He Betrayed Me, I Let My Brother Punish Him

Chapter 3

I tried desperately to stop her, but just keeping my head above the rising water had used up everything I had left. My body was stiff as stone.

Chloe drank in my despair, satisfied, and smiled.

She raised her phone and pointed it at me, shooting a video.

"Look at you. Don't you look just like an abandoned stray?"

She kept the camera rolling and added a cheerful commentary. "Hi everyone, I'd like you to meet my dear sister Neen. She stepped on a teeny little spine and now she's convinced she's dying. She actually wanted me to hand over the life-saving medicine."

She turned the lens toward her own soft, tearful face.

"What do you all think? Is she being selfish, or what?"

She edited the footage in under a minute and posted it to i********: and every group chat we shared.

I shrieked at her with everything I had left. "Delete it! Delete it right now!"

The water had nearly reached my chest. Cold and despair closed in at once.

Zane and the others were throwing a party on the yacht not far away, the music deafeningly loud.

Chloe swam back and transformed the instant her feet hit the deck, flinging herself sobbing into Zane's arms.

"Zane, I went out there to talk to Neen and she just wouldn't listen, and then she started screaming at me. She said I stole you from her, called me a shameless homewrecker..."

What? My eyes went wide. I couldn't believe anyone could flip the truth so completely.

Zane stared at the maliciously edited video on his phone. His face went pale, then dark.

In the footage, I looked wild-eyed and barely human, while Chloe had the soft, wounded expression of a girl who had done absolutely nothing wrong.

"Nina, you are beyond saving. Chloe went out there out of the goodness of her heart and you treated her like that?"

"It wasn't me, it was her!" I jabbed a finger at Chloe.

Zane didn't believe a single word. The look he turned on me could have stripped the skin from my bones.

Tiffany waded in from the side, her voice sharp with relish. "What did I tell you? She's unhinged. She's just jealous that Chloe is younger and prettier and everyone likes her more."

"Exactly. What a vicious woman," someone else agreed.

"Zane, don't you dare go soft on her. Leave her out there to clear her head," called another.

The chorus of accusations stripped away the last of my strength.

My mouth hung open. Nothing came out. All I could do was watch them in silence.

'Because Chloe knew how to cry, knew how to play the victim, everyone was on her side. Just like that.'

Zane held Chloe close and wiped the tears from her cheek.

"Stop crying. She's not worth it."

Chloe sobbed against his chest, a thread of satisfaction woven beneath her voice. "Am I just making things harder for you, Zane? Maybe we should go bring Neen back. I'm afraid something might happen to her..."

"You've done nothing wrong. She brought this on herself, and she deserves every bit of it."

Zane's words drove a spike straight through me.

I slumped against the cold rock and watched the water climb, my heart aching so fiercely it felt close to stopping.

I had no one. There was nothing left but despair.

Chloe, sheltered in Zane's arms, slid her eyes toward me and silently mouthed two words: Drop dead.

"Nina, listen carefully." Zane stood on the yacht's deck and called down at me like a man addressing someone far beneath him. "Swim over here right now, get on your knees, and apologize to Chloe. Otherwise you can stay on that rock forever."

I raised my head and looked at this man I no longer recognized.

'Three years. In his eyes, it had never been more than a game. Something to throw away whenever he felt like it.'

"I..."

The words never came. A massive wave struck, the rock disappeared from under my feet, and the sea swallowed me whole.