They Wanted Her Gone, Now They Kneel Novel – As Katherine Jensen was fighting for breath in the choking smoke, her fiancé, Truman Garcia, was clinking glasses at another woman’s birthday party. When her desperate call cut through, his voice was sharp with impatience. “Must you cause a scene today? Your hatred for Rachel is only pushing me away.” Without waiting for Katherine’s reply, he demanded, “I bought you a gift. Now, calm down and get over here.” The irony was, Truman had no idea that the arsonist who wanted Katherine dead was the very woman he was defending.
The windows shattered then, swallowing Katherine’s explanation and shattering her last bit of hope. She remained calm and quiet as the firefighters helped her escape the flames. Then she picked up her phone and dialed a number from Jelaston. “I’ve decided,” she said calmly. “I’ll return home for Grandma’s birthday in fifteen days and reclaim my place in the family.” The voice on the line was bright with relief at first, then edged with panic. “Fifteen days? Why so long? Tell me this isn’t because of your brothers or that fiancé of yours.” Katherine’s eyes lifted toward the dark smoke rising in the distance. She had once put the Jensen family’s wishes before her own, refusing to return to Jelaston. But now, the flames had burned away any last trace of that loyalty.
The voice grew more insistent. “Come home today, okay? I’ll make sure the Jensens and Garcias get into the best circles in Jelaston. I promise I’ll make it happen.” Katherine shook her head with a bitter smile. “No. I need these fifteen days to finish something. And from now on, I want nothing more to do with the Jensen and Garcia families.” Three hours later, Katherine stood outside the Diamond Hall of the Glando Hotel. Her back remained perfectly straight, though the prolonged tension had started to take its toll. Her wounds had been cleaned and bandaged, but the sharp smell of antiseptic still clung to her as she walked. She’d made no time to change out of her bloodstained dress. It saved her time now, for a sharp kick was all it took to send the door flying open. The lively party atmosphere vanished the moment the door swung open, replaced by dead silence.
Every guest turned to stare, meeting her gaze—a turbulent mix of desperation and cold fury. A collective shudder ran through the room. The oversized coat she wore did little to hide the blood-soaked dress beneath. Her legs, marked with visible wounds, carried her steadily forward toward Truman. Fresh blood already seeped through her recent bandages, creating a stark, unsettling sight. Truman’s face changed, his eyes filling with genuine concern. He was already moving toward her, intent on getting answers, when Rachel Jensen’s voice cut through the air. “If you had a problem with my birthday party, Katherine, you should’ve told me. I would’ve called the whole thing off. Why wait until now to embarrass me?” The moment Rachel took Truman’s arm and drew him back, the tenderness in his eyes faded, giving way to pure frustration.
He’d had enough of Katherine’s constant suspicions about him and Rachel. ‘I’d always let her jealousy slide, but today is different,’ he thought, the frustration boiling over. ‘First, she faked a fire, and now she showed up like this on Rachel’s first birthday with her real family. ‘It’s like she’s trying to ruin everything on purpose. I’m done making excuses for her.’ “Katherine, what is this scene about?” Truman’s voice cut through the air. “Or have you forgotten—if Rachel hadn’t intervened, the Jensens would have cast you out long ago.
You owe her your place here.” Katherine froze mid-step, her eyes lifting to meet his. As she looked at him, memories of their six years together flooded her mind. It’d been six years since she was mistakenly brought into the family and, by extension, into an engagement with Truman. Their relationship had blossomed from strangers to close friends, then to lovers, and in time, everyone saw them as the perfect couple. But everything changed last year when Truman discovered Rachel while they were planning their engagement. Without telling Katherine, he arranged a DNA test that confirmed Rachel was the true heiress. Overnight, her adoptive parents and three brothers completely changed their attitude toward her. Despite this betrayal, Katherine never showed any resentment toward Rachel.
