Rachel crouched on the floor, her eyes instantly welling up, her voice choked with tears.
"What are we going to do? Horace has been in such a bad state lately. He needs someone with him all the time. His health is so fragile, how will he manage?"
As she spoke, she suddenly looked up at me. "This is all your fault! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be here!"
I was so taken aback by her absurd accusation that I actually laughed.
"Rachel, are you serious? You're the one who tried to trick me into coming out here, which led to this whole mess. How dare you turn this around on me?"
Rachel's face flushed red as she grew more agitated.
"It is your fault! They were after you, and I was just an innocent bystander who got dragged into it! You're a jinx, a walking disaster. First you ruin Horace, and now you're ruining me!"
The more she spoke, the more worked up she got, raising her arm to strike me. With quick reflexes, I grabbed her wrist, stopping her.
"What is wrong with you?"
Rachel glared at me with hatred. "You deserve it! For you, Horace…"
"Enough!" I cut her off coldly. "Don't bring Horace into this! If Horace really had a problem with me, he'd come to me himself! Rachel, ask yourself, have I ever done anything to wrong you?"
I took a deep breath and continued, "I understand you sympathize with Horace, but you're going too far! You know perfectly well that most of this wasn't my fault."
"Horace's leg was broken because he tried to kill Steven's grandfather first! Steven retaliated—that was between them. What right do you have to blame all of that on me?"

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