Betrayed by My Trash Husband, Surrender Myself to the Devil-Chapter 10: Absolutely Deranged (II)

Claudia POV

I couldn’t help glancing at Clarissa and the two officers, and just as I expected, they must have been smitten by her cute and sweet act.

Clarissa had always been a pro at stealing everyone’s heart ever since we were kids. She would intentionally act cute or silly to gain adults’ adoration.

Meanwhile, I wasn’t really into that. I had been too busy trying to survive my half-sister’s torture every day. My father once told me that I was a lot like my mother, who wouldn’t fawn over him or other adults, so they treated me less like a child in return.

Seeing Clarissa carry this habit into adulthood was shocking... and sickening.

But it worked for her, because those officers were clearly biased toward her.

"Can I check on my daughter now?" I asked calmly, directing my words at the officers. "Unless you want to stop me from exercising my right as a mother to care for my own flesh and blood."

The officers were clearly caught off guard by my statement. Without saying anything, they left the room and closed the door behind them.

Once there were only the two of us—and the unconscious girls lying on the beds—Clarissa immediately dropped her act and sneered at me.

"You’re so disappointing, Claudia. I thought you’d at least scream at me. It would’ve been more fun with more drama, right?"

Again, I ignored her completely and walked toward my daughter.

I stood between Aurora’s and Lara’s beds and checked on my daughter first.

She had an IV drip attached to her arm and an oxygen tube in her nostrils. A thick bandage wrapped around her head, and her left arm was encased in a cast.

Lara wasn’t much better.

In fact, she seemed worse, with both of her legs wrapped in plaster casts.

My heart ached terribly at the sight of what my daughter had gone through. Yet I couldn’t do anything, because I was trapped in a difficult situation myself.

It was already a miracle that Ray had helped me see my daughter at all. But should I continue living at other people’s mercy until I had no way out?

What about Aurora?

What would happen to her if I ended up imprisoned?

I doubted Clarissa would ever be a good stepmother.

The situation reminded me painfully of my childhood, how my mother died early, and I became unwanted baggage to my father’s second family.

My stepmother didn’t dare hurt me directly because of CPS, so she used Clarissa as her little demon to torture me, hiding the abuse under the excuse of sibling rivalry.

I feared Aurora would suffer the same fate if we were separated.

My hand slowly reached for Aurora’s cheek, and I caressed her gently.

My eyes filled with tears, but I wiped them away immediately before any could fall onto her.

As a mother who also took on the role of a guardian, I had long learned not to show weakness, especially tears, in front of Aurora, no matter how exhausted or sad I was.

Since Miles refused to be a guardian to his own child, then I would take that role myself. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

I alone would be enough for my daughter.

I leaned down and whispered softly, "My little angel, Mommy is sorry for not being able to protect you before. But I promise I’ll protect you from now on—even if I have to pay a heavy price."

"Hm~ the doctor said that aside from the head trauma, Aurora broke her arm from the impact, while Lara fractured both of her legs," Clarissa said lazily as she leaned against the wall. "You know, I’m actually surprised they didn’t die. I was expecting both of them to die, so you’d be charged immediately with murdering two girls."

"Too bad they’re only crippled... for now."

I turned to look at Clarissa.

She looked pleased despite nearly killing two little girls in one night.

But I shouldn’t have expected anything else from her. She had always been cruel for no reason other than her own enjoyment.

I just never expected her to be cruel to her own daughter as well.

"What do you want, Clarissa?" I asked bluntly.

"What do I want?" She raised an eyebrow. "Were you deaf last night? Miles and I already told you our demands."

"Don’t give me that nonsense," I replied. "I know you. You’d never share a man."

"Oh~ you’ve gotten a sharp tongue since earning your degree, huh?" Clarissa sneered. "Fine. I was just... bored, you know~."

"...Excuse me?"

"Mhm. I was bored back in our hometown. Mom and Dad are old, their business is failing, and they couldn’t send me to a better university. So I was stuck in community college since I’m not a nerd like you."

"And since you were gone, I also lost my precious little slave girl," Clarissa sighed, pouting as if she were sharing a harmless trivia about her life. "So I tracked you down to California and found out you were already married and had a decent career as, uh... general... general something—whatever. A doctor at some clinics!"

"Don’t you think that’s unfair, sister?"

"What’s unfair about that?" I asked. "I didn’t bother you when I left that cursed house. Why did you come looking for me? Haven’t you had enough tormenting me back then?"

"Nope. Not enough," Clarissa shrugged. "I think it’s unfair that you suddenly have a good life with a good husband, while I’m just... stuck. I didn’t finish my studies and can’t find a good job anywhere."

"So I seduced your husband to restore my status, Claudia," she said with a cold smirk. "With your husband by my side, you become the lower subhuman to me, and our childhood status quo has been restored. I become the princess once again and you are the maid–oh, fuckmaid now, congratulations on your promotion~."

"You..." I was speechless while staring at her in disbelief. "You went through all that just to... spite me?"

"Mhm, you should be crying when I’m in a bad mood," Clarissa said. "And if I’m in a good mood? Then you should continue to cry! There’s no point of you being happy. It’s always been like that growing up, right, sis?"