"Why did you have to provoke her?" Mrs. Clark asked, her voice laced with exasperation as she gazed at her daughter, whose eyes were red from crying and whose cheeks were still swollen from the brutal slaps she had received earlier.
Ryza, sitting on the plush couch in their grand living room, couldn't believe what she was hearing.
Her mother was actually questioning her instead of defending her.
"Are you seriously taking that bitch's side, Mommy?!" she shrieked, her anger boiling over. "She slapped me! Ten times!"
"According to the witnesses," Mr. Clark interjected, his voice calm and uninterested as he continued watching the business news on the large flat-screen TV, "you were the one who slapped Ceres first."
He didn't even spare her a glance.
Ryza's hands clenched into fists.
"Because she deserved it!" she snapped, her frustration reaching its peak.
She couldn't believe this.
Instead of supporting her, her own parents were making her out to be the villain...when it had been Ceres who had humiliated her in front of everyone!
But this was always how it went.
Every time she clashed with Ceres, people sided with that woman.
It didn't matter that Ceres was the one who constantly belittled her, made her feel inferior, and treated her like she was beneath her...because Ceres was untouchable.
She was the Monteverde heiress.
The perfect golden girl.
And no one, not even her own parents, ever dared to truly stand against her.
"We're not siding with her," Mrs. Clark sighed, gently dabbing at her daughter's tear-streaked face with a silk handkerchief. "But Ryza, you know you can't win against her. So why do you keep trying?"
Ryza froze, her lips parting in disbelief.
She knew what her mother was implying.
It wasn't about who was right or wrong.
It was about power.
And Ceres had it all.
Still, that didn't make it fair.
"It's because you all let her get away with everything," she snapped. "She acts like she's above the rest of us because she knows no one will ever put her in her place! She gets whatever she wants! And now, because of her, no event coordinators are willing to handle Ryzel and Ciena's wedding!"
At the mention of the wedding, Mr. Clark sighed, shaking his head.
This whole situation was turning into a mess.
Frankly, he had never understood why his daughter had become so attached to Ciena Fuentes in the first place.
She was nothing more than Romos's charity case.
If he and his wife had their way, Ryza would have been closer to Ceres, not Ciena.
That would have been the smarter alliance.
They had tried...God, they had tried...to foster a friendship between their daughter and the Monteverde heiress since childhood.
But from the moment the girls could speak, they had been like oil and water...constantly clashing, constantly competing.
And now, years later, Ryza was still making the same mistake.
She had sided against Ceres.
And she had suffered the consequences.
Mrs. Clark pursed her lips, her grip on the silk handkerchief tightening slightly.
She wasn't worried about Ryza's swollen cheeks.
She was worried about what would happen next.
Because if Romos Monteverde or worse...Zeus Falcon...found out about what had happened today…
The repercussions could be far worse than a few slaps.
She inhaled deeply.
"Ryza," she said, her voice gentle but firm, "I need you to listen to me. For once."
Her daughter turned to her with furious, teary eyes, but Mrs. Clark ignored the tantrum, choosing her words carefully.
"You may hate her," she continued, her voice low, "but Ceres holds the power to destroy our family."
She didn't say it out loud.
She didn't need to.
Ryza knew exactly what she meant.
If Ceres decided to retaliate, she wouldn't just humiliate Ryza...she could ruin the entire Clark family.
Because no matter how much wealth the Clarks had, it was nothing compared to what the Monteverdes and Falcons controlled.
If Ceres wanted, she could snap her fingers and everything they had built would come crumbling down.
And the worst part?
She wouldn't even have to lift a finger.
She could simply smile, sip her coffee, and watch them burn.
"I hate you!"
Ryza's voice shook with fury as she jumped to her feet, her entire body trembling.
She didn't care.
Not about her father calling after her. Not about the look of exasperation on her mother's face.
None of it mattered.
Because no one was on her side.
Not her family.
Not the people around her.
And especially not against that damn woman.
"I hate you all! I hate that bitch Ceres! I wish she were dead!"
"Ryza!"
Her father's sharp voice thundered through the house, but she didn't stop.
She bolted up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door shut with all her strength before throwing herself onto her bed, face buried in her pillow.
Her whole body shook with rage and humiliation.
Tears burned down her cheeks, but she wasn't crying out of weakness.
She was furious.
She hated Ceres from the depths of her soul.
Because Ceres always won.
She always got her way.
She could get away with anything.
If Ceres committed murder, Ryza was pretty sure she'd walk free.
When they were kids, Ryza had wanted to be friends with her.
But Ceres?
She never cared.
She had ignored her like she was nothing.
And when she did acknowledge her, it was always with mockery...mocking her choices, mocking her 'poor taste,' making it known that Ryza would never be good enough.
When their classmates would play a game she liked, it would only take one word from Ceres for them to change it to something else.
Because what Ceres wanted, Ceres got.
Even the teachers indulged her.
If Ceres didn't like you, everyone else would follow.
And Ryza?
