Lydia tilted her head, studying Nina's pale face with clear amusement. For a moment, she said nothing, letting the silence stretch between them like a taut wire. Then she laughed. Not a polite laugh. Not even a mocking chuckle. A full, cruel laugh that made Nina's stomach twist and her skin prickle with dread.
"Well," Lydia said slowly, crossing her arms with deliberate satisfaction, "look at you. Standing there like you still have the right to be angry."
Nina's fingers curled into fists, her nails biting into her palms. "Just say what you came here to say."
"Oh, I will." Lydia's smile widened, revealing teeth that seemed too white, too sharp. "You deserve to hear the truth, after all. Every last word of it."
She leaned closer, lowering her voice to something almost intimate, almost sisterly. The mockery in her tone made it obscene."That night… the wine you drank? I made sure it had a little kick to it."
Nina felt the ground tilt beneath her, the walls of the room seeming to close in. Her breath caught in her throat. "You're lying."
"Am I?" Lydia's eyes glittered with something dark and triumphant. "You were so easy to manipulate. One glass, then another… and before long you could barely stand. Do you remember how the room started spinning? How your words began to slur?"
Nina's chest tightened, her lungs struggling to pull in air. The memories she'd tried so hard to suppress came flooding back… fragmented, distorted, terrifying."You drugged me."
"Don't make it sound so dramatic," Lydia said lightly, waving her hand as if discussing something trivial, something meaningless. "Let's just say… I helped things along. Gave fate a little nudge."
"Shut up." Nina's voice trembled, her whole body beginning to shake. "I said shut up!"
But Lydia only laughed again, the sound echoing off the walls like broken glass."Oh my God," she said, shaking her head with exaggerated disbelief. "Listen to you. Still playing the victim."
She looked Nina up and down slowly, deliberately, her gaze lingering on the swell of Nina's stomach with undisguised contempt. A cruel smile played at the corners of her mouth. "How the mighty have fallen."
Nina's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist suddenly, fingers digging into flesh."Why would you do that to me?" she demanded, her voice breaking under the weight of betrayal. "What did I ever do to you?"
For a split second, Lydia's smile disappeared. Something flickered across her face… something raw and ugly. Then the smile returned, sharper than before, like a blade freshly honed. "You existed," she said simply.Nina stared at her, unable to process the casual cruelty in those two words.
"You had everything handed to you on a silver platter," Lydia continued, her voice dripping with years of accumulated bitterness. "Mom adored you. Dad defended you at every turn. Adrian worshipped the ground you walked on." Each sentence landed like a blow.Her voice grew colder with every word, frost creeping into her tone. "And you want to know the worst part?"
She leaned close enough that Nina could feel her breath against her skin, could see the hatred burning in her eyes. "You never deserved any of it."
Nina's grip tightened around her sister's wrist until her knuckles turned white. "You're disgusting."
"Me?" Lydia scoffed, jerking her arm but not quite pulling free. "You're the one walking around pregnant after sleeping with some stranger. How does that feel, Nina? Being the family disappointment?"
"Shut up!"
"Why?" Lydia's smile turned vicious, triumphant, her lips curling with undisguised pleasure. "Does the truth hurt?"
Her eyes glittered with satisfaction, drinking in Nina's pain like fine wine. "I've been telling Adrian for years that you weren't good enough for him. That you were too plain, too boring, too desperate." She paused, letting each word sink in. "But he never listened."
She shrugged with exaggerated nonchalance, as if discussing something trivial."Turns out I was right all along."
Nina's hands trembled with rage, her entire body vibrating with the force of her anger. "You set me up."
"Of course I did." The words came easily. Calmly. Like Lydia was discussing the weather or choosing what to wear. There wasn't a trace of remorse in her expression… only cold calculation."I knew you'd drink whatever I gave you. You always trusted me." A bitter laugh escaped her throat. "Your sweet, devoted big sister. You never suspected a thing."
The cruelty in her voice was deliberate, each syllable sharpened to wound. "And once you were out of your mind… well…" She gave Nina a mocking shrug, her shoulders lifting with theatrical indifference. "You disappeared into the wrong room. How convenient."
Nina felt like the air had been ripped from her lungs, her chest constricting painfully. "You ruined my life."
"Oh please," Lydia scoffed, rolling her eyes with practiced disdain. "You ruined it yourself. No one forced you to sleep with him. You walked into that room on your own two feet."
