"What? She ca to you and asked you to directly plot lanie’s murder?" Marianne asked in amusent as her ’driver’
"Yes," he said, leaning back slightly as he sent her a look from the mirror, his voice low but tinged with sothing close to amusent. "But that isn’t even the most interesting part." He let the pause hang before adding slowly, "The most interesting part is that she insists on doing it herself... and she’s not entirely sure who the final target will be lanie or lody."
Marianne’s eyebrow arched slowly at that. "You an," she said, her tone sharpening with curiosity, "she hasn’t decided whether she wants to be lanie... or be lody?"
He gave a short hum of agreent. "Exactly. I still don’t understand how you managed to make her this obsessive. It’s not just jealousy anymore-it’s as if she’s built her entire identity around rivalry for love."
Marianne’s lips curved, but it wasn’t a smile of warmth it was one of evil and quiet satisfaction. She turned her head toward her brother, instead of looking out of the window, "Careful manipulation over the years. A little here, a little there. Nurturing her possessiveness. Sharpening her jealous streak. Making sure she learned that affection was a prize she had to fight for... and that losing ant being nothing. Eventually, I knew I’d have my way."
Her brother gave a dry scoff. "Wouldn’t it have been simpler to just torture her the way you’d planned for lanie?"
Marianne’s head tilted slowly, her gaze montarily distant. "No. I couldn’t," she murmured. "Not with lody. With lanie, yes-I could afford to break her openly. I had my thods for that."
His eyes narrowed. "thods?"
A faint smile tugged at her lips again. "For lanie. I used to lock her in the elevator. I’d stop it between floors so she’d be trapped in the dark, listening to the creaks of the cables. And when the panic set in, I’d tell her it was her father’s doing-that he had stopped it because she’d been naughty or troubleso for him. I made sure that it happened just after she had seen him. And he was never around to comfort her.
Her brother’s expression flickered, torn between disbelief and a reluctant fascination as he heard the story for the first ti. He had not been ’employed’ until then.
"That, is how a little girl learnt to fear her own father. By the ti she was barely old enough to understand what punishnt ant, lanie was already having panic attacks at the sight of him. I didn’t need to lift a hand to hit her. I let her mind do the work."
She tapped her fingers lightly against the arm of her chair, her tone almost conversational. "But then... that old woman intervened. She accused of torturing the child. Richard defended , believed that the old woman was just exaggerating, but it didn’t matter. I could see it in his eyes. The seed of suspicion had been planted. If lody ever started showing the sa kind of fear... the sa panic... he would start to wonder."
Her brother frowned. "So that’s why you didn’t repeat the sa tricks with lody."
Marianne nodded. "Exactly. I couldn’t risk it. Especially after lanie was taken away by that interfering woman. Richard might have let it go on the surface, but I knew... deep down, there was a barrier. Even now, after all these years, a part of him is still guarded with because of lanie. So with lody, I had to be careful- more careful than I’ve ever been with anyone."
She leaned forward slightly, her voice dropping lower, as if confiding a precious secret. "It was slower work. Subtle. No panic attacks, no visible fear. Instead, I gave her the taste of control and then took it away. I made her think her worth depended entirely on keeping soone’s attention. I let her believe love could be stolen and possessed... and that she had to be the one to steal it before it was stolen from her."
Her brother studied her with a mix of admiration and caution. "So all this ti, you’ve been shaping her and molding her into sothing even more dangerous."
"Exactly," Marianne said, satisfaction threading her voice. "If I’d broken her the way I did lanie, she’d be useless to now. But this... this uncertainty she has about whether she wants to replace lanie or destroy her? That’s the perfect storm. It will eat her alive until she makes her choice-and when she does, it won’t matter who survives. Either way, I win."
She sat back, her expression cooling, but the faintest glimr of triumph still lingered in her eyes. "lody doesn’t even realise that she’s chasing an identity I created for her. She thinks she’s acting on her own. But every choice she makes, every thought she has, has been planted, watered, and nurtured by . And now, she’s exactly where I want her to be- dangerous, desperate, and unpredictable."
"And lanie?" he asked finally.
Marianne’s gaze sharpened. "lanie will either die... or wish she had. Either way, once they are both gone, I will be at ease."
"Why do you need them gone to be at ease, is what I do not understand, Marianne. I an, it was a stroke of luck that you beca a nurse for lrose Thomas and then eventually beca Richard Thomas’ wife. But there are so many other step mothers in the world. Not everyone wants to get rid of their step children."
"Because of Richard Thomas. When he married , he stipulated that I would have children because he didn’t want his daughters to feel any bias. In all these years, not once has he changed his stance. But how can I live with that? Now that the girls are finally going to be out of the way, I will convince him to have children. At this age, so depressed and living with the fact that one of his daughters killed his other daughter, he will give in... And that would be my final success."
Reviews
All reviews (0)