From Cell to Crown- The Disgraced Heiress Returns

Chapter 14

Drake looked at her coldly, as if she were already a ghost. "Shut up. Don't dare tarnish the word 'love.'" Evan sneered, his voice icy. "Someone who manipulates others doesn't know what love is. Liora, Dad never wants to see you again."

He sighed, his frustration evident. "I just don't get it. The Sterling family always treated you well. So why did you go after Narissa like this?"

Liora snapped, her eyes flashing with anger. "Go after her? It was your mother who targeted us," she shot back. Evan froze, his eyes widening in disbelief. He never expected her to twist the truth this way. But Liora only smirked. "Don't look at me like that. If it weren't for that bitch Astrid seducing my father, my mom and I wouldn't have had to leave the country for all those years."

It was Elowen who had fallen in love with Astrid first and chased her relentlessly, yet Liora had the audacity to blame Astrid.

Evan's veins bulged, his anger reaching a boiling point. "Your mother seduced my dad, and you're no better! Your mom was a mistress, and so are you!"

Liora's face twisted, but instead of showing pain, she laughed bitterly, her eyes full of spite. "Drake, Evan, you really think everything Narissa went through is my fault?"

She turned to Evan. "If it weren't for you, how could I have planted people inside? And by the way, those people were your choice, weren't they? In the end, you caused her the most harm. What right do you have to point fingers at me?"

Evan's eyes widened in shock. "No… I didn't know. I just thought…"

He trailed off, unable to finish.

Liora smirked and finished his sentence for him. "I know. You thought I was just teaching her a little lesson. But you're just as guilty. How can you act so innocent?"

Evan's expression faltered, a flicker of panic crossing his face. "No, I was set up," he muttered, his voice distant. "Narissa, I didn't mean to… I didn't know, I swear I didn't know anything!"

Since Narissa's disappearance, his mind had been unraveling. Drake, however, couldn't take any more excuses. "Where did you take Narissa?" he demanded.

At the mention of Narissa, Liora's lips curled into a wicked smile.

Drake, filled with rage, slapped her hard across the face, his expression cold and unforgiving. "Tell me. Where is she?"

The smile faded from Liora's face, replaced by a chilling indifference. "Drake, if I had the power to do anything to her, I would have done it long ago. Do you really think I'd wait until now? Narissa left on her own. You know that."

A sharp, icy chill shot through Drake's chest. He wanted to deny it, to believe otherwise, but all the signs pointed to the truth. Narissa hadn't been forced to leave—she'd made the choice herself. She'd erased every trace of her whereabouts, leaving him no way to find her.

That realization tore through him like a knife. Did she really want to leave them that badly?

Seeing the pain on his face, Liora's smile widened, victorious. "Drake, remember that night when you and I were together in her room? She watched the whole thing."

Drake's heart dropped like a stone. "You did it on purpose. You seduced me so Narissa would see."

Liora scoffed, her gaze dripping with contempt. "If you hadn't wanted it, would I have succeeded? Just imagine how furious she must have been, watching us."

Drake's mind shattered as the pieces fell into place. Now he understood why Narissa had left him, why she erased all traces of him. She had seen him with Liora, and it had been the breaking point.

Drake shut his eyes in anguish, his heart twisted with regret. But when he opened them again, all the emotion was gone, replaced with cold resolve. His voice was ice as he spoke. "You will never walk free again. I'll make sure you and your mother suffer the same way Narissa did."

Liora's face contorted in rage and fear. "No! You can't do this to me! My dad won't let you!"

Drake gave a hollow laugh. "Is that so? Too bad your dad would rather die than see you again."

Liora's world seemed to collapse around her, her heart sinking with every word.

Meanwhile, Elowen, drowning in his guilt, spiraled into despair. Each night he drank himself into oblivion, calling out Astrid's name, lost in his grief. His tears had long since dried up, his anguish unbearable. "Astrid… I failed you… I failed our Narissa…"

As for Evan, he took over the family business while undergoing treatment in the hospital, but no matter how hard he tried to focus, his mind never strayed from one thing: finding Narissa.

He knew he had wronged her. Every night, he lay awake, haunted by the image of the sister he had betrayed. If he ever found her, he would apologize, tell her she was never to blame, and that he had been blind, deceived by lies. He would spend the rest of his life making it up to her, protecting her as he should have from the start.