Chapter 7 Did You Make Love with Lucas?

"Is it good?" I asked, watching Lucas with a faint smile.

He nodded. "If you made it, it's always good."

"I'm glad you like it." I gathered the empty bowls they had scraped clean. "I'll wash these."

I stepped toward the door, bowls in hand, and paused at the threshold.

A second later, Julia's voice cut through the room behind me. "I'm furious. That bitch Violet actually hit me!"

"Alright, alright… just hold it in. Once we finish what we came here for, I'll make sure you get your revenge, alright?"

"When that time comes, I'll smash her face and use her hair for candle wicks!"

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say."

Their words were gasoline on a fire I'd been trying to keep contained. Memories surged, sharp and suffocating, and the rage inside me roared to life.

Lucas. Julia. Every debt you owed me… I made sure was paid in full, down to the last drop.

I didn't linger at the door. Instead, I slipped into the shadows of the hallway, waiting until I judged the timing perfect. Then I stepped out and found a nurse.

"Excuse me," I said. "The patient in Room 702 says his ear is in terrible pain. Could you check on him?"

She followed me down the corridor.

We hadn't even opened the door before the sounds reached us — breathless moans, the rhythm of bodies colliding.

The nurse's face blanched. She pushed the door open.

Julia was straddling Lucas, bare skin against bare skin, moving with deliberate, taunting slowness. Her gasps and cries filled the room, obscene and unashamed.

"You… what are you doing?!" the nurse stammered, her cheeks flushed crimson.

Lucas and Julia turned toward the noise.

The instant his eyes found mine, Lucas's expression curdled. He shoved Julia aside and lunged toward me, gripping my wrist. "Violet, let me explain. It's not what you think!"

"Not what I think?" My voice shook with fury. "You are the man I loved most… and this is what you do?"

"It's her! She came on to me!" Lucas threw Julia under the bus without hesitation, scrambling to sever their connection.

He dropped to his knees, clutching my hands. "Violet, you have to believe me. I would never betray you."

I let my anger simmer into something colder. "I'll believe you… if you can prove it."

"I… I don't know how," he stammered.

"Don't know?" I let out a sharp laugh, then turned to Julia. "Strip her. Drag her out to the street. Slap her while you tell her she'll never have you. Make sure she understands she's nothing."

Lucas hesitated. "Violet… she's your family. Isn't that… a little too cruel?"

Cruel? Compared to what they did to me before… this was nothing.

"And besides," he added, "people already talk about you and Julia not getting along. If you do this, it could hurt your reputation. I don't want you to be harmed."

His words dripped with false tenderness — but the truth was clear. He was shielding her.

How blind I'd been before, not to see the rot between them.

"Then don't do it," I said, "and we're done."

The color drained from his face. "Violet… does it have to be this way?"

I didn't answer. My silence was enough.

His jaw tightened. "Fine. I'll do it."

"Lucas! You—" Julia's voice cracked, but before she could finish, his hand struck her cheek with a sharp crack.

"Shut up! You filthy whore. You think you can crawl into my bed while I'm sleeping?"

He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her toward the stairs.

I followed, a slow smile curling my lips.

Julia, feel a fraction of what I felt before.

The street outside was crowded. People stopped. Stared.

Julia, naked and trembling, stumbled under Lucas's grip as he struck her again and again. Each slap echoed in the open air, sharp as breaking glass.

But it wasn't enough. Not nearly enough.

By the time he reached the hundredth blow, her face was swollen beyond recognition, blood seeping from split skin.

Pitiful? No. They would never understand the helplessness I'd known.

I stepped forward, seized a fistful of her hair, and shoved the mouth of a discarded water bottle between her legs.

"How does that feel, Julia?" I hissed.

But in the life before this one, she was far more ruthless than I ever was.

My teeth clenched. "My father raised you like his own daughter, and you repay him by seducing the man I loved? You don't deserve to call yourself my sister."

I flung her aside. She crumpled to the pavement like a broken animal.

I laughed, low and bitter. This was only the beginning.

A sudden wave of nausea clawed up my throat. I steadied myself and turned to Lucas. "The police will come after this. Handle it. I'm not going to jail for trash like her."

He nodded quickly, eager to please. "Don't worry, love. I'll take care of everything."

I gave Julia one last glance, then walked away, back toward the hospital.

Because I remembered — in another life, this was the moment I learned I was pregnant.

Back then, my heart was full of Lucas, so I hid it from Clifford and got rid of the baby.

It was the first time Clifford had ever been truly angry with me. He had Lucas beaten within an inch of his life. I'd threatened to kill myself if he didn't let Lucas go, so Clifford locked me in his home, guards watching me around the clock. I refused food and water until he ordered it forced into me. I'd vomit it back up. Eventually, when he came to see me, I shot him in the heart.

The memory pressed down on me like a stone, stealing my breath.

The test results came back.

Pregnant. The faint heartbeat already there.

I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face. My hand rested on my stomach. "Baby… this time, I won't give you up. Or your father."

I pulled out my phone, eager to call Clifford — and saw a dozen missed calls. All from him.

I dialed back, but the phone died in my hand.

Carefully, I folded the report and tucked it into my bag before hurrying home.

Today was a good day. The kind that made your chest feel light.

When I stepped into The Gutierrez Mansion, Clifford was already there.

"You're home early," I said, smiling as I walked toward him.

He looked up at me. His eyes were cold, the kind of cold that freezes a room solid.

"Happy, are we?"

"Of course. Why? What's wrong?"

The smile faltered. Something was off.

"Where were you just now?"

I thought he was upset about not reaching me. "My phone died."

"I asked where you were." He rose suddenly, crossing the room in long strides until I was pinned against the wall.

His eyes narrowed, bloodshot, fixed on me like a predator's.

I lied without hesitation. "Shopping."

"Shopping… for an aphrodisiac?" His fist slammed into the wall beside my head. I saw the sheen of moisture in his eyes.

"Violet… why lie to me? Did you sleep with Lucas?"