Chapter 40: CAST OUT

Something clicked in Xina’s mind, a sudden, sharp realization that made her blood boil. She knew what her mother was trying to do, and it was infuriating. “No way,” Xina slammed her hand down on the table, the paper crumpling under her grip as she stood. “You want me to help the family business by marrying one of those men?!” Her voice rose, shaking with barely contained rage. So, this was what it was all about. This was why she’d been summoned back to this place she loathed, under the pretense of a family discussion. But it was never about family; it was about using her, just as they had used Gaia. How shameless her mother was to insinuate that Gaia had done the family a favor by marrying Stefan, when in reality, Gaia had seduced him knowing full well that Stefan had been in a committed relationship with Xina. She felt the urge to laugh at the audacity. Her mother had always been a master manipulator, but this? This was a new low. “Xina,” her mother, Ella, called her name in that