Chapter 3

Gina didn't leave. After a few minutes, Chloe heard the front door open and close. Gina' s voice, artificially sweet, drifted up the stairs.

"Kerr is on a call. He asked me to keep you company. Are you feeling better?"

Chloe was in her art studio, a small, sunlit room that was the only space in the house that felt truly hers. She didn't answer.

Gina appeared in the doorway, leaning against the frame. "Still giving me the silent treatment? How childish."

She walked into the room, her eyes scanning the canvases. She picked up a small, framed charcoal sketch from Chloe's desk. It was a drawing of Chloe's mother, who had passed away two years ago. It was the most precious thing Chloe owned.

"Is this your mom?" Gina asked, her tone dismissive. "She wasn't very pretty, was she?"

A cold fury, sharp and pure, shot through Chloe. "Put it down, Gina."

Gina laughed, a high, mocking sound. "Oh, is this special? It looks like something a child would draw."

She made a show of examining it, her thumb rubbing callously against the charcoal. Suddenly, with a flick of her wrist, she snapped the delicate wooden frame. The glass shattered, scattering across the floor.

"Oops," Gina said, her eyes wide with fake innocence. "How clumsy of me."

The sound of the breaking frame was like a gunshot in the quiet room. For a second, Chloe couldn't breathe. Her blood ran cold, then boiled.

She lunged forward, grabbing Gina's arm. "What did you do?"

Gina yanked her arm away, her expression turning ugly. "It was a piece of junk anyway. I'll have Kerr buy you a hundred of them." She opened her purse and pulled out a wad of cash, throwing it on the floor. "Here. Is that enough to fix your little drawing?"

The sight of the money, of Gina' s sneering face, broke something inside Chloe. She was done being the victim. Done being silent.

She shoved Gina, hard. "Get out of my house."

Just then, footsteps pounded up the stairs. Kerr.

Gina's eyes darted towards the door. A flicker of cunning crossed her face. She stumbled backward, deliberately knocking her arm against the sharp corner of a metal easel. She let out a pained cry, clutching her arm as a red line of blood welled up.

Kerr burst into the room. He saw the shattered frame on the floor, the money scattered, and Gina crying, clutching her bleeding arm.

"She attacked me, Kerr!" Gina sobbed, pointing a trembling finger at Chloe. "I was just trying to talk to her, and she went crazy!"

Kerr' s gaze, black with fury, landed on Chloe. He didn't ask what happened. He didn't wait for an explanation. He rushed to Gina's side, gathering her into his arms.

"Are you okay?" he murmured, his voice laced with a concern he had never, ever shown Chloe.

He looked at Chloe over Gina' s shoulder, his eyes like chips of ice. "Have you lost your mind? Look what you did."

"She broke it," Chloe said, her voice shaking. "She broke the picture of my mother."

"It's a thing, Chloe," Kerr snapped, his voice dripping with contempt. "You hurt a person over a thing. I never knew you could be so vicious. What happened to your upbringing?"

Over Kerr' s shoulder, Chloe saw Gina' s face. The tears were gone. In their place was a smile of pure, venomous triumph.

That smile shattered the last of Chloe' s composure.

"You believe her?" Chloe's voice rose, cracking with anguish and rage. "After everything, you believe her over me? Kerr, look at me! Just once, look at me and tell me you see me!"

Her plea hung in the air, desperate and raw.

Kerr didn't answer. He held Gina tighter, turned his back on Chloe, and carried the sobbing woman out of the room.

"I'll take you to the doctor," he said, his voice a soothing balm meant only for Gina's ears.

The words she hadn't finished, the questions, the pleas, died in her throat. He was gone. He had made his choice.

Chloe closed her eyes, a single, cold tear tracing a path down her cheek. It wasn't a tear of sadness. It was a tear of finality.

She sank to the floor, her body trembling.

[Mind-Link Notification: Kerr is in a state of extreme emotional conflict. His departure with Gina is a desperate attempt to regain control of a situation you escalated. He secretly hopes you will realize the gravity of your actions and beg for his forgiveness.]

Chloe stared at the words, a dry, ragged laugh escaping her lips. It was so perfectly, predictably, psychopathically Kerr. He orchestrated the entire painful drama, and when she finally broke, it was still her fault.

She slowly, carefully, picked up the pieces of the broken frame and the precious, damaged drawing of her mother. She would fix it. She would fix herself. And she would leave this house of horrors forever.