"You drugged me!" Nina's voice cracked, desperation bleeding through.
"And who's going to believe that?" Lydia asked sweetly, tilting her head with false sympathy.
Nina froze, the question hitting her like ice water.
Lydia's smile widened, sensing victory. She leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Think about it. You're standing here pregnant with no idea who the father is. You disappeared that night without a word. You have no proof, no witnesses, nothing." Her breath was warm against Nina's ear. "Who exactly is going to take your side?"
Nina's eyes burned with unshed tears, her vision blurring. "I'll expose you," she said hoarsely, her voice barely above a whisper. "I swear I will. I'll tell everyone what you did."
For a moment, Lydia simply stared at her, eyes glittering with something cold and calculating. Then she burst out laughing, the sound sharp and mocking in the empty street. "Expose me?" She wiped an imaginary tear from her eye, her shoulders shaking with theatrical amusement. "Oh, Nina. That's absolutely adorable."
Before Nina could react, before she could even process what was happening, Lydia suddenly stumbled backward. Her body collapsed dramatically onto the pavement, limbs sprawling as if she'd been violently shoved. The timing was perfect… right as a familiar voice cut through the air like a blade.
"Nina! What the hell are you doing?"
Nina whirled around, her heart lurching. Adrian Cole stood a few steps away, his tall frame rigid with tension. His expression was dark with anger, his jaw clenched so tight she could see the muscle jumping beneath his skin. Before Nina could even open her mouth to explain, he rushed past her as if she were invisible, dropping to his knees beside Lydia.
"Lydia, are you okay?" His voice, so cold toward Nina moments ago, now dripped with concern.
Lydia clung to him, her fingers digging into his jacket as her body trembled convincingly, as if she had been badly hurt. Nina watched, frozen, as Lydia's eyes met hers over Adrian's shoulder, just for a fraction of a second.
The triumph in that gaze was unmistakable."I'm fine," Lydia whispered weakly, her voice barely audible. She pressed her face against Adrian's chest. "Please don't be angry with Nina… it was my fault. I shouldn't have provoked her."
Nina stared at them, her mind going completely blank. The world seemed to tilt sideways. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be real."Adrian—" she started, her voice cracking.
But he cut her off, rising to his feet with Lydia still clinging to his arm. "What is wrong with you?" he demanded, his tone ice-cold, each word a small knife. "You're pregnant, Nina. What were you thinking?"
The accusation hit Nina like a physical blow. She felt the air leave her lungs. "I didn't push her," she said, hating how desperate she sounded, hating the tremor in her voice. "Adrian, I swear, I didn't touch her."
Adrian's expression didn't soften. He didn't even look convinced, his eyes scanning her face as if searching for the lie he expected to find there. Lydia tugged on his sleeve gently, drawing his attention back to her.
"Please don't argue," she murmured, her voice the picture of wounded nobility, each word carefully measured. "This is all my fault anyway. I should have been more careful."
She lowered her head in a gesture of perfect contrition. "I'm the one who caused everything."
Adrian sighed heavily, the sound weighted with frustration. "Get in the car," he told her quietly, his hand gentle on her elbow. "I'll handle this."
Lydia hesitated just long enough to look guilty, her eyes flickering between Adrian and Nina with practiced uncertainty. Then she obeyed, settling into the passenger seat with a final, sorrowful glance. As soon as the car door closed with a soft click, Adrian turned toward Nina.
The silence between them felt unbearable, thick with everything unsaid. Nina could hear her own heartbeat thundering in her ears. "Nina," he said finally, and there was no warmth left in his voice. Only exhaustion. Only the weariness of a man who had already made his choice. "We need to talk."
Nina forced herself to stand still, though every instinct screamed at her to run. To disappear before he could say what she already knew was coming.
Adrian rubbed his temples as if trying to organize thoughts he'd rehearsed a thousand times. "We grew up together," he began slowly, his eyes fixed on some point beyond her shoulder. "You know that. Our families expected us to end up together someday. It was always understood."
Nina's heart pounded painfully against her ribs. She could barely breathe. "But things changed."
He hesitated, and in that pause, Nina saw the truth written across his face. Then he continued, each word a nail in the coffin of everything she'd hoped for. "I fell in love with Lydia."
The words hit Nina like a physical blow, stealing the air from her lungs. She wanted to scream, to rage, to demand how he could love someone so cruel. But she stood frozen, unable to move.
