From His Invisible Wife to the World's Icon novel Chapter 56

Her fingers clamped desperately around the sharp blade of the knife. Blinding pain shot up her arm as warm blood dripped onto her face. Lydia stared into Sierra's deranged, twisted features. "Are you out of your mind?!"

She couldn't believe Sierra was vicious enough to commit outright murder!

Sierra let out a manic laugh. "Psycho? I went psycho far too late!"

"I should have lost my mind the day I watched you take my place and marry Frederick!"

"We grew up together! I swore I would be his wife since we were kids! You had already left the Sutton family, swore you'd never acknowledge our father again, and moved far away with your mother! Why did you have to come back and steal him from me?!" Sierra shrieked, her body trembling with adrenaline as she pushed the knife down harder. A sickening thrill danced in her malicious eyes. "I'm going to carve up that pretty face of yours so you can never seduce him again."

"Once you're disfigured, Frederick won't even spare you a second glance!"

Seizing the moment Sierra's focus slipped into her psychotic rant, Lydia brought her knee up hard, kicking her squarely in the stomach. Sierra cried out in pain and stumbled backward.

Lydia barely had time to exhale a breath of relief before a hand shot out from below, violently yanking her collar.

Caught completely off guard, she tumbled to the floor, crashing down on top of Sierra.

Sierra thrust the gleaming, bloodstained blade directly toward Lydia's eye.

The sharp metal slashed across flesh, and a curtain of crimson instantly flooded her vision.

Screams tore through the quiet therapy room.

The heavy oak door burst open, followed by a rush of footsteps and unified gasps of absolute horror.

"Mrs. Foster!"

Penelope's terrified shriek rang out as she sprinted into the room.

Lydia slowly pushed herself up, meeting Penelope's horrified gaze. "I'm okay..."

"Ah! Help me! My face!"

Sierra dropped the knife, clutching her profusely bleeding face as she wailed in agony.

During their fall, Lydia had used every ounce of her strength to twist the angle of the blade, forcing it away from her own eye and down onto Sierra's cheek instead, slicing deep into her skin.

Penelope immediately barked at the nurses outside. "Call the police! Get in here and help!"

The medical staff flooded the room.

Penelope gently helped Lydia sit up, carefully prying her bloody fingers away from the knife's sharp edge. The excruciating pain of sliced flesh pierced straight to the bone, bringing hot tears to Lydia's eyes.

But physical pain was the least of her concerns. A scorching fury erupted from her chest as she stared down at the sobbing Sierra. "Grew up together? When he was first brought back to the Foster family, you led a pack of bullies to humiliate him. You threw trash at him and whispered behind his back that he was a bastard."

Sierra's face was in vastly worse shape.

She had brought this entirely upon herself.

"I will, once the police finish taking our statements," Lydia replied to Penelope.

Before the police could arrive, Frederick's voice echoed from the hallway.

"Frederick! Look what Lydia did to me! She was so jealous that you dote on me, she slashed me with a knife! I'm going to be disfigured!"

Hearing Sierra shamelessly spin the narrative, Lydia's eyes remained dead and devoid of emotion.

The impeccably dressed man strode into the room. His frost-laden gaze landed squarely on her. But when his eyes swept over the gash on her cheek and her heavily bandaged hand, a flicker of complex emotion crossed his features, and his swift steps momentarily faltered.

She held his gaze squarely. "Sierra snuck in while I was resting during my therapy session and tried to stab me."

"Liar! You were the one who slashed me!" Sierra cried, clinging tightly to Frederick's arm.

The man pulled his gaze from Lydia and looked at the therapist.

Penelope cleared her throat nervously. "Mr. Foster, when I rushed in, they were both grappling over the same knife, and both had facial lacerations. However, Mrs. Foster was grabbing the sharp blade, which is why her hand is severely cut. Ms. Sutton was gripping the handle. So it appeared that..."