Ana's POV
My throat constricted as I fixed my stare on Aileen. The words barely escaped my lips. "Why are you wearing that pendant?"
Aileen's body went rigid for a heartbeat before her fingers instinctively wrapped around it. "This old thing? Ridley gave it to me. What's the big deal?"
She sounded so nonchalant, but her words sliced through me like shards of glass. "You know exactly what that pendant means to me." I whipped around to face Ridley, my voice cracking. "I put it in your hands myself before they locked me up."
I'd entrusted it to Ridley because the thought of losing it in prison terrified me.
That pendant was priceless, and beyond that, completely irreplaceable. My mind reeled. 'He actually handed it over to Aileen?'
Ridley's expression darkened, his stare turning flat and dismissive. "It's just jewelry, Ana. Since when did you become so dramatic?"
Ice spread through my veins. My thoughts churned, 'Just jewelry? He damn well knows it was Grandma's.'
The memory hit me—that brutal winter when the blizzard struck. The chain had broken, sending the pendant tumbling into the snow. I'd crawled on my hands and knees all night, clawing through the drifts until my fingers cracked and bled.
Ridley had witnessed every moment of it. And now he called it "just jewelry."
I lowered my head, my voice breaking. "It's all I have left of Grandma."
"Oh, that explains it." Aileen's laugh rang out, sharp and mocking. "Look, no offense, but you're not actually a Watson by blood.
"Grandma was my real grandmother. When I miss her, naturally I want something to remember her by."
My eyes turned to ice. "Didn't you already claim her entire inheritance? This pendant was the one thing she gave me directly."
Isabelle had whispered, "Blood doesn't make family, love does." She'd pressed the pendant into my palm like a sacred vow. The inheritance, the pendant—everything was supposed to be mine.
Instead, Aileen had seized the inheritance.
Ridley had convinced me not to fight it, so I'd walked away with only the pendant. Now Aileen had stolen that too.
"Jesus, don't make a scene. I'll grab you a replacement," Ridley muttered, his frown deepening.
His tone held zero warmth. "Aileen's your sister. And Isabelle was her grandmother first. It's a piece of metal. Why are you acting so childish?"
His words gutted me completely. My body trembled, my voice shaking. "I just want what's mine. How does that make me childish?"
"Mom, that's pure jealousy." Hughes jumped in, scowling. "That's messed up. Every time it involves Aileen, you go crazy on her."
I knew what he was thinking. In his eyes, I was always the strict one, while Aileen was the fun one who snuck him candy and told him it was all about 'freedom.' But whenever I caught Aileen spoiling him, I'd explode. He saw that as jealousy talking. He didn't understand what was so bad about wanting freedom.
His young voice cut like razors. "Dad and I totally get it. Prison messed you up and made you paranoid. But that doesn't give you the right to attack Aileen.
"Being crippled isn't your problem. Your problem is your twisted heart. You should drop the attitude and let Aileen teach you how to be nice."
His innocent words felt like daggers piercing my chest, leaving me hollow and bleeding inside.
I'd always known Hughes preferred Aileen. But watching the people who'd destroyed my life preach to me from their moral pedestal felt like the universe's cruelest punchline.
I'd sacrificed everything for this family for years.
And it still couldn't compete with one of Aileen's smiles.
Aileen suddenly interrupted, "Why the drama?" She glanced at my expression and burst into giggles. "Chill out, I was just playing around. You women always blow everything out of proportion."
She lifted the pendant from her neck. "Fine, take your precious necklace back before you start imagining Ridley and I are hooking up. Trust me, if we wanted each other, it would've happened years ago."
Ridley's face twitched—barely noticeable, but I caught it.
I stared hard at the pendant, my pulse hammering.
Just as I reached for it, Aileen's lips curved into a cruel smile. She opened her fingers. The pendant slipped through, crashed to the floor, and exploded into fragments.
My eyes widened in horror. My hands shook as I struggled to stand, forgetting my cane completely.
The second I put pressure on my legs, agony tore through me, sending me stumbling forward.
I pitched toward the floor, and Aileen threw herself sideways, tumbling down beside me.
Ridley and Hughes both screamed Aileen's name, rushing to hover over her. Neither even glanced my way.
Ridley hauled Aileen to her feet, his voice turning arctic as he glared down at me. "She was giving it back to you. Why the hell did you push her? You're getting more unhinged every day."
His words didn't register. My trembling hands gathered the shattered pieces one by one. No matter how I tried, the pendant wouldn't come together again.
Isabelle's final gift to me was destroyed forever.
Ridley watched me hunched over the broken fragments, my blood smearing across the metal just like that winter night when I'd searched the snow until my hands split open.
Something shifted in his expression. Almost like sympathy.
Ridley said softly, "Ana, just say sorry to Aileen, and we'll forget this happened."
My shoulders shook, and suddenly laughter bubbled up from my chest. I laughed until tears streamed down my face. My thoughts screamed, 'Apologize? I'm the one who should apologize?'
All those years of marriage had followed the same pattern.
Aileen only needed to whisper a few lies and Ridley would take her side. He'd once "thrown himself into the fire" just to protect Aileen.
And I'd been the idiot, still begging for scraps of his love.
Even knowing how this would end, my chest felt crushed, every nerve in my body screaming like it was being ripped apart. When the pain faded, only exhaustion remained.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. My voice was empty, hollow, carrying nothing. "I was wrong."
Something uncomfortable flickered across Ridley's face, too fast for even him to catch. Still, his brow creased.
"Good. At least you can admit it." He helped me up, leaned close, and whispered where only I could hear, "Aileen is your sister. Don't make her life hell. She's suffered enough."
Ridley's voice gentled. "We're family. It's just a necklace. I'll have my assistant find you another one at auction."
"I know I was wrong." My tone stayed dead, unreadable. I looked Ridley straight in the eyes, then shoved him away, my gaze cold enough to make him step back.
"I was completely wrong," I said. "Wrong to mistake lust for love. Wrong to think a cheating bastard could be husband material. Wrong to marry you!"