Scarlett (Second Edition) by Karima Saad Usman novel Chapter 164

Scarlett

hapter 164

Scarlett’s POV

Tears were always a sign of weakness or so I had convinced myself. And yet, I couldn’t stop them. They kept falling, each drop a reminder of hour everything had gone wrong, how it should never have reached this paint.

Maxwell’s words, his sudden display of emotion, came far too late. He spoke as if he could reach me, as if he could pull me back, but I was already gone. was trapped in a dark loop of memories, bitter anger, and unshakable regret, emotions so deep they seemed etched into my bones.

Moving past them felt impossible, and time no longer felt like a friend that could help me heal. I’d always thought free could mend anything, but even that hope felt like a lie now.

All they ever had to do was care-care about me, just as much as I’d cared about them. To believe me when I spoke. To stand beside me without hesitation. But it was too much to ask, apparently.

In their eyes, I was insignificant, someone whose feelings and needs could be ignored. Maybe they believed I had nowhere else to go, that I was bound to stay no matter what. With no family to turn to, no home waiting for me, I was stuck in their world. They must have known that, and maybe that’s why they felt free to take me for granted. I was a bet they thought they couldn’t lose.

But here I was, walking toward the woods, feeling the weight of every single hurt they had ever thrown my way. And as I walked, my thoughts drifted to Keith. My heart ached just thinking of him. A man like him… he would have been perfect.

I felt a surge of warmth, a glimmer of what could have been, but I knew life doesn’t deal perfect cards. It tries to strike some kind of balance, I guess, and I’d just drawn a losing hand.

I wondered what Keith was doing right then, and if he felt any of the same emptiness that I did without him. I knew how deeply he’d cared-how taken he was, like I was the center of his world.

If only my heart beat for him the way his beat for me, I would have thrown/everything else aside, damned the consequences, and stayed with him. But I

couldn’t pretend those three-the ones who had hurt me the most-weren’t still buried somewhere in my heart. They’d taken up space in me, carved

themselves in, and no matter how much I wanted to rip them out and forget, I was trapped in this cycle of attachment and betrayal. If only there were some

kind of magic that could make me forget, to let me be free.

Midnight nudged me with a reminder. “Keith’s gift, Scarlett,” she whispered to me, and my heart clenched. Keith had sent something along, something left for me in the van. My curiosity stirred, and without a second thought, I turned toward where it was parked, wondering what he could have possibly left me.

As I walked toward the van, I felt the eyes of the Redcape pack members on me, their stares heavy with judgment, as if I were an outsider in their world. But I was different now; their looks couldn’t pierce me the way they once had. My skin was thicker. If any of them dared to test me, they’d find I was no longer the person who could be so easily wounded. They could try to push me, but this time, I wouldn’t hesitate to push back.

“Good evening, Luna,” a woman murmured as she walked past me, her voice barely above a whisper.

My blood boiled.

“Do not call me that-do you hear me?” I warned, my voice sharp and steady. I could feel my magic, hot and restless, rising to the surface, fed by the flames of my anger. The woman’s face paled, and I watched her flinch. She was scared. They were all scared. Good.

“And that goes for every one of you!” I shouted, letting my voice ring through the air, thick with power.

“I am not your Luna, and I am no member of this pack. I am a Vladislav-the last of my kind.” I looked around, watching as fear spread like wildfire, seeing

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Chapter 164

way as this shoeb boacked way for me.

2

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They may not have knew what that name meant, but they felt the weight i slmost wanted to laugh at their panic. But there was no joy in bedy a liter

satisfaction.

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