Ryza had learned the hard way that going against Ceres Monteverde meant being invisible.
Her own brother, Ryzel, had been no exception.
If Ceres was in the room, Ryzel didn't see her anymore.
If Ceres spoke, everyone listened.
If Ceres so much as breathed, their parents would praise her for it.
Meanwhile, Ryza had to work twice as hard, cry twice as much, and practically beg just to hear the words, "We're proud of you."
And even then...
Even then...
Ceres would still win.
"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" Ryza screamed into her pillow.
She felt so defeated.
She heard a knock at the door.
She didn't move.
"Ryza."
It was Ryzel.
His voice was gentle, cautious...like he knew she was about to bite his head off.
She heard the door open anyway, heard the creak of the bed as he sat down beside her.
"Hey," he said, setting something down on the mattress. "I brought you an ice pack."
Ryza snapped.
She turned around so fast, her glare was like daggers.
"I wouldn't need an ice pack if you had just stopped your psycho ex from slapping me in public!" she spat, her voice dripping with resentment.
Even now, she still couldn't believe it.
He had just stood there.
Letting Ceres humiliate her...over and over again.
Ryzel let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing the back of his neck.
"I told you before we went there," he said, his tone carrying an edge. "I told you to behave. I told you to let me handle things."
He met her glare with his own exhaustion.
"But what did you do, Ryza? You slapped her first."
"You still love her, don't you?"
The words left Ryza's mouth like poison, laced with accusation, dripping with hatred.
Ryzel stiffened.
And he looked away.
"…No," he said, but he couldn't meet her eyes.
Bullshit.
Ryza laughed bitterly.
"Bullshit!" she snapped.
And then she threw the final dagger...
"If you don't love her anymore," she hissed, "then why do you still have that bitch's picture hanging in your room?"
Ryzel's head snapped toward her so fast, his jaw tightening.
"You went into my room?" His voice rose sharply.
Ryza didn't back down.
"Are you planning to just leave it hanging there even after you marry Ciena?" she fired back.
The silence between them was deafening.
"You've lost, brother."
Ryza's voice dripped with mockery as she crossed her arms, watching her brother with something between pity and amusement.
"Your plan to tame Ceres? It failed."
She tilted her head, smirking.
"Did you really think she'd come back to you?"
Ryzel's jaw tightened, his fists clenching at his sides.
"Stop it." His voice was low, warning, but it carried no real power over her.
But Ryza wasn't done.
"She never loved you," she said, her voice cutting like a blade. "Not then. Not now. She never will."
"I said stop it!" Ryzel's shout echoed through the room, his control snapping.
His chest heaved as his eyes burned with desperation, frustration, and denial.
"She'll come back to me," he growled. "That's why she's sabotaging my wedding to Ciena. Because deep down, she can't stand the thought of me being with someone else!"
At that, Ryza burst out laughing.
Not just a chuckle...a full-bodied, merciless laugh.
She laughed like her brother had just said the stupidest thing in existence...because to her, he had.
"You're crazy, brother." She wiped a nonexistent tear from the corner of her eye. "Completely delusional."
She shook her head in amusement before looking at him dead in the eye.
"Ceres isn't sabotaging your wedding because she wants you back."
She leaned in slightly, lowering her voice to hammer the truth into his thick skull.
"She's sabotaging it because that's what she does."
Ryzel stiffened.
"She enjoys making people miserable. She thrives on it."
Ryza let out a scoff, tilting her head toward him, watching for any crack in his confidence.
"And even if you did get back together..." she smirked, her eyes flickering with cruel satisfaction, "...you know damn well that you'd never be able to stop her from seeing other men."
Her voice dropped, eyes gleaming like she was savoring the final blow.
"Especially Zeus."
"Shut up!"
Ryzel's fury exploded, his voice shaking with anger and something dangerously close to desperation.
"She's not a whore!"
Ryza's smirk widened.
"Wake up, brother."
Her voice softened, but it was even more vicious, like a knife cutting deeper.
"She doesn't look at you like you're someone special," she whispered, watching as Ryzel's rage flickered into something raw and vulnerable.
"You're just one of her toys."
Ryza moves closer, her voice mockingly gentle, as if speaking to a child refusing to accept reality.
"She's not doing this because she wants you back."
Her next words were slow and merciless.
"She's doing it to prove to you that you will never have control over her."
She let the words settle.
"You are just one of her puppets."
Ryzel froze, his fists trembling.
Because somewhere, deep inside, he knew she was right.
Ceres was not the type to be controlled.
And yet, he still wanted her.
Ryza could see it so clearly...the pathetic way he was using Ciena as a substitute, trying to make Ceres jealous, trying to make her crawl back to him.
But the truth?
Ceres would never come back.
Not in a million lifetimes.
The moment Ryzel had broken off the engagement, thinking he could push Ceres into submission, Ryza knew...her brother had already lost her forever.
Even if he cried blood, even if he gave up everything, even if he begged...
Ceres would never take him back.