June 10 2026, 4:23pm
Shortly after the shock wore off, despair crept in.
Nyx’ara wanted to laugh right at their faces but the sound, for some weird reason, refused to slip past her dry lips. Her body shook with rage and contempt and every other thing in between, but no matter how wronged she felt she was, nothing could change the fact that these people stared down at her with an air of self-righteousness hanging around them.
Like they were doing her a favor.
Like they could never go wrong.
They wouldn’t stop peering at her from under their noses like she was nothing but a pest that could be easily discarded; And even though this entire thing sounded quite absurd, too absurd that it made her head spin, she couldn’t help but fear that they intended to go through with it.
That they wanted to convict her of yet another crime that she did not commit.
Her eyes immediately darted to Elara, who at the moment, was standing a little too close to Flynn with her body pressed too securely by his side. The sheer blue blouse she wore made her bosoms appear fuller, rounder. They looked like they were about to spill out of the sweetheart neckline.
But Nyx’ara didn’t give a flying fuck about her breasts.
She didn’t care whether or not her stepsister wanted to walk around naked.
All she cared about was the fact that something about this whole shitty scenario had to do with Elara. Because come to think of it, there is no way her entire family and her mate would want her to take the fall for someone else who isn’t Elara.
There is no way they would be shoving another murder case down her throat if Elara wasn’t the brain or the ’perpetrator’ behind it.
So Elara had to be the murderer.
True to her thoughts, Flynn suddenly pressed his hand on her shoulder, and for the first time in Nyx’ara’s entire life, she didn’t feel pleasure from that touch. She felt pain. Real searing pain.
She jerked away from him before she could understand what she was feeling, only to freeze when she saw the pained look in his eyes... the ones that soon morphed into stone.
He drawled; "You may not know this but ever since you pushed Elara from the library three years ago, she has been having nightmares and tremors. She hallucinates a lot and feels trapped in that fall over and over again."
Only that she didn’t push her.
"Oh," Nyx’ara couldn’t help but murmur, but ignoring her, he continued;
"Sometimes, without a thought, she returns there with the sole intent of throwing herself off the building as a result of the psychological trauma you had so viciously put her through... so let’s just say that it is your fault that yesterday’s accident happened..." he trailed off, and I gasped. "...And we all think it is only reasonable that you are allowed to face the consequences of your actions."
"My a-actions?" The words scratched out of her throat, burning through the sore vocal cords like molten magma down a mountain.
She shook her head, unsure if this was really happening or if she was stuck in some sort of twisted nightmare, and then she hissed;
"D-do you realize how s-stupid t-that sounded?" D-do you realize t-that it is c-crazy to a-accuse me of a crime I didn’t commit? F-Flynn, I was s-still in prison yesterday! So t-there’s no way I could have done that! There’s also no-no way they would b-believe I am responsible!" She rushed out but stopped when he snarled so loudly, the rest of her words died in her throat.
And then he clamped his hands on her shoulders.
"That is why we’re telling them that you were released last week on parole. That is why we would try to make them believe that the years you spent in the dungeons had made you go mad. Also, because you have done it before, they would believe us, so..." The iciness in his tone made goosebumps spread over her skin. She felt like she had been doused in icy cold water.
Again, she shook her head, but just as she did that, something in Flynn’s eyes flashed. Gone was the guilt. It was replaced now with a murderous intent. He grabbed her upper arm, squeezed it tightly until his fingers were digging into her skin, and growled in her face;
"You do not have a choice!"
Her throat closed down on her, working but refusing to make a sound.
Her chest twisted with pain so intense, every breath she took felt like a shard of glass was being dragged over her heart.
For one last time, she stared at the man in disbelief, not believing that she had loved this man for nine years, that she had been friends with him for eight years and had even at some point, begun to plan her future with him.
"I-I have a choice!" She cried out, feeling hot tears pour down her face in torrents. "I-I will not s-sit back and let you all r-ruin my life o-one more time l-like you ruined it three years ago!"
She saw something work on the corner of Flynn’s face as soon as she said that. For a moment, his gaze softened. His expression cracked and the hands holding her arms loosened just enough for her blood flow to return to normal.
That is until...
"Why can’t you do this little thing for me, sister?!" Elara cried out, her soft sultry voice slipping through the cracks that had formed in Flynn’s armor. "Why can’t you help me this once? If it was me, I would’ve helped you without hesitation!" She continued, and then went ahead to begin to cry hysterically, even though it was Nyx’ara’s own life that was at stake here.
Nyx’ara watched Elara sobbing with nothing but an emptiness forming in her heart. Watched the way her family all rushed to her stepsister’s side to console her.
No one remembered that it was her birthday today.
No one cared to apologize about her three wasted years which would have been enough for her to finish high school and then go off to college.
Her stepmother petted Elara’s head lovingly while her father stood in front of her like a human shield. And Tristan... Tristan was well Tristan. He was visibly protecting her, and from the sorrowful look on his face, Nyx’ara instantly knew that in his mind, she was still to blame.
She shuddered.
However, she was just about to respond, to tell them that she wouldn’t do this, when Flynn’s fingers suddenly closed down on her arm and began to dig into her flesh, breaking her skin. His voice dropped into a deadly whisper, washing over her body as he hissed;
"If you do not do this, I will kill you."
Nyx’ara wanted to roll her eyes. To snort at him and ask him to come up with a better kind of threat. But just as the thought crossed her mind, he added; "...But before I kill you, I will kill that pesky little friend of yours!"
Her heart stopped and slowly her eyes narrowed at him.
She had only one friend. Only one friend who had cared to show up in the three years that she was abandoned by everyone.
Only one friend who had slipped a piece of cake into her cell just this morning.
Her throat burned. "Y-you wouldn’t d-dare!"
"I would. Try me."