Peony's Pov

I sat in the dark corner of my room, biting my lip hard, trying to keep myself from falling deeper into the abyss of despair. My heart was hollow, as if a gaping hole had opened inside it.

Today, my world collapsed. The man I had trusted with all my heart betrayed me, together with my stepsister.

A relationship that had already been fragile from the start only worsened after Violet knowingly betrayed me. She chose to take what was mine, without sparing a single thought for my feelings.

The image of them kissing right before my eyes kept replaying in my head, like a wound that refused to stop bleeding, cutting me deeper each time.

My body trembled, my breath came in ragged gasps, as though the world were crumbling around me. The two people who were supposed to be my safe haven had destroyed me instead.

I kept asking myself, where did I go wrong? What made them so cruel, so merciless toward me?

Amid sobs and emptiness, I felt fragile, lost, stripped of all direction. I kept wondering how this could be happening when I was supposed to be celebrating the happiest day of my life, my engagement day.

“Why are you both so cruel?”

That was all I could say; no other words could describe the state of my heart. The happy dream I had cherished all this time was shattered in a single night.

“Get out of here, damn you!”

A suitcase was thrown hard, hitting my leg. I looked up and found the face of my stepmother, Bella, flushed red, her breath ragged. She stood with her hands on her hips, eyes bulging as if they would leap out of their sockets.

I bit my lip, trying to steady the trembling that kept surging through me. For a moment, I wondered why they would drive me out when I was already at my lowest. But then I realized, my relationship with them had never been good to begin with.

Bella scoffed, crossing her arms, her eyes blazing. “Are you deaf? Get out of here. We won’t tolerate you any longer.”

“Don’t just stand there! You’ve disgraced the Chesney name with your shameful behavior!” my father shouted, the veins in his neck bulging.

I swallowed hard, staring at the two people who now looked at me with nothing but curses in their eyes. They were driving me out when I was already lost and broken.

I had no one left, I was utterly alone. Michael, the only person I once believed loved me sincerely, had now cast me aside as well.

I wanted to say something, but just as I opened my mouth, Bella’s eyes widened even more, her hands planted firmly on her hips.

“What are you waiting for? Get out of here! I’m sick of looking at your stupid face!”

I flinched in shock, her voice so sharp it made my whole body tremble. “But, Bella… I haven’t done anything wrong. Why am I being thrown out?”

I had never once defied any of their wishes. And now, suddenly, they were expelling me as if I had committed some unforgivable sin.

Bella’s eyes widened further, and she stormed closer, shoving me back until I stumbled. “How dare you talk back to me, huh?”

And it didn’t stop there—my father, standing behind Bella, glared at me with the same fierce disdain.

“Your very existence has brought us nothing but misfortune. Why are you even asking? You should’ve realized long ago that you’re just a burden here. You’re lucky we didn’t kick you out years ago.”

My father’s tone was far louder and harsher, standing firmly behind Bella, making me feel utterly terrified.

I reached for the suitcase Bella had thrown and forced myself to stand. My tongue felt tied, I couldn’t even find an answer to my own questions.

“You’re a dangerous woman, a snake! How dare you scold Violet when you’re the real troublemaker here! Shameless!”

Bella kept screaming in my face without a shred of mercy. She shoved me and jabbed her finger at me over and over. “You must’ve done this on purpose to ruin Violet’s happiness, isn’t that right?”

Every word Bella spat at me dragged me back to a memory just after the engagement party ended. I had wanted to meet Michael and ask for an explanation. But instead, I ran into Violet, my stepsister.

I remembered it clearly—how she told me that I had already lost, that I should just step aside. “But I only want an explanation. Michael is my fiancé. I have the right to know what really happened.”

It turned out that those words had only thrown me into an even more difficult situation. Violet’s eyes darkened, and she immediately gripped my wrist tightly.

“Damn you, don’t show that disgusting face of yours to me. You should shut your mouth and stop seeing Michael. That man is mine now!”

With a hissing voice, Violet spat out a vile warning. She tightened her grip on my arm and yanked me toward the door. I struggled to free myself as she dragged me all the way to the edge of the staircase.

“Let go of me, Violet. What are you trying to do?”

Violet didn’t answer. She kept pulling me with all her strength, my heart nearly dropping into my stomach as she tried to shove me down the stairs.

