Chapter 6
Rebekah felt something choke her. She stared at the pendant, her question barely a whisper. “Why are you wearing that p>
Candice paused, instinctively clutching the piece of jewelry. “This? Benjamin gave it to me. Why p>
Her tone was perfectly natural, but to Rebekah, it was nails on a chalkboard.
Benjamin gave it to her?
“You know how much this pendant means to me,” she said, turning to Benjamin, her voice hoarse. “I gave it to you for safekeeping before I went to prison p>
She had known the pendant was valuable and had feared it would be lost or stolen. She had begged him, word for word, to keep it safe.
And he had turned around and given it to Candice.
Benjamin frowned, glancing at it dismissively. “It’s just a pendant, Rebekah. You never used to be so petty p>
*Just a pendant p>
A chill washed over Rebekah.
Benjamin knew it was the last thing her grandmother had given her.
One winter, during a heavy snowstorm, the cord had broken and the pendant had fallen into a snowdrift. She had knelt in the freezing snow for an entire night searching for it, her hands cracking from the cold until the snow was stained with her blood.
Benjamin had seen it all.
And now, he was calling it “just a pendant p>
Rebekah lowered her eyes, her voice trembling. “It was the only thing Grandma left me p>
“Is that so?” Candice chirped with a smile. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re not a real Fletcher. Grandma was my grandmother too. I missed her, so I wanted to have something of hers to look at p>
“Didn’t you inherit her entire estate?” Rebekah shot back, her gaze sharp. “Grandma gave this pendant to me herself p>
When her grandmother had given it
to her, she had said that although they weren’t related by blood, Rebekah was more of a
granddaughter to her than anyone. She had promised Rebekah the pendant and her inheritance. But in the end, Candice had taken the entire estate. At the time, Benjamin had persuaded Rebekah to let it go, so she had left with only the pendant.
And now Candice was throwing it back in her face.
“Rebekah, stop making a scene. I’ll buy you another one,” Benjamin said, his frown deepening. His voice turned cold. “Candice is your sister. And Grandma Fletcher was her grandmother too. Why are you being so possessive over a single piece of jewelry p>
*She was being possessive?
Rebekah felt a hole open in her chest, a cold wind whipping through it. “How is demanding my own property back being possessive?” she asked, shaking with anger.
“Mom, that’s just petty rivalry!” Shawn piped up, his expression one of disapproval. “It’s not right. You’re always targeting Aunt Candice whenever you get the chance p>
His mother was always so strict, but Aunt Candice always let him have fun and eat whatever he wanted. Aunt Candice had told him that was called pursuing freedom.” But every, time his mother found out, she would fly into a rage. That was petty rivalry. He didn’t understand what was so wrong with wanting to be free.
“Dad and I know you feel insecure now that youre a cripple,” Shawn continued, parroting words that were not his own “But that’s
excuse to take it out on Augnet
Candice. A physical disability is nothing to be ashamed of, but a crippled spirit is. You should learn from Aunt Candice what it means to
be a good person p>
to
Shawn’s innocent voice was like a knife, twisting in her gut. She knew her son had always liked Candice.