Chapter 8 Linda realized playing victim wasn't working, so she dropped the act entirely. "It was a MISTAKE! I was freaking out! I didn't mean ANY of it!" Her voice went shrill. "And Lola's NOT EVEN HURT! So why the HELL, did you freeze Sebastian's cards?! You're doing this to PUNISH me! You're both EVIL!" I laughed and stepped out of the car. "Evil? Babe, I learned from the BEST. You've been riding MY good deed for FOURTEEN YEARS." I whipped out a fat envelope and hurled it at Sebastian's face. The papers scattered. He grabbed one, scanned it-and went pale as a corpse. 'No... Lola... it was YOU?" Linda scrambled for the documents. The second she saw them, she FROZE. No! No, Sebastian, I SWEAR it was me who saved your grandma! You have to believe me," She clawed at his sleeve. He SHOVED her. Hard. she flew backward, skull cracking against the curb. Blood gushed from her head. She wailed, reaching for him. "Sebastian, PLEASE! It hurts! HELP ME!" He didn't even GLANCE her way. Just stood there trembling, clutching the proof of my charity. Hospital receipts. Photos from our car that day. His grandmother's handwritten thank-you letter addressed to "the kind little girl in he black car." Our butler saved everything-wanted to use it for good PR someday. I told him to bury it. Thank God he's a hoarder. All three of them looked like someone had ripped their guts out. Lola..." Sebastian's voice cracked. "Why didn't you TELL me?" I snorted, "Why would I? It wasn't a big deal." I grabbed Gideon's hand and turned back to the car. Sebastian LUNGED at me, wrapping his arms around my waist like some pathetic ex-boyfriend in a rom-com. "I WAS WRONG! I didn't KNOW! God, Lola, if I'd known it was YOU-" His voice broke. "I'll never see Linda again! I SWEAR! Just-just don't marry him! Stay with ME!" I ripped his hands off me like he was diseased. Chapter 8 "Stay with you? You're DEAD, dumbass. Our marriage was annulled the second I filed that death certificate." I smiled, vicious and sweet. "And newsflash? I ALWAYS knew you faked that fall. Linda didn't save you. You never lost your memory. I just didn't CARE enough to call you out." Sebastian staggered back like I'd shot him. "That was-I was going to come back! I just needed time to-" "To WHAT? Run off with your side piece?" I stepped closer, voice ice-cold. "Let me make this crystal clear: I married you to keep the shares in the family. That's IT. You were NEVER special." I got in the car and slammed the door. As we drove off, Sebastian chased us down the street, screaming my name until he disappeared into a pathetic little dot in the rearview mirror. The wedding was PERFECT. Sebastian showed up at the gates threatening to slit his wrists if we didn't let him in. Security literally picked him up and threw him into the street like a bag of garbage. I got tipsy on champagne, curled into Gideon's side, and whispered, "Took us long enough... but I finally got the right guy." He kissed my forehead, thinking I was just being sentimental. He had no idea I'd already lived a lifetime without him. This time, I held on tight. Married life was everything I'd missed. Gideon moved his entire empire back home, just like before. He never left my side. Sebastian and his buddies? Total disaster. They couldn't get real jobs-too proud. Couldn't keep crappy jobs-too incompetent. Tried to start a business and torched it in THREE MONTHS. So they started stalking me. Hanging around the estate, hoping for an "accidental" run-in. Security launched them into the street every single time. A few months later, Gideon brought me an update on Linda. That head injury? Worse than it looked. She'd slipped into a coma. Total vegetable. At first, the three idiots kept her on life support-terrified of a lawsuit. But once their money ran out? They ghosted her. Her parents tracked them down at some grimy bar. Things got HEATED. 14:47 Chapter 8 Her dad called them ungrateful monsters. Sebastian screamed that Linda was a lying LEECH who destroyed his life. Then he smashed a bottle into her father's face. Her mom called the cops. Assault. Fraud. Negligence. The charges piled up. Sebastian got FIVE YEARS. Carter and Miles couldn't cough up the settlement. Linda's mom, broke and heartbroken, pulled the plug herself. The girl I'd once treated like a sister? GONE. She never made it to those lavender fields. Carter turned to theft. Miles to gambling. Both landed in prison within six months. All three of them, rotting in the same cell block. When I heard the news, I didn't feel sad. Didn't feel guilty. smiled. Maybe NOW they'd finally understand what they really were. NOTHING. And this time? No kindhearted little rich girl was coming to save them.