CHAPTER THREE

TRICIA'S POV

As I headed to her house, I couldn’t get something out of my head regardless of how badly I wanted it to leave.

Oliver’s hands on my sister…Her laugh. His shameless eyes when he saw me standing there, frozen.

I didn’t even realize what I was doing anymore or if it was worth it until I was standing in front of her door, fists trembling.

When she opened the door, she looked surprised but only for a second.

Then she smirked.

“Trish,” she said smoothly, brushing her hair back.

“Didn’t expect you so soon.”

“So soon?” I echoed, my voice barely steady.

“After sleeping with my husband?”

Her face didn’t even flinch.

She leaned against the doorway with her arms folded like she was the one who’d been wronged.

“Don’t act like a saint, Tricia….you’ve always had everything…the house, the attention, the perfect husband…you didn’t even appreciate him.”

“You mean the man who humiliated me?” I spat.

“The one who swore he loved me while sleeping with you?”

She rolled her eyes.

“Please…don’t act like you didn’t know what he was… Men cheat… He’s rich, Trish and I… I found an opportunity. You just weren’t smart enough to keep him entertained.”

I blinked at her, stunned.

“You’re my sister, Priscilla.” My voice cracked.

“My blood….how could you…?”

Priscilla shrugged, that cruel smile stretching her lips.

“I was tired of being in your shadow…you always got the best of everything while I was scraping by….So when Oliver offered me something better, I took it. And honestly,” she tilted her head,

“He’s not bad at all…maybe we can both share him since you’re so used to sharing your pity with me.”

The words sliced through me like broken glass.

Before I knew it, my hand connected with her cheek in a sharp, stinging slap.

She stumbled back, her expression twisting with shock and fury.

“You dare…”

“Don’t you ever speak to me again!” I screamed, tears burning down my cheeks.

“You can have him, Priscilla…Have all of his lies, his cheating, his poison! I hope he ruins you the same way he ruined me.”

She stepped closer, voice sharp and venomous.

“He already did..he told me how pathetic you were…how you begged for his love. You were never enough for him, Trish. Maybe that’s why he came to me.”

I slapped her again…harder this time.

“You can’t hurt me anymore.”

Priscilla's laughter echoed in the small living room as I turned to leave.

“We’ll see, dear sister….Don’t come crying when he chooses me completely!”

Her words followed me out the door, slicing through the silence of the night. I walked fast, not knowing where I was going until I found myself standing again at the old amusement park.

How I got there, I had no idea.

Maybe I went there in hope to see that little child again to comfort me.

The swings creaked in the wind, the carousel lights flickered faintly like ghosts from another life.

I looked around and couldn't find anyone.

I sat on one of the benches, pressing my hands to my chest as sobs broke free.

My world…my marriage, my family was gone.

The tears wouldn’t stop.

How could love turn into something so poisonous?

I don’t know how long I sat there, but when I looked up, I saw someone standing near the rusted cotton-candy stall, watching me.

A tall man, familiar in a way that made my heart ache.

His dark hair, the way he held himself tugged at a memory buried deep in my childhood.

“Tricia?” His voice broke through the night, deep and cautious.

I blinked, trying to see him clearly.

“Hendrix?”

He smiled softly, the corners of his lips curling with disbelief.

“It’s really you…”

For a moment, the world felt like it had stopped spinning.

He walked closer, his gaze searching mine as though confirming I was real.

His eyes….those same warm, stormy eyes I used to know looked older now, shadowed by years and pain.

“What are you doing here?” he asked gently, voice low.

“I could ask you the same,” I whispered.

“I come here sometimes,” he said.

“When I need to remember who I was before life got complicated.”

A bitter laugh escaped me.

“Then maybe we’re both here for the same reason.”

He studied my face, concern flickering in his eyes.

“You’ve been crying.”

I looked away, trying to hide the cracks in my voice.

“It’s nothing.”

“Trish,” he said softly, the way he used to when we were kids.

“It’s not nothing.”

Something in the way he said my name made my chest tighten.

The years melted away for just a heartbeat, leaving only the boy who used to protect me from bullies, who promised to marry me when we were ten.

I tried to smile.

“It’s been a long time, Hendrix.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Too long.”

We stood there in silence, both lost in the ghosts of what we’d been and what we’d lost.

And then he said it…the question that made my throat close.

“Who made you cry like that, Tricia?”

The lights of the carousel flickered out completely, leaving us in soft darkness.

I didn’t answer…not yet.

Because deep down, I already knew this meeting wasn’t an accident.

It was the beginning of something new, something I wasn’t ready for but desperately needed.

The wind picked up, swirling my hair around my face.

Hendrix stepped a little closer, his eyes glinting with something I couldn’t name.

And just like that, the broken pieces of my heart began to stir again.

Maybe fate had brought me back to the one person who once made me feel safe.

Maybe this was the start of something I didn’t know I’d been waiting for.

I wiped my tears, trying to smile through the ache.

“Maybe we should talk.”

Hendrix nodded, his gaze warm but intense.

“Yeah. I think we should.”

As we walked away from the park lights, side by side, I didn’t know if I was walking toward healing or toward something darker.

But one thing was certain:

For the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel entirely alone.