Dominic stood paralyzed at the threshold of Evelyn’s room. The sight of the wreckage—her clothes strewn like discarded rags, her grain stores sifted through like dirt—brought a flush of genuine shame to his face.

"Oh, Evelyn, I am so sorry," Seraphina whimpered, her face a mask of pale fragility. Her eyes, wide and shimmering with unshed tears, darted toward Evelyn in fearful supplication. "Was I too rough? Please, let me help you put it back together. Please don't be angry with me."

Julian stepped forward instinctively. "I’ll help her. We’ll fix it together."

Evelyn watched them with a look of bone-deep revulsion. "Anything touched by filth needs to be boiled and scrubbed just to wash away the bad luck," she sneered.

Seraphina bit her lip, her voice trembling. "Evelyn, really... don't you think you’re being a bit much?"

The words had barely left her mouth when Evelyn lunged. She seized Seraphina by the hair and delivered two sharp, stinging slaps that echoed through the small room. Seraphina’s head snapped back, her defense nonexistent.

Julian gasped, paralyzed by the sheer violence of the act. He had always known Evelyn to be Seraphina's protector, her fiercest advocate. To see her strike the girl with such cold, calculated fury felt like watching the world turn upside down.

As Julian reached out to intervene, a hand clamped onto his wrist like a shackle of cold iron. Adrian’s eyes were glaciers. "Unless you want me to sever the hand you’re reaching with," Adrian whispered, "I suggest you stay exactly where you are."

Julian’s pulse thundered in his ears. "But she—"

Adrian threw his hand back as if discarding trash. "You have two choices, Julian. One: you let her vent her rage until she is satisfied, and we call it even. Two: I charge the lot of you with malicious slander and criminal conspiracy. You choose how you want to be escorted out of this valley."

Julian’s breath hitched. "Cousin! Her wallet really is gone! The money inside was mine—"

The crack of Adrian’s palm against Julian’s face silenced the room. Julian’s head jerked to the side, a thin trail of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Adrian didn't look angry; he merely adjusted his cuff with terrifying calm.

"Choose," Adrian repeated.

Inside, Seraphina was screaming. Rage vibrated in every cell of her body, a frantic, caged animal clawing at her ribs. "Dominic..." she pleaded, her eyes searching his for a miracle.

Dominic hesitated. He looked at the wreckage of the room, then at Adrian’s lethal stillness. A wave of nauseating clarity washed over him. "I... I was mistaken," he stammered. "I must have seen it wrong."

Adrian turned his cold gaze toward Seraphina. "And you? Are you going to let Dominic shoulder the entire burden of this 'mistake' alone?"

Seraphina felt as though Adrian had reached into her chest and squeezed. She swallowed the bile rising in her throat, her face a picture of wounded innocence. "No... I just wanted to ask Dominic if he was absolutely sure. I didn't mean to cause trouble."

Julian looked at Dominic, confused and betrayed. "You told me you saw her. Did you or didn't you?" If Dominic recanted now, Julian was the one left holding the bag for a false accusation.

Dominic wouldn't meet anyone's eye. "I thought I saw it. The sun... it must have been the sun."

Julian let out a ragged sigh. "Evelyn, believe me, the money and the coupons really are gone. We didn't come here to frame you out of thin air."

"I don't believe a word you say," Evelyn replied, her voice flat.

"If it weren't true, why would your own brother say he saw it?" Julian pressed, his frustration mounting.

Evelyn’s lip curled into a smirk of pure derision. "I find it far more likely that you’re all in league together—vultures circling, hoping to see me dragged off to a labor camp. But I’m still standing, Julian. And watching the four of you fail is better than any apology."

Julian felt the blood rise in his neck. "Fine. We were wrong. It was a misunderstanding. How do we make it right? What will it take to satisfy you?"

Seraphina’s head snapped up. Satisfy her? Why was Julian surrendering? Why couldn't Dominic just take the fall? He was her brother; it was only a few days of labor!

Evelyn caught Seraphina’s gaze and smiled—a slow, mocking expression that said You are nothing.

Seraphina felt the air leave her lungs. She had to salvage something. "Evelyn, you don't have much here. Why don't we buy you some things? New supplies, as a gesture of goodwill?"

Julian nodded quickly. "I’ll pay for it."

"I wouldn't touch a thing you bought," Evelyn countered. "I don't need you turning around tomorrow and claiming I stole those, too."

Adrian stepped outside and returned with a heavy parcel he had left on the tractor. "I’ve been too busy with work to visit lately," he said, his voice dropping an octave as he spoke to Evelyn. "I brought you a few things."

He hadn't followed his secretary’s advice about clothes—he wouldn't know the first thing about fabric. Instead, he placed two items on the small table over the brick bed: a high-end radio and a sleek wristwatch. Together, even without the necessary coupons, they were worth nearly three hundred dollars.

Seraphina stared at the gleaming chrome of the radio, her eyes burning with a green, toxic envy. Why? Why was Julian’s powerful cousin treating this girl like royalty?

"Cousin Adrian," Seraphina started, her voice tight, "now that Julian and Evelyn are no longer together, don't you think such... intimate gifts are a bit inappropriate?"

The sentence ended in a gasp as a dipper of cold water slammed into her face.

Evelyn stood there, the empty ladle in her hand, watching Seraphina drip. "Seraphina," Evelyn said, her voice like a razor. "Just because you and Julian are a pair of mongrels doesn't mean the rest of the world lives in the gutter with you. You’re a tramp, so you see a tramp in every shadow. It’s pathetic."

"I... I just didn't want people to gossip," Seraphina sputtered, wiping the water from her eyes. She bit her tongue so hard she tasted copper, forcing herself not to lunge at the woman.

Julian looked as though he had been struck again. Seraphina’s comment had nearly cost them their lives with Adrian, and Evelyn’s words had cut his pride to the bone.

Barrett, the village head, finally stepped forward, his face dark with suppressed thunder. "Evelyn, give me your word you’ll let this go. I will handle the punishment."

He couldn't afford another labor camp scandal. Not now, when Red Wolf Valley was so close to a "Model Village" commendation and new jobs were on the line. Julian and his friends had crossed a line he couldn't ignore.

Evelyn hesitated, looking at the weary, honest face of the man who had looked out for her. She nodded slowly. "For you, Barrett. I’ll leave it in your hands."

Barrett felt a surge of genuine gratitude. He’d liked her for the cigarettes and for her friendship with his daughter, but now, he respected her. She had given up her revenge for the sake of the village's reputation.

Julian and the others let out a breath of relief, thinking Barrett would be easier to handle than Evelyn.

They were wrong.