Her fifth daughter died, so she deleted his bloodline. novel Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The room erupted into whispers. James’s eyes were bloodshot. “This is insane! Who the hell is messing with Vicky? Find them. I’ll throw them in prison myself!”

The pendulum swung in slow, uneven arcs before snapping to a stop with a sharp tug. It was pointing straight toward the east wing.

The psychic’s voice pitched higher. “That’s… that’s Mrs. Harrington’s bedroom.”

The banquet hall went dead silent.

James looked at me, his expression unreadable.

Vicky coughed up another mouthful of blood. “This is all my fault for being such a mess. Evelyn didn’t do anything! James, don’t listen to this fraud.”

Eleanor had tears in her eyes as she clutched Vicky’s hand. I opened my mouth to explain, but before I could get a word out, William, the man who called himself my father, stormed over and backhanded me so hard I hit the floor.

“You monster! You couldn’t even keep your own children alive, and now you’re trying to poison your sister? How could the Sinclair family produce someone as vicious as you?”

Tears I couldn’t control spilled down my cheeks. The wounds on my body throbbed with fresh agony.

James ordered his men to tear my bedroom apart. Out in the garden, they dug up a doll carved with Vicky’s name and birth date, along with small keepsakes from four of my daughters.

The psychic’s face lit up. “That’s it. That’s what we’re looking for.” Then his expression shifted, turning grave.

“For Miss Vicky to fully recover, the one responsible has to take eighty-one strikes. One for each layer of the curse. Then these items have to be burned. All of them. Together. It’s the only way to break it.”

For a moment, hesitation flickered in James’s eyes, but Vicky’s weak coughing spell seemed to snap him back. “Seize Evelyn. Carry out the sentence immediately.”

Watching his resolute expression, I could only laugh at how ridiculous this was.

The first spike slowly pierced my flesh, tearing through the tendons in my wrist and sinking deep into the wooden frame. The sound of the mallet echoed in my ears. I dug my nails into my palms until they broke and blood ran down my fingers. The entire Harrington estate was filled with my screams.

Five hours later, the final spike was hammered into the arch of my foot. Blood had soaked my evening gown completely red, pooling beneath me. I was too weak to even move, but every time my body sagged, the spikes tore through my flesh all over again, sending fresh waves of pain.

Vicky started vomiting blood again, even worse than before.

The psychic’s voice shot up, panicked. “Mr. Harrington! Whatever’s attached to her, it knows the mother’s fading. It’s pushing back! If we don’t finish this now, Miss Vicky isn’t going to make it!”

I thrashed against the frame, the spikes tearing deeper into my flesh. “James, you promised me! You swore you wouldn’t touch them! I didn’t do anything! None of this is me! Why would I hurt anyone? I’m already dying!”

James’s face went pale, but Vicky passed out in his arms right then. In that moment, he forgot every promise he’d made to me. “Even now they won’t show respect? Burn it all. Every last piece.”