Calamity Carina

Stepping through the doors of the Rayburn mansion felt like Carina was submerging her head underwater, like the coolness of the water was making her shiver and the feeling of an immeasurable pressure was pressing down on her.

Still, the small smile she held on her face never slipped for a moment, and Marie silently thought to herself that Carina was an excellent actress as they both immediately headed for the dining room.

Surprisingly, no one was sitting inside when Carina walked in, but her place at the table was set up and there was even food there waiting for her.

Marie left momentarily as Carina simply shrugged her shoulders and began to eat.

When Marie returned, she relayed to Carina that the rest of the Rayburn family had decided to eat in the living room tonight.

Carina merely laughed at Vanessa's childish actions. She clearly thought to do this to make Carina feel lonely and upset, but Carina had been dealt worse cards in her life, why would this one thing bother her at all?

As soon as Carina was finished with her dinner, she walked out of the dining room and ran into Jonas and Jane lingering near the stairs.

Jane turned and when she spotted Carina, she began to laugh. "What an eyesore. It's a good thing mother had the hindsight to eat in the living room today, just looking at a thing like that would've upset my appetite too much."

Jonas didn't laugh along, but didn't say anything to stop his sister either.

Carina walked forward, expression unchanging, as if she hadn't heard anything.

They were both expecting her to simply turn and walk up the stairs and ignore them, as she has always done before, but instead of doing that, as Carina was walking by Jane, she grabbed a fistful of Jane's blonde hair and pulled, hard.

Jane screeched as Carina pulled her head back, and reached her hands out to try and pry Carina's fingers from her hair.

Jonas was too shocked to do anything but gape at the scene before him.

Carina laughed gleefully as she continued to tug on Jane's hair and dragged her around in circles by her head before eventually stopping when her father and stepmother walked in.

"Jane!" Vanessa exclaimed, her expression full of concern and anger at the same time at what she was witnessing. "Carina! You let her go right now!"

Carina huffed, annoyed that her fun was being ruined, but did finally let go.

Jane was crying as she ran into her mother's arms.

"Carina! What were you thinking?! Are you some kind of animal? Pulling on your sister's hair like that? Do you think you own this place? That you can just do whatever you want-"

Carina cut Vanessa's angry shouts off with a scoff, and rolled her eyes as if she was tired of her.

Then, instead of replying to Vanessa at all, she simply looked straight at the Duke, her cold eyes boring into his.

"Do you think Felicity would be proud of the man you've become?" Carina asked, grinning, as if she were just a playful young girl, as if she hadn't said the words the Duke had been dreading to hear.

Her father, though usually a man with a stoic mask, as if he didn't care for anything, finally showed an emotion on his face at her words.

Despair.

Carina laughed, loud, and the Rayburns could only stare in disbelief and fear, at a woman who seemed to be becoming more and more unhinged.

Vanessa felt a chill run up her spine, and decided not to press the issue anymore for the time being as she ushered the Duke and her children upstairs and away from the calamity that was Carina Rayburn.