All Chapters of The Bait, The Ruin: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

DAHLIA'S POVMummy…That is the only person on my mind when I run away from home. I don't know which rehab center she was taken to, or if I even know any rehab center at all, but I have to get away from the house before I lose my mind completely.I can't stand Christina anymore. No, I can't stand her daughter and the way she keeps crossing boundaries like she already owns my life.It isn't just about what happened that morning. It's the way she goes around school spreading more lies about my mother until the other kids look at me like I'm cursed too. My friends don't even sit close to me anymore. Some of them whisper when I walk past, and the others stare at me with pity like I'm some poor abandoned thing.Christina has taken over everything, replacing my mother and filling every corner of the house until I can barely breathe in it anymore, and my father does absolutely nothing about it. If I complain, he gets angry like I am the problem instead of the woman destroying our home.I jus

DAHLIA'S POV“If I tell you that I don’t regret it, then call me a liar.” Mom says softly, her voice comes out so strained.I want to tell her to stop talking and just rest before she tears her stitches open again.I look at her and watch her slowly push herself off the couch before limping toward the window. The afternoon sunlight spills into the sitting room, falling over her face as if it just wants to show off every scar, every sleepless shadow beneath her eyes, and every line carved there by years of running and surviving.“I lost my twin sister to drugs and her obsession with money.” She lets out a dry laugh and taps her bare foot lightly against the floor as if the memory itself makes her restless. “She wanted more and more of everything. Any kind of drug she could get her hands on, she took it.”She turns slowly to face us and at that moment, I don’t see the dangerous woman from the funeral home or the stranger who vanished from my life. I see my mother again. The woman who us

DAHLIA'S POV“It is all done!” Sunny says excitedly the moment the cleaners finally leave the house.“I'll check upstairs. Get my mom and Mr. Chane so we can eat and figure out what happens next.” I force out a smile at her and head for the stairs before I lose the little strength still holding me together.But the moment I climb upstairs, my steps slow.The hallway is clean now. The dust is gone, the air smells fresh again, and the lights no longer look abandoned and cold. I should be able to walk straight into my room or maybe the kids’ room without thinking twice, but my legs refuse to move.This house still breathes with too many memories of the perfect life I built.Robert and Cleo used to run through this hallway every day, laughing so loudly that I always yelled at them to stop before they crashed into something. Their tiny footsteps used to fill every corner of this place with life. Even Jerome, despite all his lies, had been a good father to them. Maybe I never loved him the

WELLINGTON'S POV“Go on, boy.” Donna nudges me forward toward the canoe again.“Why did you kill the old man?” I ask, breathing unevenly as I sniff back tears that refuse to stop falling.I keep walking toward the canoe, shaking all over, not because I am scared of the knife he keeps swinging close to my face, but because of the unknown sitting heavily in my chest.Where is he taking me? Who is he really? Why did he really kill that man?The more I think about how I ended up here, the less normal everything feels. I escaped one hell only to fall straight into another. It almost feels planned, like the sea itself dragged me into this psychopath’s hands just so my suffering would never end.“Because you are a good catch.” He laughs loudly, his voice echoing over the water like thunder.My stomach twists painfully.The man is insane.And I am about to become trapped again, maybe not inside a cold container this time, but somewhere worse. Somewhere hot and dark where no one will hear me s

WELLINGTON'S POV“I’ll leave some men here just in case, because I’ll be storming DSS headquarters with your mother.” I say as I follow Dahlia upstairs, my eyes never leaving her for a second.“No, you’re not.” She stops halfway down the corridor and turns to face me. “If you don’t go back to the penthouse, don’t you think Nani will suspect that you’ve figured everything out already?”“I don’t care.” The words come out rougher than intended. “And I hate that I’m even going to leave you alone. I have this feeling that she already knows where I’ve been. If I suddenly stop moving the way she expects me to move, she’ll become even more suspicious. She knows I love you and—”“You love me.” She pauses with her hand on the doorknob, her voice quieter now, softer in a way that immediately weakens every defense inside me. “And you’ve made me ache all evening for your touch. I want to pay you back.”The subject changes so smoothly that I almost laugh, because the memory of leaving her desperate