Thessaly's Point of View
I stare at the medical document on my phone screen until the words blur.
Voluntary psychiatric admission following suicide attempt.
Elowen didn't drown. She tried to kill herself because Jareth chose me over her.
My parents have been lying for five years.
My hands shake so hard I nearly drop the phone. I need to show someone. Need proof that I'm not crazy, that my entire family has been using me.
I stumble out of bed and run down the hallway in bare feet.
"Caspian!" My voice cracks.
He appears from his office immediately, still dressed despite the late hour. His ice-blue eyes scan me head to toe, checking for injury.
"What happened?"
I shove the phone at him. "Look. Look at what my mother just sent me."
He takes it, reads the document. His expression goes from neutral to deadly in seconds.
"She sent you this? Your own mother?"
"I think she meant to scare me. To threaten me into silence." My laugh sounds hysterical. "But she just gave me proof. Proof that they've been lying about everything."
Caspian's jaw tightens. "This says Elowen was admitted one week after—" He looks up sharply. "One week after what?"
"After Jareth proposed to me the first time." The words taste bitter. "We got engaged three years ago at a family dinner. Elowen was there. She smiled and hugged me and said she was happy for me."
"And a week later she tried to kill herself."
"Because she loved him first." I sink onto the couch, my legs giving out. "They were together in high school. I knew that. But I thought they'd broken up years ago. I thought—" My voice breaks. "I thought when he chose me, it meant something."
Caspian sits beside me. Not touching, just present. "What else does the document say?"
I take the phone back and scroll. "She was there for eighteen months initially. Then moved to outpatient care but had a relapse two years ago. Another suicide attempt." My stomach turns. "They kept her locked up in Switzerland while I planned a wedding to the man she tried to die over."
"Your parents knew the whole time."
"They paid for it. Kept her hidden. Let me think she was dead." Anger burns through the shock. "They let me grieve. I cried at her funeral, Caspian. I gave a eulogy for an empty coffin while she was alive in a hospital."
"Why?" His voice is sharp. "Why hide her recovery?"
I think about my father's gentle words tonight. We needed you focused. The company was failing.
"Because I was useful," I say quietly. "Elowen was always the pretty one. The charming one. The daughter they showed off at parties. But she was terrible at business. Failed out of college twice. Couldn't balance a checkbook."
"And you?"
"I have an MBA from Columbia. I'm good with numbers, with strategy. When my father's company started failing five years ago, I was the only one who could save it." The pieces click into place. "They needed me working, not distracted. So they told me Elowen was dead. Made me the heir. Let me rebuild everything."
"While keeping the golden child in reserve," Caspian says. "And now that the company is profitable again—"
"They bring her back. Give her my life. My fiancé. Everything." I stand up, pacing. "I was always just the backup plan. The ugly sister who was good for making money."
"You're not ugly."
I stop and look at him. He's watching me with an intensity that makes my breath catch.
"Compared to Elowen, I am. She's—"
"She's cruel. Manipulative. Those things make people ugly, Thessaly. You're beautiful because you survived them." He stands, moving closer. "And now we're going to make them pay for every lie."
"How?"
A slow, dangerous smile spreads across his face. "Your mother just handed us a weapon. She threatened you via text, then sent confidential medical records. That's illegal. Multiple felonies."
"We can use this?"
"We can destroy them with this." He pulls out his phone. "I'm calling Vesper. She needs to see this tonight."
Twenty minutes later, Vesper arrives in pajamas and a coat, hair in a messy bun. She's still somehow intimidating.
"This better be good. I was asleep."
Caspian shows her my phone. Her eyes go wide.
"Your mother is an idiot." She starts typing frantically on her own phone. "This is medical record theft, harassment, witness intimidation—"
"Can we use it?" I ask.
"Can we use it? Thessaly, this is gold." She looks up with a fierce grin. "Your mother just committed multiple crimes and handed us the evidence. We can file charges. Sue for emotional distress. Freeze their assets during investigation."
Hope sparks in my chest. "Really?"
