The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 166

“He looked at them,” she continued, her voice gaining a strange, detached rhythm. “My parents that he had put in the car. After he hit the tree. He looked at them to make sure they were dead. And then he looked at me. And he smiled. I remember it now. I remember the smile.”

Xan felt a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. She was accessing her memories that had been buried under drugs and trauma and five years of a false tale. They were coming up raw and sharp.

“He killed them,” she said and it was not a question but a statement.

“Yes.”

“For money.”

“Yes,”

“Because they said no.”

“Yes.”

She finally turned her head to look at him. Her eyes were voids. “And I spent five years in a white room, screaming that I was sorry, believing I was a monster. Five good years.”

The emptiness in her voice was worse than any scream. Xan reached for her. “Sarah, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I believed you. I believed in you.”

“You believed the story,” she corrected, her gaze shifting back to the tree. “The pretty, tragic story. The broken bird you could fix. It made you feel noble. It gave you a purpose.”

The accuracy of it stung. “That’s not fair.”

“Isn’t it?” She took a step toward the tree. “You didn’t love me, Xan. You loved the idea of saving me. And now you can’t save me. Because the monster isn’t her. It’s him and you can’t slay that dragon. You’re not a knight. You’re just a rich boy who got played.”

Each word was a small, precise cut. Xan felt his own guilt and shame rise up, hot and choking. “I’m trying to help you now. Let me help you. We’ll get you real help, please. Therapists, doctors-

“Help?” She let out a sound that was a half–laugh and half–sob. “What help is there for this? How do you therapize away the knowledge that your life was stolen? That your grief was a lie? That every time you cried for your parents, you were crying for the wrong reason?” She turned on him suddenly, the emptiness in her eyes replaced by a fury so bright it was blinding. “He’s still breathing! He’s still eating expensive steaks and sleeping in a silk bed! He took everything from

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Chapter 166 Her Silent Awakening

me, and he’s fine!”

“Sarah, no-”

“I’m going to kill him.”

43

Finished

She said it calmly and rationally, as if stating she was going to the grocery store. It was this calmness that terrified Xan more than any hysterics.

“No, you’re not,” he said, moving to block her path back to the road. “That’s not the answer. Revenge won’t bring them back. It won’t give you those five years back. It will just destroy what’s left of you.”

“Nothing is left of me!” she screamed, the calm shattering. “Don’t you get it? I’m a ghost! I’ve been a ghost for five years, haunting the wrong house! He made me a ghost! I’m going to make him one too!”

She tried to push past him. He caught her arms. She was stronger than she looked, fueled by a manic, terrifying energy. She fought him, kicking and scratching, her breath coming in ragged, animal pants.

“Let me go! I have to do this! I have to!”

“Sarah, stop!” He pinned her against the side of his car, holding her tightly as she thrashed. “Listen to me! Killing him doesn’t end this! It just makes you him! Is that what you want? To become the monster?”

“I already am a monster!” she wailed, her strength suddenly leaving her. She went limp, slumping against him, her face buried in his chest. Her body shook with a silent, violent tremors. “He made me one. He made me believe I was one. I need to… I need to make it stop. The screaming in my head. It never stops.”

Xan held her, his own eyes burning. He stroked her hair, a gesture that felt hollow now, a habit from a different life. “Justice might,” he whispered into her hair. “Real justice and it will not be with your hands but with the law. We can put him away, Sarah. We can make the world know what he did. That’s how you win. Not by becoming him but by exposing him.”

She was quiet for a long time, just shaking. Then she pulled back, just enough to look up at him. Her face was a mess of tears and dirt. But her eyes were clear and painfully aware. They searched his face, seeing him, really seeing him, for maybe the first time since she’d gotten out

of the institution.

“You love her,” she said, her voice quiet and terribly sad. “Elera. You’ve always loved her and not me. Why?”