Page 101 of Poison Aches

“Remember, he rejected you.”

I stare at my brother, wishing I could strangle him.

I mean, it’s not like he wants to hurt me but sometimes, I get this feeling that he brings this up deliberately, to remind me of the pain.

“I’m just saying, he doesn’t deserve you,” he says with a smile, but I don’t miss the seriousness in his voice. “Besides, don’t you ever forget what he did to you. You two don’t have a future or even fate. He’s an Easton!”

Pain slits through my veins, seeping deeper into me until I start feeling sick to my stomach.

My throat closes up.

A sheen of sweat drips down my spine and now, I can’t breathe anymore.

It’s been years since I last had a panic attack, but Samuel's words are almost triggering one.

Not because he’s wrong, but because I’ve worked hard not to think about any of this.

"And honestly, Ivy, do you have to lower yourself to the point where that bastard has to tell you he doesn’t want you?”

It’s like being split apart by a chainsaw.

The thing is, Emmett has not only told me he doesn’t want me, but he’s shown me, proving it time and time again.

“I know, Samuel. You don’t have to break me just so I remember what you want me to do!” I snap. “Haven’t you done enough already?”

“That’s not?—”

I don’t wait to listen to him. Standing up, I grab the nearest bottle of the most expensive red wine I see on the table and make a beeline for one of the terraces of the Kings’ mansion, making sure I don’t make eye contact with anyone.

The sky is gloomy tonight.

There’s rain in the air and I wish the heavens could open up right now and wash away the tightness in my chest.

It’s all too much for me.

Samuel’s reminder while I’m already burdened with the lies I’ve spewed tonight… it’s all too much.

Everything I’ve done in my life has been a failure.

School.

My unrequited crush for a boy.

Being abandoned.

And then there’s…

Urgh! What is it about me that’s so failure coded that nothing ever works in my favor?

My own brother, my flesh and blood, he’s willing to cut off funding to stop me from finding what I need.

He also just said the most painful words to me and still, I can’t even resent him because not one thing of what he said was a lie.

It’s all true and in my agreement to come back to this town, I agreed to the plan.

And now, my entire world is about to blow up in my face.

What would happen if they find out that I’m a fraud?

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