I was right; I’d never heard that before. She’d never told me that she didn’t want kids. I’d always just thought she hadn’t been blessed with the gift of motherhood.

“But seeing you lying there wrapped in a cute pink blanket, your tiny chest heaving as you slept peacefully, I instantly knew you could help me achieve my goals in the future. After all, it was easier to mold a child from childhood into what one wanted than it was to mold a teenager or an adult.”

Right. She’d chosen me because I was more malleable than someone older. Right.

“You eventually grew to be beautiful, but the only problem was you somehow managed to develop a mind of your own that didn’t align with the way I wanted you to think. I realized when you were somewhere around eighteen that you were hard-headed when you insisted on becoming a scientist.” Taking a step forward, she smiled, a faraway look on her face. “But hard-headed or not, I would always get what I wanted. After all, I killed my husband because he’d begun to suspect I was the reason we didn’t have any kids. Couldn’t have that now, could we?”

Against my will, I sucked in a breath. Fuck. I hadn’t expected that. How on earth had I grown up in the same house as this vile person?

“Oh, please. Don’t get your knickers in a twist. As humans, we do all we can do survive." She waved a hand nonchalantly like she hadn’t just admitted to mudering her husband and coveting all his money. “Which brings me to this: I’m an Impure, just like you. I’m sure Sydney must’ve told you by now. Right, dear?”

The question was directed at Sydney, who gave her a glare in response. At this point, I just wanted to go home. I didn’t want to hear anymore or I would implode. I looked at Lucien and he was unmoving. If I wasn’t hearing his faint heartbeat, I’d have thought he was dead.

“Anyway,” Penny continued as though she hadn’t seen the glare, “blah blah blah, until I met Elena six years ago when I’d been having a meeting with Marcus and she came with Lucien to see his father. She was young but nevertheless knew that she wouldn’t keep all her eggs in one basket. Since you didn’t start transforming until you were sixteen, which was seven years ago, it’s not surprising that you didn’t notice that I was never around on the nights of full moons. Elena began making the potion for me, thankfully, and it was easier to hide my true nature from you. While I know you think you deserve an apology for my lying to you for so long, I want you to know that you’re only alive because I made it so.”

“Shut up,” I told her, my vision getting blurry. “Just shut up. I don’t want to hear anymore.”

She walked to the side of the ring and leaned slightly against the tight ropes. “But you have to. You’re not getting out of here alive, so it is absolutely imperative that you know why you have to die.”

I felt a tear fall, then another. My heart felt like it was shrinking. Everything I’d known had been a lie: my childhood, my life, my hope. I only existed to be used as a pawn in a game of revenge. It was a bitter truth. When my knees buckled, strong hands held me from behind to steady me. I internally thanked Xavier for catching me because I already looked weak from all the crying I was doing.

“Is he still alive?” I asked her, gesturing to Lucien although it felt more like I was begging her to keep him alive.

She gave him an uninterested glance, then shrugged. “Who cares? I’ve made it my life duty to end the Steel lifeline and that is what I’m going to do.” Meeting my eyes, the corners of her lips stretched into a wide sneer. “I bet killing him would feel as good as killing Marcus did. Maybe even better.”