Page 38 of The Freedom in Captivity

Already, she breaks her promise to him by pacing three steps closer, walking right over that invisible line she told Nico she’d stay behind. Ariella remains in the shadows though.

Della ignores the jab and asks, in that soft, perfect voice I’ve always hated her for out of pure jealousy, “Are you okay?”

Seriously? The chains jiggle when I move my exhausted limbs, reminding her of my current situation. “Do I look okay, Della?”

“You look like a woman who’s made a few mistakes.”

Her statement stuns me for a second and I end the rattling, before I shake the feeling off. If she’s seeking truth and genuineness, she’ll find none here. Not yet anyway. “I made no mistakes.”

Pinching her lips, she whispers, “You drugged Aurora, Rozelyn. That’s not you.”

You have no idea who I am.“Yes, Aurora. Your sister-in-law. Congrats on your wedding, by the way.”

“You were always a bitch, Rozelyn, but I didn’t think you’d do something to harm another person.”

She’s right about that. I was a bitch because kindness only goes so far in this grim, depressing world.

“Yeah, well,” I shrug, pursing my lips, considering how best to convey a façade of carelessness, “like I’ve told others, I did it for my own reasons.”

“To gain our attention,” she correctly states, crossing her arms with a slight head tilt, like she’s trying to figure me out. “Whatever Stefano commanded you to do,Ican help you.” She steps closer again, her brows dipping as she talks, emotion packing every word—hope. “Ask for anything and I can make it happen. You’re wrapped up in his plots, Rozelyn, but it doesn’t need to be this way.”

Silence. She’s pleading with me to speak—to ask for something that shows I’m redeemable in her eyes. Giving her that, though, opens the floodgates for more, which I’m not ready to do.

Della peeks back at Ariella, who hasn’t moved from her spot. Then she looks to me again, her brows lower than before. “Where’s Yasmine? If he’s holding your sister over your head, Idoknow what that’s like.”

“She’s fine.” Maybe. She better be.

“So you’re not doing this to protect her?”

Not exactly.

Della frowns and lowers her arms again. “But you’re here and not her, which means you were his scapegoat. You’re the distraction, while he escapes, right? That’s what Stefano does, Rozelyn. Heuses.”

I’m aware more than you know.

“If you’re trying to appeal to me on a familial level, give up.” I jerk my chin to the stairs, indicating she can leave now.

“I’m trying—” Her hands fist with the word, her annoyance building in ways witnessed before. By Corsetti’s side, clearly she’s found a bit of a backbone. When she restarts, it’s with words more paced and thought out. “I’m trying to make you understand. We can be on the same side.”

Weareon the same side, but it’s not time for you to know that yet.

When I don’t take her bait, she sighs, her shoulders slumping. “Look, I wanted to come see you. We were stepsisters, after all. Deny it all you want, but we’re family.”

“We’reex-stepsisters,” I emphasize, so she understands the difference.Exholds less of a current connection.

“Ex,” she murmurs her agreement. “Why were you such a bitch after we moved in? Was it because you thought my mother was taking the place of yours?”

Glancing past her to Ariella, I catch the slightest movement as the redhead finally comes into the light. Clearly, she’s interested by this question.

“No,” I grant them the truth, “not completely. Maybe at first, but it was more than that.”

“And after the accident?” She asks it so bluntly, she misses the way Ariella flinches. Ariella, who was in that car too, and is now living as the only survivor from the incident. For Della, the accident is a horrendous fact, but Ariella’s still directly affected by it, and for that, I feel sorry for her. Ariella never deserved to be the brunt of Dad’s evilness.

The same way Yasmine could be at this moment.

“You were so cruel,” Della continues. “Both you and Yasmine were, and I always found it odd. Considering you lost your mother too, we had that shared heartbreak. You know what it feels like to lose someone close to you.”

Because being mean to you made everything easier. The second I viewed you as a friend, as another sister, I’d tell you the truth. I wouldn’t be able to protect us all, and Yasmine was my priority.

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