Chapter 33

Ethan was furious. The anger in his voice was palpable as he stormed into the room, his eyes blazing with a fury that Nancy and Diana hadn't anticipated. "You told me you could handle it!" he snapped, his voice low but dangerously controlled. "You convinced me not to erase her memory completely, saying you'd take care of everything. Yet look at her now! Leila is melancholic and depressed, hanging by a thread. She's almost dead because of your incompetence!"

Diana flinched at the sharpness in his tone, while Nancy remained impassive, though her eyes betrayed a hint of guilt. Ethan wasn't done. "I want you to fix her," he continued, his voice dropping to an icy calm that was more terrifying than his previous outburst. "I will meet with Leila personally to confirm that she's okay. But let me be clear ,if you don't fix your mess before the fortnight is up, I will make her my bride, and there won't be anything either of you can do about it because i would behead my old one and burn her and of course her witch treason both women were shaken as color drained from their cheek."

The room fell into a tense silence, the weight of Ethan's ultimatum hanging in the air. Nancy and Diana exchanged glances, both knowing they had underestimated how deeply Ethan cared for Leila or perhaps how possessive he had become because she was the only one for centuries capable of giving him an heir. His threat was not one they could afford to ignore.

As I sat in my room, staring blankly at the mirror, Nancy's words from earlier echoed in my mind. "Today, you're going to paste a big smile on your face and go downstairs for dinner," she had instructed me with a cold certainty. "When you get there, you'll smile at Diana and apologize for being so nasty. It doesn't have to be a real smile; it's called play-acting. Just make your audience believe it. Isn't that what life is all about anyway?"

I hadn't argued. Deep down, I knew she was right. Life was nothing but a series of performances, each one more convincing than the last. And I was tired,tired of resisting, tired of pretending that things could be different.

Nancy's voice had softened slightly when she mentioned Max. "If you still want Max, you'll get him eventually. After all, nobody knows you ever had a child or an abortion unless you tell them. Even if you do tell them, there's no record of that fact it's been wiped clean."

I had nodded in understanding, feeling a bitter acceptance settle over me. Yes, I had a knack for messing things up, but once again, Nancy had come to the rescue. Finally I had something to look out for Max, my crush, I had almost forgotten him, with all the gloom and melancholy I had undergone this past few weeks. As Nancy left to get me a new dress a sunflower yellow one, she had decided for, I took a long, hot shower. The water cascading over me felt like it was washing away the remnants of the person I once was. But when I stepped out, I realized that the person who had entered that shower wasn't the same person who came out.

The girl who emerged was a fake, a master of disguise who had learned to pretend, to lie convincingly. I was ready to have fun, dangerous fun, to live life on the edge and to the fullest. That was who I had become—a girl who was willingly ready to kill rather than give up on what she wanted.

My love had become dangerous and obsessive. My tongue was now sharper than a razor's edge, my movements more deceptive than those of a snake. The change was imminent, and my heart had frozen over it might as well have been a glacier. I would have Max, not because I loved him, but because I wanted to possess him. Never again would I allow myself to love or trust anyone.

When I finally came downstairs, Diana's surprise was evident. She wasn't the only one who noticed the complete transformation. I flashed her a dazzling smile, a smile that had been perfected in front of the mirror moments before. I had learned to play the part. We all sat down to dinner, much to Maya's amazement, and I smiled at her, launching into the sob story Nancy and I had concocted, adding a bit of extra sauce to spice up the lie.

Maya lapped it up, every last word, her judgment of my friends slowly eroding until she finally accepted them. Once, she had seen them as the embodiment of everything evil, but now, they were angels of light in her eyes Nancy was right, people were so easily manipulated if you knew how..

As per Nancy's suggestion, we contributed money and went on a shopping spree. We drank, and as the alcohol coursed through my veins, I felt the edges of my reality blur. I let myself get carried away, surrendering to the madness. We went clubbing, and I danced like there was no tomorrow, each beat of the music pounding in my chest like a second heartbeat.

Salsa music began blaring from the stereo, and before I knew it, I was twirled into the arms of a dashing young man. I jumped from arm to arm, not caring who I danced with. It was all pretense, after all just a way to convince the world that I was still Leila, that nothing was wrong with me.

