Chapter 10
478words
"So what if I tricked you? Weren't you the fools who believed me?"
"Julian," Lily spat, "Tara was your wife, yet for my sake—a complete stranger—you treated her like a tool. You exploited her daily, disregarding her health, all to extract her scales for my medicine."
As Julian listened to Lily's words, guilt flashed in his eyes.
"If you hadn't deceived us, I would never have treated Tara that way."
"Hah."
Lily let out a cold laugh.
"And you, Zachary—her childhood friend—forcing strange concoctions down her throat daily, increasing the dosage without any concern for her wellbeing."
"With what you two have done, do you really think you're in any position to judge me?"
Lily continued laughing, watching Julian and Zachary's faces turn ashen.
Her laughter grew increasingly maniacal.
"Yes, I did it deliberately—so what? If either of you had any conscience, none of you would have ended up like this."
"I played you both like puppets."
Hearing Lily's unhinged laughter, Julian and Zachary completely lost control.
"You manipulative bitch—this is all because of you!"
Julian's fingers dug into Lily's throat, releasing his grip only when her face began turning blue.
"What's wrong? Still can't bear to let me die?" she rasped.
"Don't flatter yourself. I want you to pay for what you did to Tara. You'll suffer a hundred times more than she did."
Zachary stepped forward, forcing a vile black concoction down Lily's throat.
"You love playing the victim? I'll give you something real to cry about."
The medicine was forced so violently that Lily began choking and sputtering.
Julian and Zachary watched her coldly, saying nothing.
In the middle of the night, Lily's agonized screams echoed through the bedroom.
"It hurts! God, it hurts so much!"
Julian and Zachary pretended not to hear.
"Julian, Zachary, please—I'm in agony! I know I was wrong!"
"I'm begging you, please make it stop!"
As Lily continued pleading, Julian and Zachary impatiently inserted earplugs.
In their eyes, Lily was no longer their precious treasure but the most despicable creature alive.
Julian and Zachary sat in their room, memories of their time with me flooding their minds.
They had hurt me—the one person who had loved them genuinely.
Days passed, and my wounds finally healed completely.
When I opened my door, I found them standing there—two faces I hadn't seen in weeks.
"What do you want?"
Seeing them, I refused to open the door fully, leaving just a narrow gap.
Noticing my impatience, pain flashed across Julian's eyes.
After struggling to speak, he finally managed a single "I'm sorry."
Zachary echoed the apology from beside him.
"Oh, you're here to apologize? Don't bother."
With that, I slammed the door shut.
They stood frozen in shock.
They hadn't expected I would deny them even the chance to speak.
"Tara, please listen to our explanation!"
