Chapter 12 BRACELET
CHAPTER TWELVE | BRACELET
LYRA
I thought the CCTV would vindicate me, but instead, it got me into bigger trouble. All the cameras in the house had been destroyed, and the only thing left was a blank computer screen.
“What the hell?” Damien murmured as we looked around the trashed room.
No one suspected anything. I mean, who would think I was the one who destroyed everything? But when Damian saw something on the floor, his gaze shifted from shock to rage.
Slowly, he bent to pick it up, his eyes never leaving me. I was clueless about what he saw, but when I noticed his hand bleeding, a gasp escaped my mouth.
I rushed over, holding his hand. “You cut yourself.”
It was only when I looked closer that I saw what he had cut himself on. It was a bracelet… my bracelet.
I hadn’t taken that bracelet off in ten years. It was given to me by my grandmother, the only person who had ever shown me love and accepted me despite the pack’s hatred. Not long after she gave it to me, she passed away. I refused to take it off, even when it turned old and ugly. It wasn’t just a bracelet, it was a symbol of love and protection, the only ones I had ever known.
“Why is your bracelet in the vandalized room, Lyra?” Damien asked, taking it out of his brother’s hand and examining it to make sure it was truly mine.
I groaned, realizing that I had fallen right into the trap Hailey had set for me. Before, I had Damien on my side, but now that there was evidence against me, no one was going to believe I didn’t do it.
Gently, I reached out to take the bracelet, wanting to put it back on, but Damien snatched it away. “Please, give it back,” I pleaded, never taking my eyes off it, afraid something might happen to it.
“Until you explain what your bracelet is doing here, I won’t.”
“I don’t know, okay? I have no clue how it got here. Can’t you guys see that someone is trying to set me up? Hailey probably sneaked into my room last night and stole it to frame me. Just hand it over. It means a lot to me.”
But he didn’t hand it over. No matter how much I tried to explain, they already believed I was the one who destroyed the room and the cameras to hide that I was bullying Hailey.
Instead, I watched in horror as Damian threw the bracelet to the ground as hard as he could, and the fragile thing shattered immediately.
“No!” I screamed, falling to the floor and trying to pick up the pieces before they got lost.
The glass on the floor didn’t matter to me. All that mattered was the broken bracelet. It felt like the last piece of my grandmother had just been destroyed… maybe it was.
“That was my grandma,” I cried, ignoring the sting of glass as I gathered the shattered pieces. “You broke my grandma.”
Damien ignored my cries and pointed a warning finger at me. “This is the last straw, Lyra. One more slip from you, and I’ll have no choice but to punish you.” He walked out without another word, leaving me alone with Damian.
Damian sighed before crouching to help me pick up the rest. He stopped me from touching the shards, seeing how my hands were already cut. He helped me up silently, but I could feel the waves of anger rolling off him.
He was furious, and yet, he still treated me with care. He helped me clean my wounds, bandaged them, and took me to my room. “I’ll send one of the maids to bring you food. Don’t get hurt again. You’re putting the baby at risk.”
“Don’t bother. I’m not hungry.” I turned away from him.
He lingered in my room for a while before leaving. I thought he would stay, tell me something to comfort me, something to assure me that everything would be fine, but instead, he left me to wallow in my pain.
I cried for the rest of the day, refusing to eat or drink even though my body protested. No one came to my room for the rest of the day, but at night, the door opened.
I expected it to be one of the twins coming to beg me not to hurt myself, but when I heard the unmistakable sound of a woman’s heels clicking, I turned around hastily.
It was Hailey, acting all innocent and oblivious.
She shuffled her feet, her head bowed as if she were scared to look at me. “I’m sorry about today. I shouldn’t have triggered you that way. I know you hate me, but I was hoping you could tolerate me for as long as needed. I’m only looking out for you.”
Her words were all the confirmation I needed that the twins were outside, listening. They probably thought it would be a good idea for us to reconcile.
Honestly, I couldn’t even blame them for taking her side. If I were in their shoes, with how well she played her part, I would have believed her too.
“I just want to be alone now, please,” I whispered, tired and defeated.
“I’m so sorry. I even helped Damian fix your precious bracelet. I brought it here.”
She approached me, the bracelet in her hands. When she got close enough that the twins couldn’t see or hear her, she smiled at me, malice gleaming in her eyes.
“You need to stab them tonight,” she whispered.
“What!” I exclaimed, shocked by the sudden change in plans.
I thought I had nine days left.
“I still have time,” I added quickly.
Using the excuse of helping me put on the bracelet, she stalled long enough to whisper everything she needed to say. “I can’t wait that long anymore. I need them gone now. Tonight. If you fail to do that, you and your child will be as good as dead by tomorrow. We both know I’m capable of doing much worse to you.”
Tired of being bullied and kicked around, and unwilling to take anyone’s life, I refused, using the only tactic I thought might make her back off. “I’ll tell the twins everything. The threats, the pretense. I’ll tell them all of it. I don’t want to hurt them, and if you force me, I’ll expose you.”
She didn’t flinch at my threat. Instead, she smiled wider. “And you think they’ll believe you?”
All my confidence wavered instantly, because she was right. They would never believe me.
She patted my hand after fastening the bracelet back on my wrist. “Tonight, Lyra. You either kill them… or pay with your life.”