But deep inside, I knew it was a lie. I popped more pills than ever, each one brightening my day in unnatural ways. Ecstasy painted the world in vivid colors, making everything appear more beautiful, more bearable. I focused on dancing, pushing my body to its limits, dancing until it physically hurt to move a muscle. But still, I danced, embracing the pain, craving it. The heels I wore would leave blisters, but that was the point an excuse to hurt myself without hurting those who loved me.

Nancy and Diana watched me from the sidelines, gasping and whispering about how lucky I was, how I had bounced back from the brink. But they didn't understand no one quite did, once broken always broken, sometime you may be lucky enough to catch a glimmer of genuine happiness unexpectedly. I turned only to find myself face-to-face with an angel a man with a shock of blond hair and eyes of an unusual shade of blue that were almost violet, depending on the angle of the light. His chest was muscular, his face impossibly handsome, and for a moment, I felt a strange pull towards him.

Then, out of nowhere, a blinding headache hit me with such intensity that I stumbled. The incredible cliche that spilled from my lips was, "Have we met before?"

The sadistic part of me laughed internally, mocking my own stupidity. What would I say if he answered yes? Would I tell him that I remembered everything that he had gotten me drunk, had his wicked way with me, and left me with a child I had to abort? I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts before I did something stupid. "I'm sorry, I need some air," I mumbled, wrenching my hand free from his grasp and breaking into a run.

I didn't stop until I was outside, where I leaned against a car and took deep breaths, desperate to fill my lungs before they burst from the lack of oxygen. The night air was cold, biting into my skin, but I welcomed the sensation. It was real, grounding me in the present moment, reminding me that despite everything, I was still alive.

But I wasn't the same. The girl who had entered the shower hours ago had been left behind, washed away by the scalding water. The girl who now stood outside, shivering in the night air, was someone else entirely a girl who had learned to pretend, to smile through the pain, to live life on the edge, even if it meant falling into the abyss.

And as I stood there, trying to regain my composure, I knew one thing for certain: I would get what I wanted, no matter the cost. Max would be mine, not out of love, but out of possession. Never again would I let anyone control me, hurt me, or betray me. From now on, I was in control, and I would make sure that everyone knew it.

And so, with a final, steadying breath, I pushed myself off the car and walked back inside, ready to face whatever came next.

Ethan, who had been watching from a distance, he was shocked when I suddenly ran off, breaking away from the him as if in a panic. His mind raced. Could it be that her memory hadn't been erased as he had thought? Or had the ceremony somehow awakened her slumbering powers?

He knew from the images in her head the flashes of memories that had bled through during the ceremony that Leila had recreated what their daughter would have been like perfectly. The girl, with her sweet smile and bright eyes, was an exact replica of what should have been. It was a memory so powerful, so vivid, that it had seeped into the very fabric of her being.

Ethan's heart pounded as he recalled the lengths they had gone to suppress her magic, to protect her from the darkness that lingered in the shadows of her mind. The witch had given her potions to suppress the magic, to dispel any lingering dark energy that clung to her soul, attempting to drag her to the other side. But now, it seemed that those efforts might not have been enough.

As I stumbled away from the club, desperate for air, Ethan watched with a growing sense of dread. Something had changed something had shifted in the delicate balance they had worked so hard to maintain. And as much as he wanted to chase after me, to demand answers, he knew that he couldn't. Not yet. There was too much at stake, too many secrets that needed to be kept.

Later, Ethan sought out Diana, desperate for some clarity. He asked for her opinion on his suspicions, but she dismissed them as unrealistic. "Leila hasn't mentioned you once through this whole ordeal," Diana said firmly. "If her memory had returned, don't you think you would have been the first person she would speak about? And she's still as obsessed with Max as ever. When you mentioned his name, her eyes burned with an intense desire. That's where her focus is."

Ethan wanted to argue, to insist that something was off, but Diana's words echoed in his mind. If Leila had truly remembered everything, surely she would have sought him out, not bolted in terror. But the nagging feeling of doubt in the pit of his stomach wouldn't go away. Diana might be right, but that didn't mean he was wrong. Something had changed, and he needed to figure out what it was before it was too late in the meantime he would hang around and monitor the whole situation, he didn't trust the two women to not allow their feeling jeopardize all the hard work they had out to come this far.