Chapter 216
Serena
My voice went colder. "High school was my personal favorite. You couldn't find any real drama to twist about me, so you just made it up. Told everyone I was desperate. That I'd spread my legs for anyone who looked twice."
Elena's face had gone from red to white. "I—"
"Please." I held up one hand. "Don't interrupt. I'm just getting started."
"Fine!" The word exploded out of her, loud enough to make a businessman passing by glance over nervously. "Fine, okay? I did shitty things. I was awful to you. But did I ever actually hurt you? For God's sake, Serena, did I ever—"
"Fuck." The word punched out of me before I could stop it, raw and incredulous. "Did you seriously just say that? That none of it counts as hurting me?"
She actually had the nerve to smile. Small, bitter, but definitely a smile.
"Physically," she said. "I meant physically. I never laid a hand on you. Never got my friends to jump you after school, and believe me—" Her eyes glittered with something ugly and satisfied. "—I had plenty of friends who would've done it. You have no idea how much I hated you. How many times I thought about it."
I pressed my fingers to my temples. "Every second I stand here talking to you, I can feel my IQ dropping."
I turned toward the car. Her hand shot out, grabbed my wrist hard enough to hurt.
I looked down at her grip. Then up at her face. My voice went very, very quiet.
"Let go."
"Why?" Her fingers tightened. "Why can't you just let it go? You're loaded now! You're screwing Lance Lawson, you're running a company, you have—" She gestured wildly at the car, at me, at everything around us. "—you have everything. Come on, Serena. Sister to sister."
There it was. The real reason she'd been lurking around my car instead of slinking away with our parents.
"Lend me a million dollars." The words tumbled out fast, desperate. "Just one million. That's it. And I swear—we all swear—you'll never see us again. We'll disappear. You can pretend we don't exist. Just this once."
I stared at her.
Then I started laughing.
It wasn't a nice sound. It bubbled up from somewhere dark and jagged, and I watched her face shift as she heard it—confusion bleeding into something that looked a lot like fear.
"Oh, a million dollars?" I yanked my wrist free. "For my dear, beloved sister?"
I reached for the car door, pulled it open. The interior smelled like new leather and expensive possibilities, everything I'd earned and chosen for myself.
"No," I said simply. "I'd rather light it on fire. Or donate it to literally anyone else on the planet. Homeless shelters. Animal rescues. A random person on the street." I slid into the driver's seat, looked up at her through the open door. "Because money isn't your problem, Elena. You could win the lottery tomorrow and you'd still be broke in six months. Your problem is that you're fundamentally incompetent. And no amount of cash fixes stupid."
I pulled the door shut. The cabin went silent, all that premium soundproofing doing its job beautifully.
Through the window, I could see Elena's mouth moving. The glass muffled everything to nothing, but I could read her lips well enough.
I knew it. Always so stubborn. Always looking down on everyone. Think you're so much better.
I turned the key. The engine purred to life, deep and satisfied, and something in my chest eased. This was mine. Earned. Given by someone who actually saw me as more than a convenient ATM or a disappointing investment.
Elena was still talking, her face twisted with frustration and something else. Something that looked weirdly like—
Pity?
My hands tightened on the steering wheel. What the hell did she have to feel sorry for me about?
She must have caught the confusion on my face, because her expression shifted. Smoothed out into something that made my skin crawl. Then she raised one hand in an exaggerated little wave.
Her lips moved slower this time. Deliberate. Making sure I could read every word.
Safe travels. This is the road you picked.