The air in the Serenity Peaks private clinic was a sterile blend of antiseptic and expensive, cloying floral diffusers.
Chloe was "escorted" here by one of Damien's impassive bodyguards. Her new job, she was informed, was to provide 24-hour care for her sister, Stella Sharp, until she "recovered."
It was a punishment disguised as a duty.
Two young nurses at the station whispered as she passed, their eyes gleaming with gossip and disdain.
One of them, a male orderly named Gary, spoke just loudly enough for her to hear. "I can't believe Mr. Beaumont is letting her take care of Miss Stella. She's the one who put her in that bed for two years."
Chloe's fists clenched, her nails digging into her palms. There was nothing she could do. Nothing but endure the malice that followed her like a shadow.
She pushed open the door to Stella's room. It looked more like a five-star hotel suite than a hospital room. Top-of-the-line life support machines hummed quietly.
On the bed lay a blonde beauty, her skin flawless, her face peaceful. As if she were merely sleeping. This was Stella Sharp, Damien’s adopted sister and the "white moonlight" of his heart.
Chloe sat in the chair beside the bed, a storm of emotions churning inside her. This was her half-sister, the one the Beaumonts had raised as their own. The person who had systematically destroyed her life.
She began her "duties," wiping Stella's arm with a damp cloth, her movements mechanical, numb.
The hours ticked by. The clinic fell silent, the only sound the rhythmic beep of the monitors.
Exhaustion finally claimed Chloe. She dozed off in the chair, only to be jolated awake by the sharp sensation of being watched.
She snapped her head up.
And met a pair of cold, mocking blue eyes.
Stella, the "sleeping beauty" who was supposed to be in a deep coma, was propped up on her elbows, watching her with a malicious smile playing on her lips.
Chloe's mind went blank. Ice water seemed to pour down her spine. She tried to stand, but her legs felt like jelly.
"My dear sister." Stella's voice was as sweet as ever, but each word was a poisoned needle. "Two years, and you've become a mute? How tragic."
Chloe's eyes widened in horror. She pointed at Stella, then at the door, trying to call for help, but no sound would come.
Stella let out a soft laugh, a sound that was jarringly loud in the quiet room. "Don't waste your energy. The doctors, the nurses... they're all about to believe I've made a miraculous recovery under your 'devoted' care."
She stretched out a perfectly manicured hand, admiring her nails. "And you, my dear Chloe, will be the sole 'witness' to this miracle."
It clicked. A trap. A monstrous, two-year-long conspiracy.
Chloe forced herself to calm down, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She gripped the chair to steady herself and quickly signed, "Does Damien know?"
Stella's smile deepened. "Damien? Of course not. In his mind, I'm still his fragile, innocent little sister who needs his protection."
She mimicked Damien's tone, her voice dripping with triumphant pride. "He'll only believe that you, the evil sister, shocked me into this coma in the first place."
"Now that I'm awake"—Stella's eyes turned venomous—"he'll only cherish me more and despise you further. Especially now that you're carrying a 'bastard'."
The words hit Chloe like a physical blow. Stella knew about the pregnancy. She hadn't just woken up. She had been watching, listening, all along.
Satisfied with Chloe's ashen face, Stella calmly reached for the call button on her bedside table.
"Two years of acting is exhausting," she said, lying back down, her expression instantly shifting to one of fragile, doe-eyed vulnerability.
"Sister," she mouthed silently, just before the door burst open, "the show is just getting started."
Dr. Wallace and a pair of nurses rushed in, their faces a mask of shock and elation at the sight of the "awakened" Stella and the stunned Chloe standing beside her.
"A miracle! This is a medical miracle!" Dr. Wallace exclaimed, rushing to check Stella's vitals.
Stella's eyes fluttered open weakly. Her first words were a faint whisper. "Damien... I want to see Damien..."
Every person in the room turned to look at Chloe with expressions of awe and gratitude, believing her care had brought Stella back.
