[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":10},["ShallowReactive",2],{"viewer-data-260322A01459-510":3},{"id":4,"number":5,"name":6,"content":7,"isLocked":8,"price":9,"hasRead":8},510,17,"Chapter 17: \"The Knight Family Has Blood on Their Hands\"","\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">The day I was discharged, they all showed up: my adoptive parents and Desmond.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Vienna Cruz stood outside the hospital entrance, draped in a white bridal gown, clutching a bouquet of red roses. She looked like a fever dream of desperation.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">She thrust the roses forward. \"Desmond, I know you’re busy. That’s why I’m asking you. Marry me.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Desmond didn’t even blink. He gripped my arm and pulled me behind him, shielding me like a piece of property. \"Vienna, I’m not marrying you.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"Why not?\" Her voice cracked, fingers digging into his sleeve. \"We were doing just fine. I’m pregnant with your child, Desmond!\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">He swiped the roses from her hands with a single, brutal motion. They hit the pavement, scattering petals like confetti in the biting winter wind.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">\"I paid you for a service, not for a romance,\" Desmond spat, his voice cold enough to freeze blood. \"And as for the baby, you and I both know whose it actually is.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">The color drained from Vienna’s face, leaving her ghost-white.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">She whipped her head toward me, eyes bulging with pure, unadulterated venom. She shrieked, \"Serenity Knight! Are you really going to cling to him that hard? Do you even know how your parents died? The Knights killed them! My uncle was at the firm when it happened!\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">She spilled it then—the truth buried under years of \"generosity.\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">The business merger hadn't been a partnership. It was a loaded game, a rigged deck. The Knight family had kept their own hands clean, ensuring they had an escape route while my father took the fall. Every legal document that mattered had only his signature.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">When the roof collapsed, he was the one left under the rubble.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">The lawsuits, the media witch hunts, the friends who turned their backs like it was a contact sport—it drowned him. My mother, unable to carry the weight of the ruin, followed him into the grave.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">And the Knights? They took me in, playing the saintly guardians to satisfy their own twisted conscience.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Desmond stood paralyzed, his face the color of parchment. He looked at his parents, his eyes wide with a fragile, dawning horror.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">His mother lunged for my hand, her voice trembling. \"Serenity, listen to me—\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Vienna let out a sharp, jagged laugh of triumph.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I looked at her, truly looked at her. \"You’re pathetic, Vienna. You have to claw at someone else’s scars just to prove you’re worth loving. But love isn't something you can extort. You still don’t get it, do you?\"\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">My legs felt like lead, but I forced myself to walk.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Desmond followed, his footsteps echoing right behind me.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Behind us, Vienna collapsed into a raw, ugly sob, the sound slicing through the busy city street. Passersby stared, curiosity flashing in their eyes like vultures, but she was too far gone to notice.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">Life is just one long chain of screw-ups and things we can't control. We think we’re the ones holding the pen, but we’re just reading lines written for us years ago.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">In this play—this miserable drama of greed and possession—there are no winners.\u003C/p>\u003Cp class=\"chapter-paragraph\">I didn’t want to stay for another second. Everything in Southside was still in chaos, but I was done waiting. I’d be heading out early to start my life in the ruins of the old one.\u003C/p>",false,0,1774272916658]