They Think I’m Easy Prey—but My Words Manifest into Reality Chapter 04

They Think I’m Easy Prey—but My Words Manifest into Reality Chapter 04

I struggled with everything I had, but the guard’s knee was jammed so hard into my spine that I

could barely breathe.

I watched helplessly as Penny was beaten to a bloody pulp, all because she’d told the truth about

The truth was, I barely knew her.

She was just the only one who, during those five days I was locked in the attic, would slip a piece of clean cracker under my bowl when she came to collect the empty dishes.

And now the Harringtons were going to kill her. For me.

The string I’d kept pulled taut inside my chest for eighteen years finally snapped. Clean in two.

I had swallowed every bitter word and kept my mouth shut tight. All for the faint hope of feeling

what it was like to be loved.

But my silence hadn’t bought me kindness. It had only made them bolder. Crueler.

“Stop it.” My voice came out in a ragged whisper.

Vanessa saw her opening. She rolled her wheelchair up beside me and started dabbing at her dry

eyes with a tissue.

“Luna, just sign the papers. Please.”

“Just admit you’re sick. Go to the hospital. Stay there for a while. I’ll make Ryan let her go. I

promise.”

“You can’t let your pride get an innocent person killed. Can you?”

My mother pushed the pen toward my face again. Her voice was dripping with theatrical grief.

“Luna. Don’t fight this. I’m begging you.”

“Are you going to be happy when you’ve torn this family apart? When you’ve put us all in the ground?”

My father had turned his back on me. His voice was as cold as the grave.

“If you don’t sign that consent form right now, I’m calling the police. I’ll report her for stealing

your mother’s jewelry. She’ll catch a felony charge. Her life will be over before it even begins.”

I lifted my head slowly.

The guard was still holding the chair up, ready to bring it down on Penny’s fragile hand.

Penny looked at me through the blood running down her face. Her eyes were full of terror and

desperation.

I snatched the ballpoint pen out of my mother’s hand and snapped it in two with a loud crack.

I threw off the guard’s grip with a burst of adrenaline and staggered to my feet.

“Fine. I’m done playing nice.”

A cold smile spread across my cracked, dry lips.

“So, Vanessa. You’ve been telling all these nice reporters that I went crazy and sliced your artery

open. That right?”

“You told them you lost so much blood your body’s ruined. That your arm’s basically dead.”

Vanessa blinked. Then she sat up straighter in her wheelchair and wailed directly into the nearest

camera lens.

“It’s the truth! The doctors said I nearly died!”

“Everyone here can see what she did to me! And she’s still standing there mocking me!”

My father stormed toward me, his hand raised high to slap me across the face.

“You ungrateful monster! You’re facing ruin and you still refuse to admit you were wrong!”

I stared past him at Vanessa, who was smirking at me from the safety of my mother’s embrace. I let

out a cold laugh.

Assault?

Fine. Since they were forcing me to speak, I’d give them exactly what they asked for.

I fixed my gaze on Vanessa and let the words fall from my lips like a death sentence.

“Since your arm’s already dead, you might as well lose the whole thing. It’ll get infected sooner or

later. They’ll have to take it.”

“And that severe asthma of yours. You’ve been putting on quite a performance today. Be a real shame if you got so worked up you couldn’t catch your breath. Just suffocated right there.”

The reporters in the hall burst into an uproar.

Ryan let out a harsh, incredulous laugh. “You really are insane! Someone tie this psycho up and haul her off to the asylum already!”