"Really. But—" She holds up a hand. "We need to be smart. If we move too fast, they'll hide evidence. We need everything. Financial records, medical documents, proof of the embezzlement you mentioned."
"How long?" Caspian asks.
"Three weeks. Maybe four. I need to build an airtight case." Vesper looks at me. "Can you hold on that long? They're going to make your life hell when they realize you're not backing down."
I think about Elowen's smug smile. Jareth's cold eyes. My mother's threat.
"I can hold on."
"Good." Vesper starts gathering her things. "In the meantime, you two get married as planned. Make it public. Make it loud. Show them you're not hiding."
After she leaves, I realize I'm exhausted. The adrenaline is wearing off, leaving me hollow.
"You should sleep," Caspian says gently.
"I don't think I can."
"Then sit with me." He leads me to his office, a room with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a massive desk. He pours two glasses of amber liquid. "Whiskey. It helps."
I take a sip and cough. It burns.
"Not a drinker?"
"Jareth said it wasn't ladylike." The words slip out before I can stop them.
Caspian's expression darkens. "Jareth is an idiot. Drink what you want. Do what you want. You're not his anymore."
"I'm yours now though. According to the contract."
"The contract says you're my wife in public. In private, you're your own person." He sits in the leather chair across from me. "I'm not Jareth, Thessaly. I won't try to change you."
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
He's quiet for a moment, swirling whiskey in his glass. "Because I know what it's like to have your family choose someone else. To realize you were never really wanted."
"Your uncle?"
"My father." His voice goes flat. "He had me with his first wife. Then she died, and he remarried. Had another son with his new wife—my half-brother. From that moment, I was invisible. Everything went to the golden child. Love, attention, inheritance."
"That's why you need to marry? For the inheritance?"
"My grandmother was the only one who cared about me. When my father died, she put conditions in her will to protect me from my uncle. Who, coincidentally, is my stepmother's brother." He takes a long drink. "Family is a weapon. And you and I both know how it feels to be on the wrong end of it."
I look at this cold, controlled man and see the hurt underneath. We're the same. Both discarded by the people who were supposed to love us.
"We're going to win, right?" I ask quietly.
"We're going to destroy them." His eyes meet mine. "I promise you that."
I finish my whiskey and stand. "I should try to sleep."
"Thessaly?"
I turn back.
"Thank you for trusting me with this."
"You're the only one I can trust."
I head back to my room and actually sleep this time, exhausted enough that even nightmares can't reach me.
I wake to sunlight and the smell of coffee. My phone says it's nine AM.
I have seventeen missed calls from my mother. Twelve from my father. Six from Jareth.
And one new text from an unknown number.
I open it.
The message is short: Congratulations on your engagement to Caspian Holt. Interesting choice. Here's something you should know about your new fiancé before you marry him.
Below is an attachment. A photo.
My hands shake as I open it.
It's Caspian. Younger, maybe mid-twenties. Standing next to a beautiful blonde woman in a wedding dress.
He's smiling in the photo. Actually smiling. Looking at her like she's his whole world.
The caption below reads: Caspian Holt and Lydia Thorne on their wedding day, seven years ago. Marriage annulled after six months when she was caught stealing from his company. She fled the country with $10 million.
My heart stops.
Lydia Thorne.
Thorne is my last name.
Below the photo is another message: Lydia Thorne is your mother's younger sister. Your aunt. Ask yourself: does Caspian Holt want revenge on your family? Or is he using you to get it? Who's really playing who?
The phone slips from my hands and crashes to the floor.
Caspian was married before.
To my aunt.
Who stole from him and destroyed him.
And he never told me.
I stumble out of bed, my stomach twisting. Is this whole thing a setup? Did he choose me because of my last name? Because I'm related to the woman who ruined him?
I need answers.
I need them now.
I throw open my bedroom door and run toward his office.
But I stop when I hear voices. Caspian is on the phone, his office door cracked open.
"Yes, she signed the contract. No, she doesn't suspect anything." His voice is cold, clinical. "The plan is working perfectly. Once we're married, I'll have legal access to the Crane family assets through her. Then we can—"
I don't wait to hear the rest.
I run.