"Marina! Have you lost your goddamn mind?!" His voice exploded through the room, raw with fury. "You bit me? You—with that pathetic innocent act, that harmless little mask you wear—you think you have the right to touch me? To bite me?"
He glared at me like I was something rotting, his words sharp as broken glass: "Just looking at you makes me sick. This is how you've always operated, isn't it? Playing the wounded doe, wrapping Grandfather around your finger, making him protect you at every turn. You manipulated him into dragging me back here, and now you're pulling this hard-to-get bullshit? You think I'll fall for it? Pathetic."
His chest heaved. He jabbed a finger at my face, each word a nail driven deeper.
"This is exactly why our daughters turned out the way they did—learning from you, from that fake helpless act. That's why they had the nerve to disrespect Gretchen in public. That's why they needed to be sent away, to learn some discipline, to be taught how to behave!"