Chapter 4

Mia's POV

"Watch my mouth?" I looked at Julian, squeezing the words through gritted teeth. "I haven't even started."

I spun around, jabbing my index finger so close to Tessa's face it almost touched her nose.

"I put you through three years of college. You crawled out of that middle-of-nowhere town, and I was the one who paid your tuition. I sent you money for living expenses. I even took you to buy your very first interview suit."

Tessa shrank back, and Julian immediately threw his arm across her chest to shield her.

"I introduced you to my family, to Rachel." My voice climbed higher, my throat tightening. "I brought you into my home, my inner circle. I even introduced you to my boyfriend—"

"Mia," Julian warned sharply.

"And what do you do? You climb right into my boyfriend's bed."

"Mia Crawford!"

That roar came from Richard.

A split second later, a vicious slap struck my face.

Richard stood in front of me, his face flushed crimson. His chest heaved violently, and the hand he used to strike me hovered in mid-air, not quite lowered. He was panting with rage, his lips trembling.

I stared at that hand.

Suddenly, I remembered learning to ride a bike when I was eight. The chain had jammed, sending me flying onto a gravel path, mangling both my knees. When Richard ran over, his face was paler than mine.

He scooped me up into his arms, running and shouting, "It's okay, it's okay, I'm here."

That was Richard.

And the man who just slapped me into silence... was also Richard.

"Mia, Julian and Tessa are truly in love. They're just kindhearted. They kept it from you because they were worried about your illness."

I turned to look at Julian.

I wanted to hear it from him. Even if he just said, "It's not like that," even if he denied it just once.

But he was holding Tessa, one hand covering her ear to protect her from the noise.

He didn't even look at me.

Ethan furrowed his brows. "Stop causing a scene. I'm begging you, okay? As long as you stop throwing tantrums, Julian will treat you just like before."

Rachel took a few steps toward me. "Mia, just pretend you didn't see anything today, alright? I'll take you home. We'll get a good night's sleep, and when we wake up tomorrow, it'll be like none of this ever happened."

That voice in my head surfaced again, sharper and shriller than before: "See that? They're all on her side. What's the point of staying alive?"

My gaze fell on the knife resting on the table.

The silver handle gleamed, the blade still smeared with frosting and cake crumbs. Rachel had just used it to cut Julian and Tessa's wedding cake.

I grabbed it and gripped it tight.

The tip of the blade pointed straight at Tessa.

Everyone's expression changed again. This time, it wasn't guilt, nor was it impatience. It was sheer terror.

"Mia, what are you doing!" Margaret's voice cracked into a shriek. "Put the knife down now!"

Before she even finished speaking, a brutal kick slammed into the arm holding the knife. I crumpled backward onto the ground.

"Mia's illness has gotten worse! You all saw it, she just pointed a knife at Tessa! She's not just a danger to herself anymore, she's trying to hurt others!"

Rachel screamed while grabbing my collar, dragging me backward.

"Tie her up, before she has another psychotic break."

Julian never used to call it a "psychotic break." He used to say it was his fault for making mistakes and leaving me feeling insecure. He promised he would spend the rest of his life proving he was worthy of my trust.

Now, the way he looked at me was no different from how one looks at a lunatic.

Seeing that Rachel couldn't hold me down on her own, Ethan walked over and pinned my legs. A rough hemp rope was wrapped around my wrists loop by loop, biting deep into my flesh.

Rachel dashed into the house, brought out a basin of ice water, and dumped it right over my head.

"Mia, snap out of it!"

My soaked clothes clung to my skin, and I shivered uncontrollably.

Tessa, wrapped in a blanket, walked toward me. She wore a look of perfectly calculated pity on her face. Squatting down, she went to drape the blanket over my shoulders.

I stared at her, utterly expressionless.

I saw the corner of her mouth twitch upward into a smirk. Then, she deliberately twisted her ankle and threw herself backward onto the ground.

"Tessa!" Margaret's scream pierced the courtyard.

"Why did you push her!" Ethan charged over and shoved me violently.

The chair I was tied to flipped over.

My forehead slammed brutally against a jagged landscaping rock in the corner of the yard.

The last thing I saw was the whole group crowding around Tessa, rushing her out the courtyard gate.

Not a single person looked back.

No one noticed that the overturned chair had knocked into a candle at the edge of the table.

The candle rolled onto the tablecloth. The flame licked the spilled wine, rapidly crawling its way up the table leg.

Two hours later, they returned from the hospital.

The moment the car came to a halt, they saw towering flames and billowing black smoke rising from the direction of the neighborhood.

A security guard ran toward them, his face pale with panic. "You're the ones renting House No. 7, right? A fire just broke out! It's a massive blaze, you need to go check on it right now!"