Instead, she continued gathering medicinal herbs in the mountains to help with Rachel’s poor health, and even introduced Rachel to her own respected mentor. But she never expected that after her third brother secured Rachel a spot on her team, Rachel would turn around and plagiarize her research to win an award. When Katherine confronted her, Rachel played innocent. “How could I know you were doing the same research?” she said. Katherine had no evidence to back up her claim. Just as she was struggling with her anger, the Jensen family and Truman all turned against her. “Let’s be honest,” her eldest brother, Andrew Jensen, began, “those awards you won before only came your way because of our family’s connections.” “Rachel earned this award through hard work,” her second brother, Billy Jensen, added with a sneer. “Are you really so jealous that you’d make up such lies about her?” Her third brother, Yves Jensen, let out a cold laugh. “Without our family’s support, you’d have nothing to show for yourself. You haven’t won a single award all year.
When will you face the truth about your actual abilities?” The deepest cut came from Truman, whose face was full of disappointment. “Academic fraud is a serious charge,” he told her quietly. “But without proof, what you’re doing amounts to slander. You’ve really crossed a line this time, Katherine.” Time and again, Katherine had considered leaving, but the Jensens always knew how to keep her close—especially Yves, whose thoughtful little gifts never failed to melt her resolve. Having grown up without a family, Katherine longed for belonging too deeply to walk away, which was why she’d stayed all this time. Her thoughts were still tangled in the past when her three brothers suddenly appeared, blocking her path. “Showing up like this to ruin the party,” Andrew said, his face twisted in disgust. “Who taught you such pathetic attention-seeking tricks?” “You stole six years of Rachel’s life,” Billy spat, not bothering to hide his contempt. “And now you’re wrecking her birthday? Had we known how manipulative you were, we’d have thrown you out long ago.” Yves’s voice carried a cold threat. “Change your clothes and apologize to Rachel before everyone.
Her forgiveness is your only ticket to staying.” She thought she had built walls around her heart after all the betrayals, but this one still managed to find its way through. For a moment, the present dissolved, and she was back in that hallway. She had been on her way to buy Rachel a birthday present when voices from a room caught her attention—her brothers, speaking with Rachel. “We only took her in because her kidney was a match,” Andrew said coldly. “If you hadn’t been so weak back then, we would have done the surgery years ago.” “She won’t die from losing one kidney,” Yves added with a shrug. “And if she complains, we can always pay her off with an apartment.” “We’ll schedule it right after the party,” Billy concluded, his tone clinical. “I’ll tell her it’s for a medical study. Trust me, she’ll take the anesthesia without suspecting a thing.” Rachel put up a thin protest before yielding with feigned reluctance. And outside, Katherine remained motionless, the chill of betrayal locking her in place.
The family warmth she had yearned for turned out to be nothing but a scheme to steal her kidney. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to confront them. Outnumbered and powerless, she knew exposing the truth would only trap her further. After the shock settled, she fled back to her apartment. There, she cried until she had no tears left, and then began packing to disappear for good. She had just stepped out the door when a sudden blow sent her crumpling to the floor. Before darkness took her, she saw Rachel hand a thick stack of cash to her attacker. That explained why, when fire surrounded her, her one desperate call went to Truman instead of the Jensens. The brutal memory snapped Katherine back to the present. Her hand pressed tightly against her chest, and each breath carried the iron taste of blood. In that moment, she swore a silent oath to sever every connection with the Jensen family. She took a deep breath, willing away the pain in her chest.
“Well, you got what you wanted. I’m leaving the Jensen family.” Ignoring Yves’ tense shoulders and angry breathing, she pushed past him and walked straight to the stage. Blood stained her white dress like a rose battered in a storm. Her cool gaze swept over Truman and Rachel’s shocked faces as she reached for a wine glass. A single tear escaped, falling straight into the wine. “Let everyone here witness this—I’m breaking off my engagement to Truman,” she announced. “And congratulations on the real Jensen heiress’s return. I’m leaving by choice, and from today, the Jensens and I are done. In this life or the next.” Chapter 2 She’s Decisive And Clever Truman’s eyes darkened, a vein pulsing at his temple as he made a move to grab Katherine. But Katherine just drank the last of her wine and let the glass fall from her hand, smiling as it shattered on the floor. “Have you lost your mind?” Katherine’s adoptive mother, Evelyn Jensen, stepped forward, pointing an accusing finger. “Are you trying to embarrass our family in front of all these guests? All these years I’ve wasted on you,” she added, her voice sharp.