Chapter 74 Save Your Words
She paused, her lips pressing into a thin line, as if she were remembering something distant. Then she added quietly, almost casually,
“Until the news came.”
Rebecca’s heart stopped.
For a second, everything went silent inside her head, like the world had been muted. She forced air into her lungs, even though it hurt, even though it felt pointless.
“What… what news?” she asked, her voice trembling despite her effort to sound calm. Somewhere deep inside her, she already knew. She just needed Vanessa to say it. Or deny it. Or take it back.
Vanessa turned her head slightly, watching Rebecca the way one might watch something already broken.
“The news about the accident,” she said calmly. Too calmly. “The one that killed your father… and my mother.”
Something inside Rebecca shattered completely. “No!” she screamed, her body jerking violently as if struck. “No, no, no!”
Her hands clawed at the floor as if she could grab the words and push them back into Vanessa’s mouth.
“You can’t be serious,” she cried, her voice breaking into pieces. “No, you’re lying. You’re lying!”
Her chest burned. Her throat felt tight, like it was closing.
“Tell me you’re lying,” Rebecca begged desperately. “Tell me you’re making all of this up. Tell me none of what you said is true. Please. Please!”
Vanessa tilted her head and clicked her tongue softly. “Why would I lie to you now?” she asked with a small scoff. “At this point, do you really think I’d lie?”
She stepped closer, her eyes cold. “What if I told you,” she added slowly, “that I didn’t feel one atom of pain when I heard the news?”
Rebecca let out a sound that wasn’t quite a scream and wasn’t quite a cry. Her body thrashed on the floor, pain tearing through her side, her head, and her stomach but none of it mattered. None of it compared to the agony ripping her heart apart.
“You killed him!” Rebecca sobbed, her words coming out broken and raw. “You killed my father!”
Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face, blinding her, choking her.
“And my mother—your own mother!” she screamed again, disbelief and horror twisting her voice. “You killed her too!”
She tried to get up, driven by pure rage. Her hands slipped in the blood beneath her, her strength failing her, but she kept trying. Her whole body shook violently, grief and fury tearing through her at the same time.
“You’re heartless!” Rebecca screamed. “You’re evil!” Her eyes burned as she looked at Vanessa. “You’re a monster!”
With what little strength she had left, she lunged forward weakly, reaching out as if she could still hurt Vanessa, still stop her, still undo everything.
“I’ll kill you!” she cried hoarsely. “I’ll tear you apart for what you did!”
Vanessa didn’t move neither did she blink. Instead, she laughed. It was a cold, empty laugh, hollow and cruel, the kind that had no joy in it at all. The sound sent chills through Rebecca’s spine.
“They deserved it,” Vanessa said flatly.
The words fell like stones. Rebecca collapsed back onto the floor, her body giving up. A sharp pain tore through her stomach, and she cried out softly, curling inward as sobs took over.
“You destroyed everything,” she whispered, her voice barely there. “Everything I loved… everything I had…”
Her tears soaked the cold floor beneath her. She felt empty and hollow like there was nothing left inside her but pain.
Vanessa watched her in silence. Her face was unreadable, but for a brief moment something flickered in her eyes. Something uneasy. Something that seemed to have been buried inside.
“I thought I could handle you myself,” Vanessa said after a moment, her voice quieter now. “I really did.”
She looked away briefly, as if remembering something unpleasant.
“I thought breaking you emotionally would be enough,” she continued. “I thought watching you fall apart would finally make me feel whole.”
Her jaw tightened. “But you kept surviving,” she snapped suddenly, anger flaring again. “You kept getting in my way. You kept ruining my plans just by existing.”
She stepped closer, towering over Rebecca. “Seeing that I couldn't take care of you, I asked my father for help.”
Her lips curved into a twisted smile, though her eyes flickered again, this time with doubt she refused to acknowledge.
“And thankfully,” she said firmly, as if convincing herself, “he came through. Just like he always does.”
Rebecca forced herself to look up at her. Her face was swollen with tears, blood drying at the corner of her lips.
“You used him,” Rebecca whispered weakly. “And he used you.”
The words hit harder than Vanessa expected. Her smile faltered although just slightly.
“At least he chose me,” Vanessa snapped, clinging to the words like a shield.
Rebecca let out a broken, humorless laugh through her tears. “He didn’t choose you,” she said softly. “He turned you into a weapon.”
Vanessa’s eyes darkened instantly. “You don’t get to speak about him.”
Rebecca coughed, pain burning through her chest, but she didn’t stop.
“You think this is love?” she asked hoarsely. “You think someone who helps you kill people loves you?”
For a moment, Vanessa said nothing. Silence stretched between them, heavy and uncomfortable. Somewhere deep inside Vanessa, something twisted painfully but she crushed it just as quickly.
Rebecca saw it. The hesitation and the crack so she continued, hoping Vanessa could turn back.
“You lost your soul, Vanessa,” Rebecca continued, her voice trembling but steady. “You lost everything good in you.”
Vanessa’s face hardened again, the walls snapping back into place.
“Save your words,” she said coldly. “You won’t be alive long enough for them to matter.”
Another sharp pain tore through Rebecca’s stomach. She cried out softly, fear flooding her eyes as her hands tightened over her belly.
“My baby…” she whispered brokenly. “Please…”
Vanessa’s gaze dropped to Rebecca’s stomach, then slowly lifted back to her face.
“That child,” she said slowly, forcing indifference, “is just another mistake.”
Rebecca shook her head violently. “No,” she sobbed. “This baby is innocent. Don’t punish an innocent life for your hatred.”
Vanessa turned away, her shoulders tense. “Hatred kept me alive,” she said, her voice low and final. “And now… it will finish you.”
Rebecca lay there, broken and bleeding, her heart shattered beyond repair. Tears streamed silently down her face as she stared at the ceiling, realizing the truth at last.
The sister she once loved was gone. In her place stood a stranger who was cold, cruel, and consumed by revenge, and in that moment, Rebecca knew something else too.
Surviving would not just mean saving herself. It would mean stopping a monster she never believed could exist.