The Kiss that Sparked it All

“Mara, you should spend the rest of your days behind bars. Only then might you atone for the life that was lost because of you!”

Ivy’s words hit Mara like a freight train, and she recoiled, hands clapped over her ears, her scream piercing the tense air, “I don’t want to hear it. These are all lies! I won’t listen! Stop talking, stop!”

She stumbled and ran toward Balfour, grabbing his arms in a desperate plea. “Tell me it’s not true, right? They’re just ganging up to trick me. Say something, for God’s sake! My sister never mentioned this, so it has to be a lie. She was always so full of herself, always boasting in my face. If she knew, she’d be blabbing it all over town, not keeping it a

secret!”

Balfour shrugged off her grasp as if swatting away a pesky fly. How could he see her as anything but the vessel of a venomous soul?

“It’s you who made Victoria out to be your nemesis. She never wronged you. In fact, she always spoke of you as her lovely, earnest sister in front of our friends. Look inside yourself, Mara. Have you ever treated your sister fairly, or were you just poisoned with jealousy because she outshone you in every way?”

Mara had no answer.

When had their relationship become so irreversibly fractured?

Or rather, when had her envy of another person taken such a dark turn?

Why had her sister, in her memories, morphed into some sort of villain, when she could clearly recall the nights of childhood when Victoria would wrap her in her small arms and lull her to sleep with stories learned from the television?

Was she not her father’s biological daughter, not Victoria’s true sister?

What had he been holding onto all these years?

Mara couldn’t discern whether she truly desired Balfour or if it was the old grudge that hadn’t faded, the urge to prove to Victoria that she too could snag a man like Balfour.

Watching Balfour and Ivy, united against the world, with Balfour’s unconscious gestures of protection and Ivy’s instinctive defenses against her, their love was apparent. Why did she end up with nothing?

Five years ago, she couldn’t compete with Victoria. Now, she had lost to Ivy. Alone and lost, she couldn’t even find herself anymore.

Amid her tumult of emotions, a single question spun in her head: What had she been doing all these years?

08:44

Before she could find any clarity, a swarm of officers poured into the hospital corridor and took her into custody.

“Mr. and Mrs. Howard, leave her to us,” assured the captain. “The case is on record at our station. We promise to bring justice to all victims and will not let any perpetrator go unpunished.”

Balfour nodded and said, “Thank you. It’s been a long and painful saga. Some may have passed on, but justice should never be absent no matter how much time has passed.” ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“We understand,” the captain gestured, and his team exited in an orderly fashion.

Only when the ward was left to lvy and Balfour did they both exhale a sigh of relief.

“I’m never going to agree to anything that puts you in danger like this again,” Balfour

declared, sitting by Ivy’s hospital bed, massaging his temples in exasperation.