Then she leaned in close and whispered near my ear, “One day, I stepped on Mr. Marks’s favorite peonies—on purpose. The butler said he’d dock her three months’ pay. She begged on her knees. Right there.”
“I found out later she hadn’t taken a day off in months. Just to save money… for you,” Piper went on, giggling. “When I told her to crawl through the garden like a dog? She did it. Just like that.”
My world crumbled. All those times my mother smiled and told me not to worry about a thing while I planned my wedding... I never knew what she had to endure for my sake.
As the elevator doors opened, something inside me snapped.
I raised my hand, eyes blazing.
“Piper, you’re a monster!”
But before my hand even touched her, she threw herself out of the elevator, crying hysterically as she held her face.
“Annelise, I said I was sorry! I even knelt to you, but you’re still being so cruel—do you really want me dead that badly?!” she sobbed dramatically. “If you want me dead so bad, then fine! I’ll die for your mother!”
She staggered up, pretending to hurl herself into the wall.
“Piper!”
A figure rushed forward, arms wrapping protectively around her—Colin.