Page 61 of The Substitute Fiancée

But she keeps going, unaware of just how vile her words are, shifting tactics with unsettling ease.

“I’m asking your forgiveness for hurting you, Alexander,” she says, her voice trembling now, tears hovering at the edge of her eyes. “But one moment of weakness doesn’t define us. I’m not proud of what I did, but I refuse to be reduced to that single act. You know me. You know who I really am…”

I listen, stunned by her audacity, by her ability to twist reality. The patience I was trying to hold on to evaporates instantly. Something inside me finally snaps.

“There’s nothing left to prove or to save, Kristel,” I cut in coldly. “It’s over. Between us. For good.”

I watch her face fall as she realizes her manipulation isn’t working anymore. For the first time, I’m not giving in.

“You don’t mean that,” she says after a moment, panic now unmistakable in her voice. “You’re just angry. In a few days, when you’ve calmed down, you’ll see that—”

“No,” I reply firmly. “There will be no reconciliation. You made your choice when you slept with Grégoire. Now I’m making mine. And I’m not looking back.”

And I turn to leave.

“So that’s it?” she screams, consumed by rage. “You just move from one sister to the other like it’s nothing?”

I freeze, but I don’t turn around.

“This is all her fault!” she spits, hatred dripping from every word. “She never accepted that you were mine. She should’ve accepted her defeat when we got together, but no—she kept coveting what belonged to me, kept looking at you with those pathetic big eyes…”

A chill runs down my spine. Her words echo in my head, slowly assembling like pieces of a puzzle. Too many things suddenly make sense.

I turn back toward her, slowly.

“What did you just say?”

“What?” she replies—and I see it in her eyes. She understands too late that she’s made a mistake.

“What do you mean, she should’ve accepted her defeat?” I ask.

My voice is dangerously low. My heart is pounding.

“You knew,” I continue. “You knew she had feelings for me before we ever got together. That’s why you chased me from party to party. None of those ‘coincidences’ were coincidences at all.”

The silence that follows confirms everything. I see defiance flash across her face.

“So what?” she snaps. “What does that change?”

What does that change? Rage rises in me—hot, crushing.

“You knew Sam loved me,” I repeat, my voice shaking with barely contained fury. “You knew she loved me, and you still tried to seduce me. What kind of monster does that to her own sister?”

I look at her, and it’s as if I’m seeing her for the first time.

“She’s not my sister!” Kristel screams, all traces of vulnerability gone. “She never will be! Her mother destroyed my family! Because of her, my father left my mother to marry his mistress. After that, my mother was never the same. She was so devastated she drowned herself in alcohol. She stopped picking me up from school, forgot my birthday… until the day they found her dead, drowned in her own vomit.”

Her voice breaks.

“I lost everything because of them. So yes, I hate them. I hate her!”

For the first time, I see real pain on her face. And despite my anger, a part of me feels compassion for the woman I thought I loved. But it changes nothing. Pain explains. It does not excuse.

“I’m sorry for what you went through,” I say quietly. “No child should ever have to live that. But Kristel… Sam didn’t choose to be born. She didn’t destroy your family. Your father made that choice. Your mother chose to let herself fall apart instead of protecting you.”

I step closer, locking eyes with her.

“You’ve spent your entire life punishing Sam for the mistakes of the adults around you. And you used me as one of your weapons.”