Chapter 3

Despite my attempts to disappear, Eleanor Montgomery found me again. Or rather, her influence did. My landlord suddenly evicted me, no reason given. The few odd jobs I found dried up. Whispers followed me, calling me a fraud, a gold-digger. It was clear Ethan wanted me gone, and Chloe, I imagined, enjoyed the show. They were making my life a quiet hell, even from a distance.

One afternoon, a group of local louts, emboldened by the rumors and probably paid by someone connected to the Montgomerys, cornered me in an alley. They taunted me, calling me "witch" and "liar." One of them grabbed my arm, hard. Something snapped. I wasn' t the naive girl from the mountains anymore. I twisted free and punched him square in the nose. There was a satisfying crunch. He staggered back, blood pouring. His friends looked shocked. So was I, a little.

As if on cue, a sleek black car pulled up. Ethan got out, Chloe clinging to his arm, her eyes wide with feigned concern.

"Oh, Ethan, look!" Chloe cried, pointing at the man I' d hit, who was now theatrically moaning. "That poor man! And Sarah-Mae... she attacked him!"

Ethan' s face was thunderous. He didn't even look at the lout. He looked at me. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Sarah-Mae? Apologize to this man. Now."

"He assaulted me," I said, my voice tight. "They were harassing me."

"I don't care," Ethan snarled. "You're making a scene. You're embarrassing yourself. Apologize."

I stood my ground. "No."

Chloe stepped forward, her face a mask of sweet sympathy. "Sarah-Mae, please. Just say you're sorry. For Ethan's sake." She reached out as if to comfort me, but her perfectly manicured fingernails dug sharply into my arm, drawing blood. Then she gasped, stumbling back into Ethan' s arms. "Oh! She... she scratched me!" She held up her own arm, where a faint red mark, probably self-inflicted, was visible.

Ethan exploded. "You bitch!" He grabbed me, not caring about the onlookers drawn by the commotion. He dragged me towards a nearby fountain, ignoring my struggles. "You want to be a mountain witch? You want to cause trouble?" He shoved my head under the filthy water, holding me down. I thrashed, choking.

He pulled me up, sputtering. "This is what happens when you cross me, when you upset Chloe! Everyone, see this? This is a dangerous, unstable woman! She' s a con artist who attacks innocent people!"

He was making a public spectacle, demonizing me.

"Ethan, please," I gasped, water streaming down my face. "Let me go. I just want to be left alone."

"Left alone?" He laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "You think you deserve to be left alone after what you' ve done? After how you' ve tried to ruin my life, Chloe' s life? I' m doing you a favor. I' m teaching you a lesson. Maybe this will finally get it through your thick skull to stay away." His logic was as twisted as his soul.

Then, his eyes glinted with a new, terrifying cruelty. He slammed me against the stone edge of the fountain. I felt a sickening crack, a searing pain in my abdomen. He was aiming to hurt me, to break me, to ensure I could never... He wanted to destroy the very "gift" he once craved. The world tilted, darkness swam at the edges of my vision, and I collapsed. The last thing I heard was Chloe' s satisfied little sigh.