The Kiss that Sparked it All

Balfour paused at the threshold of Ivy’s hospital room, taking a deep breath before he turned the handle and pushed the door open.

To his surprise, he found Mara inside!

Seeing Balfour’s stern expression, Mara sneered, “What? Haven’t seen me in a short while and you’ve forgotten who I am?” Property © NôvelDrama.Org.

Balfour’s face turned a shade of thunderous gray as he shot a furious glare at the bodyguard stationed at the door.

“Why blame them?” Mara taunted. “I insisted I was a friend of Mr. Howard. Who would dare turn me away? You only have yourself to blame for being so careless, listening to that old woman talking so much and not rushing back to your precious wife’s side! It seems she doesn’t mean that much to you, does she? Just like how you moved on from your past love for my sister, Victoria?”

Balfour’s pupils dilated slightly, shocked that before he could even confront her, Mara was admitting to everything on her own.

“So, you really killed Victoria, did you?” he asked, voice steady but brimming with accusation.

Mara laughed, a chilling sound. “Me? Kill my own sister? What are you talking about? I simply gave her a taste of her own medicine, quite literally. She took the pills herself; it was clearly a suicide, wasn’t it?”

Balfour laughed, though there was no humor in it. “She was your own flesh and blood. Aren’t you afraid that in the dead of night, her ghost might come seeking vengeance? After all the terrible things you’ve done, how can you stand there so composed? Do you even have a conscience?”

Mara’s face soured, her composure breaking. Finally, unable to take it anymore, she stood up abruptly, covering her ears and screaming, “What do you know? You understand nothing! Do you have any idea how much I’ve suffered all these years, all because of you? Do you think I wanted this? You never even glanced my way when she was alive; only after she was gone did you start to smile at me. What am I to you, Balfour?”

“What are you?” Balfour retorted. “If it wasn’t for your sister, why would I have ever bothered with you? You want to blame us for the death you caused?”

Mara seemed stunned. “Don’t you remember? It was you who approached me. You handed me this handkerchief, and I’ve kept it close ever since. Look!”

She fumbled for the handkerchief, but Balfour had no recollection of it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have no memory of ever meeting you alone. I don’t understand why you’re so fixated on me. Your so-called love has been nothing but a shackle weighing me down. I don’t like you, and I will never have any affection for a woman like you!”

His words were the final straw that broke Mara. She nearly collapsed, managing to sink into a chair, trembling.

“You don’t remember,” she whispered, her voice quavering. “You pulled me from the darkest depths; you were the light in my life. And now you say you don’t remember? Not even your own handkerchief?”

Balfour’s face was cold, his expression matching the one he wore all those years ago. when he had first approached her. He still held himself above it all.

In her desperate attempts to be closer to him, she had orchestrated her entire life around him, and now he claimed to have no recollection of it?

Had her entire life been a joke?