Shattered Vows,The Heiress They Tried to Bury

"Marina, do you really think I'm only good enough for some blue-collar nobody?"

Jacob had frowned too, his voice sharp with reproach.

"Marina, what you did was completely out of line. You overstepped."

In the end, I was the one who went to Rebecca to apologize.

I told her I'd meant well but made a mess of things. Rebecca smiled and said she knew I hadn't meant any harm.

I thought the whole thing was behind us. I never imagined they'd been scheming all along, biding their time for a far more devastating retaliation.

Seeing me silent now, Jacob grabbed my arm and yanked. "Marina. I'm talking to you. Are you even listening?"

I was pulled out of my thoughts. I lifted my head to look at him. "What did you say?"

But Jacob didn't answer. Instead, his brow creased.

"What's that smell? It reeks."

Suddenly, disgust twisted his features. He clamped a hand over his nose and took a large step back, putting distance between us.

"Rebecca, do you smell something weird?"

Rebecca sniffed the air a few times, then nodded.

"Yeah. It smells like... urine."

They both turned to stare at me, their eyes raking over my body with open scrutiny.

Every muscle in me went rigid. I stood frozen, not daring to move.

But the warm liquid kept coming.

Trickling down from between my legs.

Rebecca's eyes went comically wide. She pointed at my pants.

"Jacob, look! She wet herself!" A shriek of laughter tore out of her. "Oh my God, Marina actually wet herself!"

"Marina, I get that you're excited to be home, but this is a bit much, don't you think?"

Jacob backed away even farther, revulsion stamped across his face.

"Marina, you're really... unbelievable."

"Where's your breeding? Where's the poised, elegant Henson heiress? Three years in the countryside and this is what you've become?" His lip curled. "It's disgusting."

Disgusting.

I lowered my head, numb, and stared at the dark stain spreading across my skirt.

I'd lost control again.

Five miscarriages in three years had left my body irreparably broken. The medical care in Hollow Creek Village was nonexistent. There were a few unlicensed country doctors, sure, but Kathy and Ivan would never have spent a cent on me.

I pressed my lips together until they went white, enduring their shrill, exaggerated laughter.

"Enough. Enough..."

The words fell from my mouth, barely audible.

They were the reason I was like this. Every last bit of it was their doing.

And yet they doubled over laughing, unable to stop, feeding off each other's cruelty.

My fists clenched at my sides. Then I raised my head, slowly, and the numbness in my face hardened into something else entirely.

My gaze swept the room, cataloging everything within reach, until it landed on a porcelain vase on the side table.

The next second, the vase shattered over Rebecca's skull.

"Still funny?"

Rebecca swayed, stunned. Her hand went to her head. When she pulled it away and saw the blood coating her fingers, a piercing scream ripped from her throat.

"She's trying to kill me! Marina's trying to kill me!"

Her eyes rolled back, and she crumpled to the floor.

Jacob stood frozen, the color draining from his face. It took him a long moment to react. When he finally did, he rounded on me with a guttural snarl.

"You psycho!"

He looked at the blood streaming from Rebecca's head, his face chalk-white. He scooped her up and bolted for the door.

"It's okay, Rebecca, I'm taking you to the hospital right now..."

He was so frantic he nearly forgot to turn back. At the threshold, he whipped around, his voice shaking with rage. "This isn't over. I'll deal with you later."

I watched his retreating figure, unblinking.

"That's right. I've lost my mind."

"And now it's this madwoman's turn to come for you. Every last thing you owe me."

The vase had split Rebecca's scalp wide open. The wound was deep. I heard later it took over a dozen stitches to close.