Chapter 4

Kimberly kept screaming, a high-pitched, theatrical sound. "Help! Someone help me! She's crazy!"

"I'll show you crazy," I snarled, grabbing a handful of her hair and pulling her down to the floor.

The rage was a physical force, a roaring fire in my blood. This wasn't just about a necklace anymore. It was about every lie, every moment of humiliation, every piece of myself I had lost to them.

She scratched at my arms, her nails digging into my skin, but I barely felt it. I saw the broken locket on the floor, and the fire inside me burned hotter.

"Get on your knees," I commanded, my voice cold and devoid of emotion. "Apologize to my mother."

Kimberly sobbed, a pathetic, gulping sound. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It was an accident!"

"It was not an accident!" I yelled, pulling her hair tighter. "You did it on purpose! Say it!"

"Azalea, what the hell are you doing?!"

Caleb's voice cut through the chaos. He stood in the doorway, his face a mixture of shock and disgust.

He rushed forward and grabbed me, trying to pull me off of Kimberly. "Let her go! Have you lost your mind?"

"She broke my mother's necklace, Caleb!" I screamed at him, tears of fury finally breaking free. "She broke it!"

Caleb looked from my face to the weeping Kimberly on the floor, then to the broken locket. He knelt down and helped Kimberly up, cradling her as if she were a wounded bird.

"It's just a thing, Aza," he said, his voice dangerously calm. "I'll buy you ten more. You can't attack someone like this. Look at her. She's terrified."

Just a thing.

He had always done this. Minimized my feelings, devalued what was important to me. My grandmother' s vase she "accidentally" knocked over. The first-edition book I cherished that she "accidentally" spilled coffee on. My design sketches for a competition that she "accidentally" threw away with the recycling.

It was never an accident. It was a pattern. And he always, always took her side.

"You're a monster," Kimberly sobbed into Caleb's chest. "A violent, jealous monster."

"She's right," Caleb said, looking at me with cold, hard eyes. "You need help."

Something inside me snapped. The last thread of hope, of love, of any feeling for this man, just... broke.

I looked at Kimberly's face, streaked with tears and makeup, her lip trembling in a perfect performance of victimhood. She thought she had won.

With a sudden, vicious movement, I lunged forward again. Caleb was holding me, but my arms were free. I dug my own nails into the back of my hand, hard, breaking the skin. Then, before either of them could react, I raked my bloodied fingernails down Kimberly's perfect, lying face.

She let out a genuine scream of pain this time, a raw, animal sound.

Caleb shoved me away, and I stumbled back, hitting the wall. He was staring at the four red, beading lines on Kimberly's cheek.

"You... you're insane," he breathed, his voice filled with a horror that was almost satisfying.

I started to laugh. A wild, unhinged sound that echoed in the pristine, silent bedroom.

"This is just the beginning, Caleb," I said, my voice shaking with the force of my laughter. "You think this is bad? You have no idea what I'm going to do to you."

I pointed a trembling finger at him, my eyes locking onto his. "I am going to burn your entire world to the ground. You and her. You will have nothing left."