“You should have died a long time ago. You’re nothing but an obstacle, you wretch.”

With all her might, Violet attempted to throw me off the staircase. But I refused to end up crippled—or worse, dead. I fought back, resisting with every ounce of strength I had.

Just as I finally broke free from Violet’s grip, she suddenly stumbled and fell. At once, she screamed out, “Sister! Why did you try to kill me?”

I furrowed my brows, staring at her in utter confusion. At the same time, the sound of hurried footsteps rushed from behind.

A loud cry escaped someone’s lips. “Violet!”

It was Father and Bella, together with Michael, all of them sprinting to Violet’s side as she sat clutching her leg. They crowded around her, examining her condition with careful, anxious faces.

And suddenly, Bella stood up and slapped me across the face without hesitation. “You wretched woman! Were you trying to kill my daughter, huh?” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Violet stood up with the help of Father and Michael. I saw her cling tightly to Michael’s arm, gazing at me with tear-filled eyes.

“Sister, you’re so cruel to me! Why would you do this? You should know by now that Michael only ever loved me!” Violet’s voice cracked as she pointed at my face, her cheeks streaked with tears.

I quickly shook my head. “No, I wasn’t the one trying to hurt you. You’re the one who dragged me and tried to push me down the stairs. Why are you lying?”

But Violet immediately screamed again, turning toward Father and Bella, her face drenched with tears.

“Father, Bella! How could I ever do something so vicious? Only a wicked person would even think that way. All I wanted was to bring her back to us.”

My mouth fell open. What Violet said was so far from the truth. I wanted to defend myself, but Bella glared furiously at me. “Shut up! I don’t want to hear a single word from you!”

Violet kept crying loudly while my right to speak for myself was stripped away. Clutching Michael’s arm, she buried her face against him.

“You should leave this place! Because I know you’ll only plan something else to kill me the moment I let my guard down.”

That wasn’t true. I would never do such a thing, not even in the midst of the pain and disappointment tearing my heart apart. But my words were stuck, frozen in my throat as I saw Bella and Father nodding in agreement, as if there was no space for my voice at all.

Desperately, I turned to Michael, clinging to my last hope. He was supposed to understand, after all the years we’d been together. But all I received was the coldness of his averted gaze. Michael turned his face away, as if the years we had shared meant absolutely nothing to him.

“You should be grateful, because I was kind enough to let you stay with Michael even though he and I have loved each other from the very beginning.” Violet pressed her hand against her chest, her face still drenched with tears.

And now, she wiped away the drops streaming down her face and bit her lip. “But you need to understand, feelings can’t be denied. Fate brought us together. So, stop trying to take what was never yours to begin with.”

Violet kept on speaking the very words I should have been saying. She made me look like the villain here.

My breath caught, and my eyes trembled violently. Ah, I understand now. I should have realized this was a trap. A trap woven with lies meant to bring me down. Because from the very beginning, Bella and Violet never liked me. Since the moment they arrived, they had always tried to take my place and make me look bad.

I can still remember it clearly, Violet made me move rooms just because she wanted what was mine. And the worst part was that Father, my own flesh and blood, obeyed her and never cared about me. He seemed far more concerned about his stepdaughters than about me, his own daughter.

Bella dragged me into the room, her cold hand gripping my arm. I didn’t resist, there was no point. Every eye was on me, filled with hatred. No one stood by my side; I was cast into the corner, abandoned completely. Soon enough, they would throw me out, and I would be left to drown in this loneliness.

Bella rolled her eyes in disgust, then shoved me out of the room. “Get out of here! Don’t you ever show your face again! The Chesney family doesn’t need a parasite like you!”

I turned away, walking with my head hung low. Tears streamed endlessly, soaking my cheeks and dripping with every step. The pain seeped in, cutting down to the bone. But I couldn’t let them see this open wound, couldn’t let them witness how utterly shattered I was.

I kept walking, wiping my tears away with trembling hands. The moment I passed through the door, my steps froze. There he was—Michael, standing still, his gaze fixed on me, impossible to read. My heart sank. I tried to lift my chin, holding back the tears that threatened to break free, forcing myself to walk past him with the last shred of courage I had left.

But suddenly, Michael reached for my hand, stopping me in place. I turned, meeting his face, blank, expressionless. For a fleeting moment, the world seemed to stop, and for the first time, I had no idea what would happen next.