The Tower Reversed: Back to 18 (Venus) novel Chapter 40

**One Step Changes Everything**
By Ruby Parker

**Beating Neil**

The moment Neil caught sight of Venus’s derisive expression, he felt as if he had been jolted from a trance. His heart raced, and he struggled to articulate his thoughts, stammering, “That’s not what I meant. I just didn’t want to burden you—”

“Burden me? Oh, please,” Venus interjected, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “You loathe any form of trouble, don’t you? And let’s be honest, you look down on me. If you had just been truthful from the start, perhaps I could have respected you for it. But no, you insist on playing the good guy while acting like a complete jerk. Classic Burns behavior.” Her words sliced through the air, sharp and biting.

Neil felt a storm brewing inside him, his expression darkening as he processed her accusations. For a moment, he was at a loss for words, grappling with the weight of her disdain. Finally, he managed to say, “If you’re still holding onto that time I lost my temper when you brought food, I can explain. You have to understand, my patient was in surgery that day—”

“I really don’t care,” Venus interrupted, her tone dismissive. “For an entire year, none of you ever accepted me. To you, I was merely a blemish on your perfect family portrait. No matter how hard I tried, I was never seen as one of you.”

Her voice trembled with a mix of anger and hurt, “From this moment forward, I refuse to be an idiot chasing after your approval. I’ll keep my distance, and you’d better do the same.”

A sense of unease washed over Neil at her words.

“What do you mean, ‘keep our distance’? You have Burn blood running through your veins. Do you really think you can just sever ties so easily?” he challenged, his brow furrowed in disbelief.

Venus shot back, her eyes blazing, “Then what do you expect me to do? Just sit quietly and be the invisible sister?”

Neil responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “Everyone just needs time to adjust to you. If you could revert to how you used to be, you know, less harsh—”

Venus let out a laugh that was anything but joyful. “Oh, I see now. You want me to go back to being that weak, pathetic Venus who bent over backward trying to please your entire family, right?”

“That’s not what I meant!” Neil exclaimed, his frustration evident in his furrowed brow. “Just stop being so sharp-tongued and cold all the time.”

This new version of Venus was like a stranger to him. He felt lost in her sudden transformation.

Venus scoffed, “You really are insufferable.”

Neil stood there, utterly confused by her reaction.

Nearby, the restaurant manager and waitstaff exchanged glances, acutely aware of the tension crackling between the siblings, yet too intimidated to intervene.

Florian, swinging from a chandelier with an impish grin, watched Venus intently.

So, she was just like him, he realized.

No wonder she had reached out to help him—they were cut from the same cloth, both feeling like outcasts in their own families, both treated as if they were stains that marred an otherwise pristine existence.

Florian’s gaze shifted to Neil, and with each passing second, his anger intensified.

“This self-righteous jerk deserves a good beating!” he declared, his voice laced with righteous indignation.

With a swift motion, he swooped down, landing right in front of Neil, and delivered two solid punches straight into his chest.

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