Chapter 245
I thought about Seth’s wedding. There was no way I could tell Blake thats where I was going. If either of them lost their temper, the wedding might not even happen,
“That’s great. You should spend time with your father,” I said. “But I might have to break my promise about not leaving before Christmas, I need to go abroad for a bit.”
His expression fell. “Work again? I thought your project report wasn’t due until after Christmas.”
‘No, not work. I’m going with Emily.”
“Not work?” His eyebrows raised.
“No. But I’ll be back before Christmas Eve, I promise.”
“And I’m not invited,” he stated flatly.
“Emily will be with me. That’s enough,” I said,
oking
away.
Blake seemed to deflate. “I see. I’ll be waiting for you when you return.”
Blake’s POV:
I closed Anna’s door behind me, then leaned against the wall outside her room. The pain hit immediately, sharp and merciless. I couldn’t breathe. My head was splitting apart.
The voices started again, mocking and cruel.
Blake, nobody wants you!
Blake, you’re the disaster star who killed your mother. Everyone will abandon you eventually!
Blake, you always say the wrong thing, always make things worse!
My head throbbed violently, like someone had driven a steel needle of memories into my skull. I pressed my palms against my temples, trying to stop the
pain.
Anna hadn’t told me the truth. Whatever she was planning, wherever she was going, she didn’t want me there. She didn’t trust me enough to tell me, After everything, she still kept her distance.
I slid down the wall, my legs unable to support me any longer.
Claire’s POV:
I’d just gotten home when I saw him. Blake was crumpled against the wall outside Anna’s room, his face twisted in agony.
‘Blakey?” I called out, then rushed to him. “Blakey! What’s wrong!”
He didn’t need to answer. I already knew what was happening to him. His condition was flaring up again. The pain, the voices–they were back.
Mother had been clear about what I needed to do/“Your brother needs you,” she’d told me. “You’re the only one who can help him through these episodes,
This was my chance. Just like when we were children, I needed to make Blake depend on me again. I needed to show him I was more important than Anna No–1 needed to replace Anna completely.
I knelt beside him, my arm around his shoulders. “Brakey, I bought the most beautiful new ballet costume. Come to my room and see it? Remember when was little, and you’d tell me stories about all the great ballet dancers?”
Chapter 245
Those stories always calmed him. When he lost himself in tales of dance, he became peaceful again. It would work now (a) van vol
Anna’s POV:
From the moment I heard Claire shouting Blake’s name, my ears perked up. She sounded so alarmed that I thought something terrible had happened to hers
I rushed to open my door, but all I saw were their retreating figures down the hallway. Blake hunched over, Claire supporting him, whispering something couldn’t hear.
So that’s why he had lingered outside my door. Not because he was debating whether to come back in, but because he was waiting for Claire.
How foolish of me to think his condition might have flared up again. How could it, when he had Claire? He must have been fine all along.
I closed the door quietly and slid down against it until I hit the floor. The bitter truth settled in my stomach like a stone.
In a house with both of us, he would always choose her.
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