To ruin an Omega novel Chapter 365

Chapter 365: Ugly Heart 2

MADELINE

"I did my research," my father continued. "Even her mother, although she lived a decently long life, used her gifts clearly a bit too much and the side effects of it... it killed her. I have to have her."

Pauline said something else. Her voice had gone sharp again, almost panicked.

"I’m not killing her," my father replied. "She will be returned. I just need to observe her."

My stomach turned.

"Are you insane?" Pauline’s voice came through clear and furious. "You are the reason I got caught in Aldric’s crossfire in the first place. And now that we are free, now that we are rid of that bastard, you want to shackle me again to a new prison?"

"I’m doing this for your sake too."

"For my sake?!"

There was a long pause. Then my father spoke again, his voice calm and measured.

"Think about it," he said. "Call me back when you aren’t so emotional."

The line went dead.

I sat there in the lounge with my hands still pressed against my thighs and my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. The spell dissolved on its own, the magic fading back into nothing as I released my hold on it. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

He was going to do it again.

He was going to go back to the fleshcraft. Back to the experiments. Back to everything he had promised was behind us.

Cian had been right...

The thought made something crack open inside my chest, sharp and jagged and impossible to ignore. Cian had looked at my father and seen exactly what he was. And I had stood there and defended him anyway in my head. I had chosen my father over the man I loved because I thought it mattered. Because I thought loyalty meant something.

And my father had not even waited a full day to pass before proving me wrong.

The door opened.

My father walked back into the lounge with his phone in his hand and that same easy expression on his face. He settled back into his chair and drank up his coffee as if nothing had happened.

I stared at him.

He noticed after a moment and raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

The word came out so casual. So unbothered. Like he had not just been on the phone planning to do the exact thing he had sworn he would never do again.

I felt something hot and bitter rise up in my throat.

"After everything," I said quietly. "After this family’s suffering and my suffering, you still want to do it. You still want to do fleshcraft."

His expression froze.

"You were listening to my conversation?"

"Yes." The word came out harder than I meant it to. "I had to. And I was right too."

Tears burned at the corners of my eyes. I did not try to stop them.

"I made all of those sacrifices for this family," I continued, my voice breaking slightly on the last word. "No. For you. And it was not worth it."

My father set his coffee cup down slowly.

"Madeline..."

"I lost him," I said. The tears spilled over and I did not care anymore. "I lost Cian because I put you first. And you mock me for that even now."

"I am not mocking you."

"I feel like such a fool."

He leaned forward and reached for my hand but I pulled it back before he could touch me.

"I am sorry," he said.

I laughed. It sounded ugly and raw.

"But that is the thing, is it not?" I said. "To me, those just sound like words. Empty words."

I wiped at my face with the back of my hand, smearing the tears across my cheek.

"After this, I am telling Mother," I said. "And I am emancipating myself from you and the Blossom name. I am sick of being a filial daughter to a man who would not put me first. Who would not put his family first over his selfish and self destructive goals. I am done with it."

"Madeline, you need to calm down."

"And if you do try to do that evil shit again," I continued, ignoring him, "I will report you myself. That is the only way I see to protect myself, Mother, and Wilhelm at this point."

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