She must have caught the color draining from my face, because Alexis tilted her chin up, her expression still perfectly innocent.
"Bertram told me yesterday he wanted to use these to buy one of my smiles."
Pain lanced behind my eyes. Every word out of her mouth was a blade, and it was suffocating.
So that was why he hadn't answered his phone. He'd been with Alexis.
He'd shredded everything I'd written without a second thought, just to piece together a love letter for her. Just to make her happy.
The taste of blood seeped between my teeth. My voice shook when I finally spoke. "Are you done with the act?"
Alexis blinked, then shrugged like it meant nothing. "He told me he'd always have my back. No matter what."
My eyes flickered.
She wasn't wrong. Bertram had always shielded her.
The first time, she'd "accidentally" fed me abortion pills disguised as vitamins. His punishment? Making her post a public apology on social media.
The second time, she'd faked a stomachache right as I was going into labor, delaying delivery until my baby suffocated. His punishment? Grounding her for three days to "reflect."