Chapter 15: Liam’s Lie Exposed (2)
Rina’s mother had been growing paler with each revelation. Now she sank into her chair, one hand pressed to her heart. "Beta," she whispered to her daughter, "all those times you said he was so generous, so kind... and today he nearly had you arrested... all those times you let him..." She couldn’t finish the sentence.
Rina’s face burned with shame and anger as memories flooded back—Liam’s increasingly bold touches, his assumption that her gratitude made her available to him, the way he’d acted like she owed him something. And now, the terrifying realization that he’d given her a toy filled with drugs that could have destroyed her life.
"You touched me," she said quietly, her voice thick with revulsion. "You put your hands on me because you thought I owed you something for a kindness you never showed. And when that wasn’t enough, you tried to have me arrested. What was your plan? To swoop in and ’save’ me? Make me even more grateful?"
"Rina, no, it wasn’t like that—"
"GET OUT!" The roar came from Rina’s father, a man who had spent his life surrounded by books and quiet scholarship. The sudden explosion of paternal rage made everyone in the room flinch. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"
Liam took a stumbling step backward, his face a mask of desperate panic. "Please, just let me explain—"
"There’s nothing to explain," Vincent said quietly. "You’re a liar and a manipulator who preys on good people’s kindness, and apparently a criminal who plants drugs on innocent young women. The only question is what other deceptions you’ve built your life on."
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🔔 System Notification
▶ Liam LP: -150 (Social Death + Criminal Implications) Vincent LP: +150
▶ Rina Favorability Toward Liam: -50 (Total: 10)
▶ Vincent VP: +300 (Complete Narrative Control + Hero Status)
Liam cast one last desperate look at Rina, but she had turned away, her shoulders shaking with suppressed tears of rage and humiliation.