Chapter 4
Rosalie's POV
Arlene let go and darted behind Vanessa, her eyes full of hate.
That little face. Identical to mine.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"Arlene... is that you?" I reached out, trembling. "It's Mommy... don't you remember me..."
Arlene shrank back, her face scrunched with disgust.
"You're NOT my mommy! Vanessa is my mommy!" She clung to Vanessa's leg, screaming at me. "You're just a STRIPPER! Dirty woman! Stupid WHORE!"
"Arlene!" Dominic frowned. "Who taught you to talk like that?"
Vanessa ducked her head, biting her lip. "I don't know where she picked that up... maybe at school..."
I stared at her. Nails cutting into my palms.
"You hate me that much..." My voice cracked, tears and blood dripping down my face. "But don't you know—she's not your real mother... I am... she STOLE you from me—"
"SHUT UP!"
Glass shattered.
Father grabbed a bottle from the table and smashed it against my temple.
Blood poured into my eyes.
"How long are you gonna keep spewing this bullshit?" His voice came from above, cold as ice. "Vanessa saved this family. Who the hell are you to drag her name through the mud?"
Arlene peeked out from behind Vanessa and spat at me.
"Serves you right! Bad women deserve to get hit!" she shrieked. "Grandpa, throw her out! I don't wanna look at her!"
I reached for the hem of my daughter's dress, shaking. Ethan kicked my hand away.
He stepped forward, pulled out his phone, and waved it in front of my face.
A video played on the screen. No sound.
A dark alley. Night.
A woman with torn clothes, pinned against the wall, being—
It was me.
That night three years ago.
"Rosalie, get on your knees and apologize to Vanessa. Record a video clearing her name and post it online." Ethan crouched down, voice like ice. "Or this video goes everywhere tonight—including your daughter's school network."
"NO! You can't do this!" I screamed, breaking apart. "It's REAL! Those men really—"
"Still putting on a show?" Ethan sneered. "I sent those guys. You think they'd actually touch you? Save your sob story. It's not working on me."
I looked into his eyes. Not a flicker of doubt.
He really believed it was just a scare tactic.
He didn't know that Vanessa had paid off his men. Turned a simple scare into a living nightmare.
I dropped my head. Stared at my reflection in the blood-smeared floor.
A beaten dog. Pathetic. Broken.
That's all I was to them.
The crazy one. The liar. Never worth believing.
I started to laugh.
Tears and blood streaming down together.
"You don't need to threaten me anymore."
I tapped the phone screen. Scheduled send.
"I already posted it for you."
Everyone froze.
In that split second, I moved.
My fingers closed around cold metal on the table—a sleek black revolver.
"Rosalie! Put it DOWN!" Dominic's face went white.
Father shot to his feet. "Have you lost your goddamn mind?!"
I backed toward the window. One step. Two.
Cold wind rushed in. Rain roared outside.
Only Ethan stayed leaning against the wall, face dark, still talking tough. "Let her put on her little show. I wanna see if she's got the guts to pull the trigger."
I gripped the gun. Kept backing toward the window.
Outside, nothing but black sky and pounding rain.
Wind tore through me. I couldn't stop shaking.
"You want me dead." I looked at them, blood and tears running together. "Fine. I'll give you what you want."
"Rosalie!" Dominic lunged toward me.
I lifted my head and smiled—a smile of pure relief.
"Mom. I'm coming."
BANG.
The barrel in my mouth. Trigger pulled.
The second the bullet tore through my skull, the world went silent.
I fell backward through the window, swallowed by the storm.
"ROSALIE—!!"
Dominic slammed against the windowsill, face drained of color.
Father rushed over, shaking violently.
Ethan stood frozen. His sneer finally cracked into horror. He started forward—but Vanessa grabbed his arm.
"Ethan, don't!"
Her voice wavered for a second, then steadied. "It's only the second floor. A fall like that won't kill anyone. And remember the magic show we hired for tonight? That gun was part of the props—it only had blanks!"
She paused, squeezed out a tear. "She's been jealous of me since we were kids. She just wanted to ruin my birthday... make you all feel sorry for her..."
Arlene poked her head out from behind Vanessa, face twisted with disgust.
"Yeah! That bad woman did it on purpose! She's SO gross!"
Dominic stared at the smoking gun still in his hand.
Blanks?
No.
That shot was too real. The recoil was too real.
Fear crashed over him like ice water—but when he looked at Vanessa's tear-streaked face, he forced the dread back down.
"Enough." Ethan's voice was cold. He stopped mid-step. "She wants to play games, let her. Nobody goes after her. If she dies, that's on her."
The party continued.
Champagne clinked. Music swelled.
Vanessa stood at the center, accepting congratulations from all sides. Her eyes drifted past the window, landing on the dark shape crumpled below.
The corner of her mouth curled up.
Three hours later.
The party was over. Guests had left. The rain still pounded.
Dominic stood by the window, frowning deeper by the minute.
"She's still not back?"
Ethan lounged on the couch, irritated. "Probably standing in the rain playing victim. Waiting for us to come begging."
"But this storm..." Father glanced outside, uneasy. "What if she broke something in the fall?"
"Then she broke something." Ethan snorted. "Maybe it'll teach her a lesson."
Dominic said nothing. But his feet were already moving toward the door.
Then—
"AHHHHH—!!"
A piercing scream exploded from outside. Everyone's heads snapped toward the door.
A maid stumbled in, face chalk-white, shaking uncontrollably.
"Something... something happened!"
"Mrs. Moretti... she..."
Her legs gave out. She collapsed, pointing toward the door, voice shrill and breaking—
"SHE IS DEAD!!"
