Chapter 5
Sean’s forehead veins were throbbing with rage as he spat out, “Quintessa, you little bastard.”
Quintessa mocked him with a sneer, “Yeah, I’m the bastard. The one you brought into this world. If you had just been shooting blanks, we wouldn’t be having these troubles now, would we?”
Sean was so exasperated pain gripped his lungs, “I should have strangled you when I had the chance.” Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
Leaning against the table, Quintessa laughed, “Yeah, you should have, just like you drove my mom to her grave.”
Everyone in town gossiped about how Quintessa’s mother was the homewrecker, but little did they know, it was actually Mrs. Young, the current wife, who was the real mistress.
Outsiders always referred to her as the second eldest daughter, but who would guess that Quintessa was actually a year older than her sister?
When Sean married her mother, and she was barely pregnant, Sean had already set his sights on a more affluent match, driving Quintessa’s mother to despair.
To cover up the scandal, he conspired with the now Mrs. Young – Lilian Young – to falsify Quintessa’s age by a year, claiming that Quintessa’s mother seduced Sean while Lilian was pregnant with their first child.
They spun a tale that Quintessa’s mother, the supposed mistress, had died in an accident, and out of pity for the child, Mrs. Lilian Young graciously allowed her into the Young family.
Thus, Emberbrook’s elite circles praised Mrs. Lilian Young for her kindness and her magnanimity towards her husband’s illegitimate daughter.
And Quintessa’s mother? They said she got what she deserved, punished by God for wrecking a home.
But who knew that the Young family never saw Quintessa as one of their own? That she survived to this age was due not only to luck but to the Youngs‘ belief that she was beneath their concern. When they were upset or in need of amusement, tormenting her seemed to lighten their spirits. For years, Quintessa’s existence in the Young family had been nothing but a source of humiliation and entertainment for them.
The image of her mother’s jumping off the building was etched into Quintessa’s memory, fueling a hatred that never subsided, burning inside her and threatening to consume her whole.
At the age of eight, Quintessa was brought into the Young family, and that was the day all
warmth and happiness were severed from her life.
The hatred that blazed in Quintessa’s eyes sent a chill down Sean’s spine, and he abruptly realized that the daughter he had neglected for years had, unbeknownst to him, morphed Into a demon.
She was ensnared in darkness, her jaws wide open, waiting for the moment to devour the entire Young family, even if it meant her own destruction.
Sean quivered, “You want revenge for your mom?”
Only then did Sean understand what Quintessa truly sought.
Quintessa glared at him with eyes red as if she’d crawled out from hell itself, “The day you brought me into the Young family was the day you should’ve known that I would come back to ensure none of you
would ever know peace again.”
Sean, feeling guilty and vulnerable, could only muster a facade of bravado. He slammed his hand on the table and bellowed, “I’m your father! Without me, you would’ve been dead a long time ago. And your mother’s death has nothing to do with me. She brought it on herself.”
Sean was a man of selfishness, who would kick anyone off his path to wealth without
hesitation and without remorse.
Quintessa’s laugh was manic, her gaze icy as she stared at Sean, sending shivers all over his body.