I Played Shy to Dodge Her Traps Then the Impostor Snapped Chapter 02

I Played Shy to Dodge Her Traps Then the Impostor Snapped Chapter 02

The next morning, someone pounding on my door jolted me awake.

I opened it and found a wall of people, all of them glaring at me.

Hazel stood front and center, scratching at the red welts on her arms, sobbing between accusations.

“Chloe brought me breakfast this morning. I actually thought she was trying to be nice.”

“But then I started breaking out. Martha checked the food, and there was shrimp mixed in. Cheap street food that shouldn’t have been anywhere near this kitchen.”

My mom lunged at me with her hand raised, but I was still half-hidden behind the door, my fingers tight on the handle.

Instinct took over. I pulled the door shut, and her palm smacked against the wood.

A shriek tore through the hallway. “Ahhh! Oh my God, my hand!”

“You vicious little bitch! First you poison Hazel, and now you slam a door in my face?”

“Is this how you were raised? What kind of daughter are you?”

My voice came out shaking. “I didn’t bring her any breakfast.”

“I just woke up. I haven’t left my room. I don’t even know what she’s allergic to…”

My mom shook off the pain and fixed me with an icy stare. “Then who did it, Chloe?”

“Who else in this house has a reason to go after her?”

“Do you understand that an allergic reaction can kill someone?”

Every word I had dried up. My mind scrambled for a way out.

That’s when Lucas cut in. “Actually, I don’t think Chloe did this.”

“She’s terrified of people. She can barely leave her room, let alone sneak out to buy cheap food. That takes effort she clearly doesn’t have in her.”

“Someone with her condition wouldn’t even dare talk to a cashier, let alone scheme like this.”

Something flickered behind Hazel’s eyes. Then she gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth.

“Lucas… you don’t believe me?”

“Mom said it herself. Nobody in this house would want to hurt me. Nobody except her.”

“So if she didn’t do it, what are you saying? That I did this to myself?”

“I knew it. The second Chloe showed up, I stopped mattering to you.”

Lucas pulled her into his arms, his voice cracking. “Hazel, how could you even think that?”

“You’re everything to me. Nobody could ever replace you. Nobody.”

Hazel pulled back just enough to pout at him, her tears already starting to dry. “That’s more like it.”

She tilted her head, playing innocent. “Is this ‘severe social anxiety’ thing even a real condition?”

“Isn’t that just something people made up online to sound special?”

“How do you even diagnose that? Anyone who acts scared gets a pass now?”

Lucas whipped around to face me.

“Answer me. Is this whole thing an act? Are you faking it for attention?”

“You’re a piece of work, you know that? You’re already this manipulative at your age?”

“I don’t know what kind of people raised you, but it shows. No decent parents would turn out a kid like this.”

“You’re an embarrassment to this family.”

Everything he threw at me, I could take. But the second he went after my adoptive parents, something inside me snapped.

My head snapped up. My eyes burned. “Don’t you dare talk about my mom and dad.”

“Your mom and dad?” Lucas’s voice rose. “Our parents are standing right here!”

“You’re cruel and you’re ungrateful. That’s what you are.”

“No wonder they gave you back the first chance they got. They probably just wanted a cut of the Ashford money.”

Heat flooded my face. My pulse hammered in my ears. And behind Lucas, Hazel watched it all with a satisfied little smirk.

I opened my mouth to fire back, but I’ve never been good with words. What came out wasn’t anger. It was a sob.

The rage turned inward, burning white-hot, and something locked up in my chest. Then the floor tilted, and everything went black.

Lucas stood frozen. Then his voice cracked wide open. “Mom… Mom, something’s wrong!”

“She just collapsed! Oh God, I don’t think she’s breathing!”