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"Your grandfather? Who the hell is he to demand an accounting from me?"
"Your family is just you and that old fossil now, isn't it?"
"She was bad luck enough to get her own parents killed, and he actually wants me to marry her? In his dreams!"
His words—get her own parents killed—were a dagger to my heart. My pupils constricted.
On my eighth birthday, my parents were supposed to be on a cruise, coming home to celebrate with me.
But a storm had rolled in. The captain of our yacht advised them to wait it out in port.
But I had called them, crying, telling them how much I missed them.
So they took a smaller boat, determined to make it back for me.
Just as they were nearing the shore, a freak squall hit. A fifteen-foot rogue wave crashed over them.
Right in front of my eyes, their boat capsized and disappeared into the churning sea.
The scene flashed before my eyes, triggered by Maxwell's cruel words.
I curled into a ball on the boat, trembling uncontrollably, tears streaming down my face.
All I could do was whisper the same words over and over.
"Daddy... Mommy... I'm so sorry. I don't want you to come back for my birthday anymore..."
Cassandra clapped her hands, delighted by my suffering.
"So she's a jinx! No wonder she has such a foul aura! Maxwell, darling, we should stay far away from her, or her bad luck might rub off on us!"
Abroad, no one knew my past, so it was never mentioned.
At home, to protect me from the pain, my grandfather had forbidden anyone from speaking of it.
He'd even had the lake on our estate filled in.
The guilt and grief I had suppressed for so long erupted now, a toxic volcano of self-loathing.
I felt an overwhelming urge to throw myself into the water and atone for my sins.
Suddenly, my phone rang. It was the custom ringtone I had set for my grandfather.
A sliver of clarity pierced through the fog of my despair.
The Crawford family was just me and him now.
He had already suffered the agony of burying his own children.
If I left him, too... I couldn't bear to think of the consequences.
I took a deep breath, fighting down the impulse, and struggled to reach for my phone.
But Cassandra saw. She ordered one of the guards to throw a rock at me.
My body, weakened by the sudden depressive episode, was trembling uncontrollably.
The rock hit its mark. My phone flew from my grasp, its screen flickering twice before going dark as it sank into the pond.
The rock had also punched two large holes in the bottom of the boat.
Icy water seeped through my clothes, making me shudder.
"Eleanor Crawford, weren't you just dying to join your parents? I'm giving you the chance! You should be thanking me!"
Maxwell stood with his arms crossed, watching coldly as I began to sink.
"And that old geezer of a grandfather of yours... when he gets here, I'll send your whole family down for a reunion!"
I struggled weakly, but it was no use. My mind screamed one last, silent apology.
Grandfather... I'm sorry...
Just as the water closed over my nose, I heard the sound of familiar footsteps approaching.
A heavy, sandalwood cane swung through the air.
A voice like thunder roared, "I'd like to see who plans on sending my family to their graves!"