"She told me everything that happened that night," Adrian went on, his voice dropping lower. "At first I was furious. I couldn't believe she'd go that far. That she'd be capable of something like that."
Nina's throat tightened, hope flickering for just a moment.
"But eventually…" He paused, meeting her eyes for the first time since he'd started speaking. "She apologized. She cried. She explained how desperate she was, how afraid of losing me."
He looked at Nina with something that might have been pity. "And I forgave her."
Nina's voice failed her for a moment. When she finally spoke, the words came out barely above a whisper. "You forgave her."
Adrian nodded, the gesture slow and deliberate. "Nina… I can't marry you."
The declaration hung between them like a death sentence. Nina felt the ground shift beneath her feet."It's not because of the baby," he added quickly, as if that might soften the blow. "And it's not about what happened that night."
He exhaled slowly, searching for words that might make this easier. There were none."It's because I don't want to betray Lydia."
Something fundamental inside Nina shattered. The pieces fell silently, cutting her from within. "So you knew," she whispered, her voice hollow.
Adrian's brow furrowed. "Knew what?"
"You knew she drugged me." The accusation trembled in the air between them.He didn't answer. His jaw tightened, his gaze shifting to some point beyond her shoulder. That silence confirmed everything.
"And you still told me it was you," Nina continued, her voice gaining strength even as it shook. "You let me believe you were the one that night. You let me think—" She couldn't finish the sentence.
Adrian shifted his weight, clearly uncomfortable. "I didn't want you to be hurt."
The laugh that escaped Nina's lips was sharp and broken, a sound she barely recognized as her own. "You didn't want me to be hurt?" Tears welled in her eyes, blurring her vision. "Did you ever think about me at all? Even once?"
Adrian looked away, unable to meet her gaze. The muscle in his jaw worked as he clenched his teeth. For a long moment neither of them spoke, the silence stretching between them like an unbridgeable chasm.
He stepped forward slightly, his hand reaching out but stopping just short of touching her. "The sun's too strong out here," he said quietly, his tone almost gentle. "Let's go home and talk about this properly."
"Don't touch me!" Nina shoved his hand away, her palm connecting with his wrist harder than she'd intended.
Suddenly she started laughing… a hollow, desperate sound that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside her chest. Her entire life felt like a cruel joke, each sacrifice now revealed as meaningless.
She had worked herself to exhaustion just to attend the same university as Adrian, studying late into the night until her eyes burned and her hands cramped from taking notes. She had abandoned her dream of acting to please him, turning down the theater scholarship that had once seemed like her golden ticket to freedom. She had even returned to the Hale family… people who barely treated her like a daughter, who looked through her as if she were a ghost haunting their pristine halls, just so she could match his background, just so she could be worthy of standing beside him.
And for what? "I can't betray Lydia."
That was all it took. Four words that shattered everything. Lydia had stolen everything… her family, her identity, the life that should have been hers. And now Adrian too. The one person she'd thought was truly hers alone.
Nina walked away blindly, her vision blurred by tears that streamed hot down her cheeks. Her breath came in ragged gasps. The world around her seemed to tilt and spin. She didn't notice the traffic light. She didn't hear the approaching car, its engine growing louder with each second.
Behind her, Adrian flicked his cigarette to the ground and took a step forward, something flickering across his face… regret, perhaps, or merely obligation.
But Lydia grabbed his sleeve, her fingers curling into the fabric with practiced delicacy. "Adrian," she said softly, her voice carrying that familiar wounded quality. "Where are you going?"
He hesitated. Just for a second. His eyes darted between Lydia's pleading face and Nina's retreating figure. And in that second of hesitation, everything changed.
A horn blared. Tires screeched against asphalt. A car slammed into Nina with a sickening thud. Her body lifted into the air as if weightless, suspended for one impossible moment, before crashing onto the pavement with brutal finality.
Someone screamed. "Oh my God! Someone call an ambulance!"
Blood trickled down Nina's forehead, warm and sticky, as the world around her blurred into watercolor shapes. Through the bright, blinding sunlight that seemed to pierce straight through her skull, she saw two figures running toward her.
Adrian and Lydia, clinging to his arm even as they ran.
Her stomach twisted with pain… not just from the impact, but from something deeper, something breaking inside. Warm liquid spread beneath her, soaking through her clothes and pooling on the hot pavement.
She tried to speak, to call out, but no sound came. Only a wet, choking gasp. Then darkness slowly swallowed everything, pulling her down into its merciful embrace.