Only Chloe knew the truth. She hadn't witnessed a miracle. She had just fallen into a deeper, more terrifying level of hell.
Chloe sat by the bed, her eyes red-rimmed and raw from a sleepless night. She watched the actress in the bed, the woman who was now being spoon-fed broth by an attentive nurse.
Stella basked in the attention, occasionally flicking a triumphant glance at Chloe from the corner of her eye.
After the nurse left, Stella pushed the bowl away. The fragile look vanished, replaced by undisguised contempt.
"Don't look at me like that, my dear sister," Stella purred, dabbing her lips with a napkin. "You must be dying to kill me right now, aren't you?"
Chloe just stared at her, her hands forming a sharp, angry question. What do you want?
Stella laughed. "What do I want? I want everything that's yours. Your husband, your status, everything you have. It should have been mine from the start."
She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial hiss, like a snake. "Just like my mother took your mother's place."
At the mention of her mother, Chloe's body went rigid. Her mother, Julia Sharp, had died in an "accidental" car crash when Chloe was ten.
Seeing her reaction, Stella smiled with satisfaction. "Oh, you didn't know? Did you really think your mother's death was an accident?"
Chloe's breath caught in her throat. She stared at Stella, waiting for an answer she was terrified to hear.
"How pathetic," Stella said, her tone one of mock pity. "My mother, Catherine, just gave a little nudge. She made sure your high-and-mighty mother found out that your father, Richard Sharp, had me, his illegitimate daughter. She even orchestrated my ‘adoption’ into the Beaumont family after she ‘died,’ making me Damien’s precious little sister while you were left to rot."
"A proud woman like your mother, how could she bear the betrayal? She drove off in a rage, and then... boom!" Stella made an exaggerated explosion gesture with her hands.
"Someone just tampered with the brakes a little. A perfect, tragic accident caused by emotional distress."
The revelation struck Chloe with the force of a physical blow. Her mother. Murdered. All this time, she thought it was an accident.
She staggered backward, stumbling into a medical cart. Instruments and glass vials crashed to the floor with a deafening clatter.
A wave of grief and rage so immense washed over her that she couldn't breathe. She clutched her chest, sinking to her knees, a strangled, animalistic sound tearing from her throat.
Stella watched Chloe crumble, a flicker of pure pleasure in her eyes. This was exactly what she wanted.
Her gaze darted to the fruit knife on the bedside table. Her eyes turned wild, decisive.
As Chloe looked up, her face streaked with tears, Stella snatched the knife.
And dragged the blade across her own forearm in a vicious, deep slash.
Blood welled up instantly, staining her white hospital gown a shocking crimson.
Stella let out a piercing scream and threw the knife. It landed at Chloe's feet. Her face contorted into a mask of pure terror and pain.
"AHH! Help me! Sister, why would you do this to me!" Her shriek was sharp enough to slice through the entire hospital wing.
Chloe was frozen. She looked from the bloody knife by her shoes to Stella's bleeding arm and her terrified, accusing face. Her mind was a roaring void.
She had been framed.
In the most vicious, undeniable way possible.
The door was thrown open with such force it slammed against the wall. The first person to burst in was Damien Beaumont.
His eyes took in the scene in a single, horrifying snapshot: Stella, collapsing in a pool of her own blood, a gruesome wound on her arm. And Chloe, kneeling on the floor, the bloody weapon at her feet, her face a mess of tears and a shocked expression that looked, to him, like guilt.
Damien's eyes turned blood-red. A wave of pure, murderous fury rolled off him, chilling the air in the room.
He lunged forward, shoving Chloe aside with brutal force. Her head cracked against the metal foot of the bed.
He carefully scooped the "fainting" Stella into his arms, his voice trembling with rage. "Stella! Stella!"
Doctors and nurses flooded in, gasping at the carnage.
Cradling Stella, Damien turned his head and looked at Chloe with the eyes of a man looking at something he was about to kill.
"Chloe Sharp, you psycho," he bit out, each word a vow. "I am going to send you to hell."
