Chapter 97

Chapter 97
Raven and Blair followed the guard to the visitor's area. They sat down silently as they waited for Lenora to arrive each having conflicting emotions about what they were doing there – and what they expected to happen. Blair wasn’t sure what kind of reaction she would get from her mother and Raven didn’t particularly care. She just wanted some sort of answer to why she had suffered through so much pain throughout her life. Things could have been so different if it weren’t for Lenora – even down to her marriage to Mason that had been agreed upon between her father and Charles.

Blair tapped her foot nervously against the edge of the table as she fidgeted with her bracelet. Raven, on the other hand, sat still with her arms crossed, her gaze fixed on the door.

They could each hear Lenora’s voice; although her words couldn’t be made out, the tone of her voice was condescending to whoever was around her.

The sisters shared a look.

Lenora entered, flanked by two officers, her hands cuffed in front of her. Her eyes landed on Raven first, and she laughed in almost a maniacal way.

"Well, isn’t this a surprise," she sneered. "What's the point of this charade? Come to gloat?"

Raven’s jaw tightened, but she held her tongue.

Blair cleared her throat nervously.

“How are you doing?” Blair asked, surprised to realize how little she cared about the answer.

“It’s wonderful! I sleep in a four-poster bed with goose-down pillows and have a gourmet, three-course meal every day… what do you expect me to say? I’m in jail!”

"I sort of expected you to be at least a little remorseful for what you did."

Lenora let out a humorless laugh, and then she scoffed. Somehow, she didn’t look like herself, her face seeming to be distorted in an ugly mask Blair had never seen before.

“Remorseful? For what? For sacrificing everything just to give you a better life? Everything I did was for you, Blair! And what did I get in return? This is the thanks I get, isn’t it? After everything, I got an ungrateful child who sold me out.” Her lips curled in disdain. “Why are you even here? And why did you bring her with you? It's too late to cry about it now. You're the reason I'm locked in here.”

Blair’s hands curled into fists on the table. "In case you’ve forgotten, I wasn’t the one committing murder or kidnapping babies. You're here because of the crimes you chose to commit, you're in jail because of what you did, not me."

"It was your foolishness that led me here. If you had just kept your mouth shut, I wouldn't be here. All these years, no one would have thought that I had ever done anything like this. I had good standing in society, my daughter was going to marry Mason Barrett! You were going to be rich, but this little bitch had to go and ruin all my plans and take all of that away from me. Us. You. No one could prove I was guilty of anything until you decided to put me in here and made everyone one step ahead of me."

Raven leaned forward slightly, her tone sharp. "So you're not denying Margaret's accusations? You admit she was telling the truth. About Julie? My parents? Our birth certificates?"

“Of course, I’m not saying that, not without a lawyer present or a plea on the table,” Lenora’s eyes narrowed. "I owe you no explanations. You should be grateful I kept you alive all these years. If it weren’t for your mother, I’d have been Michael’s wife, and you’d never have existed."

"How can you be so heartless, Mom? You ruined her life. You made me hate her for years. You stole her identity, and you claim you did it for me? I never asked for any of this!" Blair interjected, her voice rising. “I could have had a sister, a friend. I was never allowed to have a friend, and you stole that from me!”

Lenora chuckled darkly. "You expect me to believe this sudden change of heart? You can drop the act, Blair," Lenora said, waving her cuffed hands dismissively. "I guess you're my daughter after all. You're just as manipulative and calculating, always angling for survival. You’re only pretending to care about her now." She leaned closer to the glass, her voice dripping with mockery. "You learned the truth and switched sides so quickly. You're just trying to keep your precious status intact. You’re my masterpiece."

"I don’t care about status, I’m happier without worrying about it! And I am nothing like you!" Blair shouted, her voice cracking with fury. "Do you want to know why I never liked Raven? I’ll tell you... it was because of you. I was so jealous of her. She didn’t have to spend her life trying to be perfect for you. I was just an object to you, something to polish and display. What kind of mother treats her daughter that way?"

Lenora’s laughter echoed through the room. "Poor Blair, playing the victim now. Spare me. If I didn't push you to become perfect, who will? I made you into the woman you've become."

For a moment, silence fell over the room, only the sound of Blair’s heavy breathing was heard. Raven sat stunned by Blair’s outburst but quickly regained her composure.

"You know," Raven said coldly, standing up. "If you had shown even a shred of remorse for what you did, I might’ve reconsidered pushing forward with this case. But it's clear you’re beyond saving, you're nothing but a monster. I’ll make sure you rot in here." She turned to Blair. "We're done here. Let's go."

As they moved toward the door, Lenora’s voice followed them, her words venomous. "Don’t turn your back on her, Raven! She’ll betray you, just like she did me. After all, you're not even sisters."

The guards dragged Lenora back, her voice fading as the door slammed shut.