He Made Me Pay for Five Years; Now He Regrets

Chapter Two.

Charlotte’s POV.

The Hill family mansion looked different from what I remember.

I stood frozen in the foyer, my gloved hands clasped in front of me as my eyes scanned my surroundings, trying to find something familiar. The grand staircase was still there, the chandelier and everything else but for some reason, something felt strange.

On our wedding day, Mason had carried me over the threshold in his arms, while Olivia stood in the foyer with her arms open, welcoming me into their family. Jendry had warmly called me his daughter.

The memory was so vivid that a tear slid down my cheek.

For a while, no one noticed me standing there until a young maid’s eyes rested on me and she dropped the tray she was carrying in shock. The crash echoed through the hall, startling everyone.

The servants rushed out and froze when they saw me. Their eyes widened in disbelief and I saw the pity in their eyes when they saw the scar on my face.

I wanted to cover my face but I knew it would only draw more attention so I had no other choice than to stand there, my heart pounding, my palms sweating beneath my gloves under the scrutinizing gaze of everyone.

I didn’t know what to expect. Because I had foolishly hoped that five years might have healed some of the wounds but standing there, I realized I might have been wrong.

A maid scurried up the stairs and shortly after, Olivia came down the stairs slowly. She looked a bit older than I remembered, with more gray hair and wrinkles.

“Mother.” I said softly, my voice cracking as tears stung the back of my eyes but I held it back.

The word rolled off my tongue with ease.

Olivia’s face twisted from shock to rage. She walked toward me and stopped a few feet away, her eyes trailing down my body with disgust.

“Don’t you ever call me that again.” She hissed quietly but her words cut through the air like a blade. “You have no right to call me that.”

I opened my mouth to speak but the words wouldn’t come. My throat was tight, my eyes burned and I could barely hold back the tears any longer.

“It’s been five years, mother.” I finally managed to say, my voice breaking terribly but I pushed on. “Five years paying for what I did. I know I could never make it up to you, but if five years isn’t enough, then I don’t know what else I can do.”

Olivia stared at me, her eyes burning with hatred. And then, she suddenly burst out laughing. A cold, bitter sound that made me flinch.

“Do you think gaining a scar on your face makes up for what you took from me?” She spat, her voice rising with fury. “Do you think spending five years in one piece while my daughter rots away in six feet under means you’ve atoned? She was my only daughter! My baby! And you took her from me!” She yelled.

A sharp pain shot across my chest.

In one piece?

I touched my face with my gloved hand. The scar wasn’t the only part of me that I’d lost in that prison. I thought my deaf ear, the one that could no longer hear music after one of the inmates had rammed a nail deep into it.

I barely managed to survive the severe bleeding I experienced.

And then there were my fingers, the ones that would never play again.

I had lost so much more than words could ever describe.

“You think any of this makes it even?” She continued, glaring at me. “You think your measly five years of suffering rules out mine? My husband is lying in a hospital bed! He can’t move. He can’t speak. He can’t do anything. And it’s all your fault!”

The words landed so hard it knocked the air right out of my lungs.

Jendry.

The stroke had happened a few days after Nerissa’s funeral which was the last time I saw him. Mason had told me about it the day he came to take little grape away from me but hearing it from Olivia, seeing the pain in her eyes, it hit harder than it ever did.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered. The words felt so small and useless but that was all I had left. “I’m so sorry.” I added, my throat ached as tears began to pour down my face.

Olivia turned away from me sharply, her shoulders shaking.

“Get out of my house, Charlotte and don’t ever come back here again.”

“No. Please!” I sobbed, falling to my knees. “Please let me see her. Let me see my little grape.”

The thought of not getting to see her sent a shockwave through me. My lips quivered and I could barely hold myself together any longer.

Olivia didn’t turn around, instead she responded with a cold, stern voice,

“You won’t be seeing her or Mason today. So leave.”

My heart dropped. I lunged forward just as she took a step to leave and caught her feet. My face slammed against the marble floor, hard and a sharp pain shot up my head.

Blood trickled down my nose but I didn’t care.

Physical pain was nothing compared to what I felt inside.

“Please.” I screamed as long as my sore throat would let me. “Please let me see her, just this one time.”

“You don’t get to see her.” Olivia snarled, pulling her leg away from me aggressively. “Just as I can no longer see mine, I’ll make sure you never get to see yours again so you will understand the kind of pain you put me through.”

I wanted to scream, to hold onto her and never let go until she let me see my daughter but the sound of a child’s laughter suddenly echoed through the room and we all froze.

The sound came from the top of the stairs. Bubbly and light, like wind chimes in the breeze. I turned and my breath caught in my throat when my eyes rested on her.