He Chose His Secret Family So I Destroyed His World Chapter 10
Odette’s head cracked against the doorframe, and the sharp jolt of pain snapped her spiraling thoughts to a halt.
Through the haze, a memory rose from years ago. She had only just started seeing Gideon, and Sabine had taken her hand with a gravity that wasn’t like her at all.
“Odette, I know my brother,” Sabine had said. “He’s got this ruthless hunger in him, this fixation on class and status. He’ll do whatever it takes to climb. Are you really sure you want to fall this hard, this fast?”
Then a second image surfaced.
The night before her wedding. Worry still lingered in Sabine’s eyes, and yet she had pulled her into a fierce embrace.
“I may not approve of him,” Sabine had said, “but I’ll always have your back. Hold on to this, Odette — whatever happens, I’ll stand beside you. Even if the person on the other side is my own brother.”
And what had she made of it, back then?
She’d decided Sabine’s warning was nothing but the arrogance of old-money Boston, that the woman was looking down on her as some outsider from New Jersey.
A quiet, unadmitted envy had led her to mistake kindness for condescension. She had slapped away the one hand that had reached out to save her, and turned instead toward Seraphina’s counterfeit warmth.
Now, crumpled on the floor, the ache in her body meant nothing.
The remorse bearing down on her was far heavier than any blow to the head.
She had ruined the only person who had ever truly loved her.
She had shoved Sabine straight into hell.
Only now did she finally grasp it — that from the very beginning to the very end, Sabine had never once wronged her.
