31
~Lisa’s POV
I opened my mouth, heart pounding, ready to explain myself, but Belinda didn’t even give a chance.
"Kael, just forget it," she said with a pout, flipping her hair over her shoulder like the drama queen she was. "She should just go back to her punishnt. That’s where she belongs."
I froze. Her words hit like a slap. I looked at her in disbelief. After everything I had done, cleaning her room without complaint, trying to stay out of trouble, this was how she repaid ?
I took a shaky breath, struggling to keep my voice steady. "That’s not fair..."
But Kael cut off, his voice like a whip. "You think I’m a fool? I caught you myself! With one of the servants. Laughing. Flirting. All lovey-dovey like you’d forgotten where you were!"
My heart dropped.
"No," I whispered, panic rising in my throat. "That’s not true! He was the one talking to . I...I didn’t..."
Before I could get the words out, Ramon’s voice roared through the room.
"What the hell, Lisa?!"
I turned to him, stunned.
"How could you do that?" Damon added, glaring at like I’d just committed a cri. "Is that how low you’ve fallen?"
I stared at both of them, my chest tightening. They didn’t love . They never did. So why were they yelling like I’d broken their hearts?
I didn’t even know what to feel, anger, sadness, sha, it all tangled up inside like a knot I couldn’t loosen.
And then Belinda, of course, just had to add fuel to the fire.
"Why do the triplets even care who she’s with?" she sneered, arms folded tightly across her chest. Her voice had that sharp, mocking edge to it, the one she always used when she wanted to cut deep and pretend she wasn’t trying to bleed anyone.
"She’s not yours. She’s not anyone’s."
At first, everyone else was too caught up in the drama to notice, but I saw it. The flash in her eyes. That flicker of sothing sharp and bitter behind the fake pout she wore like a mask. Jealousy.
Not the loud kind that threw tantrums and cried for attention, but the quiet, dangerous kind that crept beneath skin and festered until it exploded in cruelty.
She hated that they were talking about . Hated that Kael threw soone in prison over . Hated that Ramon and Damon were yelling, because of . Even if it was all hate and judgnt, it was still attention. And in Belinda’s world, attention was everything.
I looked at her more closely, and suddenly all the little things made sense. The way she kept glancing sideways at Ramon and Damon like she was checking if they were watching her. The way her lips twitched every ti one of them raised their voice at . The way she stood, trying so hard to look unfazed, but her fingers kept tightening around her arms like she was holding herself back from saying more.
She was angry that, for once, it wasn’t about her.
The triplets may not have loved , at least not in the way I sotis foolishly hoped, but the fact that they were this upset, this reactive over , clearly shook her.
I could see the question in her eyes, though she’d never admit it out loud: Why her? Why not ?
I looked around the room, surrounded by accusations, judgnt, and people who claid to hate but still acted like I was theirs to control.
They just wouldn’t stop.
Kael scoffed under his breath, shaking his head like I disgusted him. "I warned them about you. Always trying to play the victim, always pretending to be innocent." He glanced at the others, lips curling. "And now look at her, flirting with servants like she’s so prize."
"That’s not what happened," I said again, but my voice ca out so small I barely recognized it.
Ramon laughed bitterly. "Do you think we’re stupid? We’ve been watching you, Lisa. You think you’re sneaky? We see everything."
Damon nodded in agreent, his jaw tight. "If you were so desperate for attention, maybe you should’ve just said sothing instead of throwing yourself at the first man who looked at you."
My hands started trembling. My mouth opened, then closed. No words would co out.
I wasn’t even sure what I was trying to say anymore.
My heart pounded so loudly in my ears, it drowned out everything else.
"I didn’t..." I tried again, but Belinda cut in with an eye roll.
"Oh please," she snapped, her tone dripping with mockery. "She’s just trying to act sweet and pitiful now that she’s been caught. Typical Lisa move."
Then she laughed.
Laughed.
Ramon turned sharply to Kael, eyes gleaming with cold curiosity. "Who is the man?" he asked. "Which fool was stupid enough to think he could touch her?"
Kael’s lips thinned into a hard line. "One of the guards," he replied flatly. "I already threw him in the prison."
My heart stopped.
No. No, no, no.
Before I could say anything, Ramon let out a sharp laugh and clapped Kael on the back. "Good job. That’s exactly what you should’ve done."
"About ti soone taught those idiots so respect," Damon added, his tone ice-cold. "You want us to handle it? We could make an example of him."
I felt like the floor dropped beneath .
Kill him?
They were talking about killing him like it was nothing. Like his life didn’t matter. Like this whole thing was a ga.
"No," I breathed, but no one heard .
"Should we end him?" Ramon asked Kael casually, as if he were talking about what to eat for dinner. "It’ll send a ssage. Nobody touches what belongs to us."
Us?
My throat tightened. I couldn’t breathe.
They hated . They didn’t want . But suddenly, I was sothing that belonged to them?
Kael didn’t answer imdiately, and I couldn’t take it anymore.
"Please," I said, my voice cracking. "Please don’t hurt him. He didn’t do anything wrong. I swear it wasn’t like that. He didn’t touch ."
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