Newell walked into the room and glanced around. Nothing here had anything to do with him—not a single trace.
He just didn’t get it.
What had he done to deserve this kind of cold shoulder? In a family of three, how had he ended up being the outsider?
He looked away and made his way over to the bed. His expression didn’t change as his eyes landed on Damaris. Both her hands were wrapped in bandages, her face almost translucent. The heart monitor next to her kept beeping, steady and sharp in the quiet.
“So you finally came back?” Damaris’s voice was weak, but the bitterness in her smile was obvious. She opened her eyes, looking at him. “The antidote. Did it work?”
Always about the antidote.
Newell’s lips curved into a cool, almost indifferent smile. “Charlotte inherited the Hawk family. She’s in charge of the genetic mutation research now. That means, from now on, no one’s going to use that research to mess with people’s genes. Not in the past, not now, not ever.”
Damaris suddenly tensed, her eyes flashing with anger as she glared at him. “It was you! You helped her, didn’t you?”
If he hadn’t sided with Charlotte, Aloys would have taken over. The research would have continued the way Damaris wanted. Her own son had ruined everything.
“So you came back just to rub it in, to get back at me and make me suffer, is that it?” Damaris’s gaze was ice-cold. There was nothing motherly in her eyes, only pure hatred. It was like she was looking at an enemy, not her son.
“No.” Newell stood where he was, the light above him making him seem even more distant. “I just wanted to figure something out.”
Not worthy of what?
She kept going, her voice sharp enough to cut. “You never should have been born.”
Newell’s face turned even paler, but Damaris didn’t stop. Every word felt like another blow. “The biggest mistake of my life was giving birth to you.”
He stared at her, his hands clenching at his sides, his nerves raw.
“Emery only ever loved me,” Damaris said, her teeth gritted, her eyes wild and desperate. “Before you, his heart belonged to me alone. But then you came along and ruined everything. You stole his love from me!”

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