Before Juliet could react, Clara swung it down.
Smack!
A sharp pain exploded through Juliet's arm.
She flinched violently, her breath catching as her arm dropped to her side. The burning pain spread through her skin, and her brows knitted together as she stared at Clara in disbelief.
"Juliet!" Clara screamed.
Her chest rose and fell heavily as she glared at her.
"How dare you!"
Juliet pressed her lips together and rubbed her arm instinctively, trying to ease the sting.
"How can you do this to Alexa?" Clara demanded, her voice growing louder with every word.
She pointed the stick toward the couch.
"Look at her! Look how badly she's crying because of you!"
Juliet glanced toward Alexa, who sat there with tears streaming down her face, but she remained silent.
That silence only seemed to fuel Clara's anger.
"You always took Alexa with you whenever you went to see Vincent, and now you want to blame them for developing feelings for each other?" Clara snapped, her voice rising as she pointed an accusing finger at Juliet. Her chest heaved with indignation, and her eyes burned with self-righteous anger as though she genuinely believed every word she was saying.
"If that's what happened, then that's what happened!" she continued harshly. "Feelings can't be controlled. But instead of accepting it and stepping aside, you keep shamelessly trying to tempt Vincent even though Alexa is your own family!"
Clara folded her arms tightly across her chest and lifted her chin, looking down at Juliet with open disdain. "Do you have no sense of shame at all? Alexa trusted you, yet you're still clinging to a man who doesn't want you. You're the one tearing this family apart, not them."
The stick trembled in Clara's grip as she pointed it accusingly at Juliet.
"How can you do this to your own cousin?"
Her voice echoed throughout the living room.
"We gave you shelter. We gave you a roof over your head when you had nowhere else to go, and this is how you repay us?" Clara continued. "By hurting my daughter?"
Juliet's hands slowly tightened into fists at her sides.
Her nails dug into her palms, but she remained silent, listening as Clara continued to throw accusation after accusation at her.
"How can you be so shameless? So ungrateful?" Clara spat. "I always knew your parents failed to teach you proper manners, but seeing you act like this only proves how right I was."
The words struck Juliet like a physical blow.
Her eyes widened slightly.
For a moment, she simply stared at Clara, unable to believe what she had just heard.
But Clara wasn't finished.
Her gaze swept over Juliet from head to toe before her lips curled with disgust.
"Look at you," she sneered. "Behaving like a complete bitch."
Juliet's body went rigid.
