I reached out and lightly traced the man’s face in the photo. Those brows and eyes I once adored, no longer held a place for me.
My fingers moved to the diamond pendant resting at my neck, the one my parents left me before they passed.
Whenever unease crept in, I would instinctively reach for it, searching for the comfort of their presence, even if only imagined.
At some point, Margaret barged into my room. The moment she saw something in my hand, she rushed over to snatch it.
“What are you doing?!” I gasped in panic.
But Margaret didn’t stop. Instead, she screamed, “You bitch! How dare you secretly keep something that belongs to Jeremiah?! Someone as filthy and lowly as you have no right to even touch his things!”
In the heat of the struggle, I shoved her hard.
Margaret fell to the floor just as Jeremiah walked in.
“What the hell is going on?!”
Tears welled up in Margaret’s eyes as she whimpered, “Brother Jeremiah, I know she’s always hated me, but I didn’t think she’d actually push me over a diamond pendant…”
“I just thought it looked like the one you gave me back then I asked her to let me see it, but she wouldn’t, and then she pushed me.”