When his eyes met mine, something inside me stopped.
I knew those eyes.
For a moment, I thought it was Rio. But it wasn’t him. There was nothing warm in this man. The air around him felt colder. So I stayed by Christian’s side and stared back at him.
“Freaks,” Christian said.
The skull-faced man stepped forward, looking Christian up and down. Then he laughed quietly.
“I don’t see any freaks here,” he said, turning toward the clowns. “Just clowns.”
The clowns laughed with him.
Christian’s jaw tightened. “Clowns are freaks, you painted idiot.”
The man rubbed his jaw, still smiling. “Oh, I didn’t know that,” he said. “I thought boys like you didn’t even know what the wordidiotmeans.”
I laughed before I could stop myself.
Christian turned to me, his finger stabbing the air. “You. Shut up.”
Sophie pulled me back by the arm, but it was already too late.
Christian lunged, swinging for the man. The skull-faced manmoved faster. His fist connected with Christian’s face, and the sound cracked through the gasps behind them. Christian stumbled back, blinking in shock.
The man grinned, the white of his teeth shining through the black paint. “Want more?”
The clowns got up. One of them broke a glass bottle and held it toward Christian, standing behind the man like a wall. Tristan rushed forward, grabbing Christian. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said, pulling him away.
As they started walking off, Sophie tugged on my arm to follow. Something inside me wanted to stay, but I went with her, moving slowly by her side.
Christian turned on me, shoving my shoulder. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“With me?” I laughed. “You attacked them for no reason.”
He grabbed me by the jaw, yanking me closer. Tristan tried to step in, but Christian pushed him away. “You know Dad got locked up because of them,” he shouted.
“Dad got locked up because he beat Carlo and me,” I said through clenched lips, his grip crushing my face.
“You’re just making shit up.” He let me go and said, “You’ll regret it.”
He still didn’t believe me. He blamed me for everything. He even made Carlo believe it, even though Carlo had seen every single blow, had been there to hand me bandages and ice while I bled.
Sophie came to me, wrapping her arms around me. She led me aside and sat me on the low wall near the chapel.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
I nodded faintly.
“He still hasn’t accepted it, huh?” she said softly.
I shook my head.
“You know, when my parents died, I blamed Tristan too,” she said after a moment. “But later I realized that no matter how hard we blame someone, it never brings anyone back. It doesn’t fix anything. It just pushes people away.” She sighed. “He’s pushing you away because it’s easier than facing the truth.”
“It’s not that simple,” I said, exhaling as I wiped my tears. “Anyway…” I stood up. “I should head home.”
“Chiara,” she said, standing with me. “You can talk to me. Whatever happened in the House of Clowns, you can tell me.”
