in the ballroom was supposed to show
ordid deepfake video o
gul Edward Ford, pointed at me in
ne, you are
to condemn me. He publicly disowned me, announcing he had
itimate half-sister, Dara Chase, step
ed the ballroom in shame. As I ran into th
ed, their mission accomplished. But then I saw him. Josiah Craft, a guest at the w
my penthouse, just days before the w
pte
y mind a fog. I had just made a decision, a monumental one, and the call felt like an intrusion f
ah C
voice, usually so calm and
y? I heard... I hear
ear. It was a lifeline. In that moment, a wild,
so respectful of my engagement to Edward. He never crossed a line, but his quiet devotion was a co
's wrong?" he asked,
Josiah," I
ong frame frozen, his dark eyes wide with disbelief. He was a man of immense power, the heir t
he finally asked, hi
feeling more real, more solid this time.
one dropping, followed by a muffled curse.
Don't joke about this." Hi
life," I said, a strange sense of
eard a deep, shaky br
, and a phantom agony shot through my legs, the ghost of crushed bone and twisted met
s al
York penthouse Edward Ford had bought for us. Back in
with a romantic montage, but with a sordid, scandalous video. A video of me, or so they claimed, in a compromi
e, his face a mask of cold fury. He pointed at me, his voice
nto my mother's powerful Boston family, the Stone famil
false sorrow. "All this time, I've had another daughter, a kind and gentl
gitimate half-sister, stepped out. She looked so innocent, so
etrayed by my fiancé, disowned by my father. I ran. I fled the ballroom, my wedding
es. The blinding headlights.
mplished. But I also saw something else. I saw Josiah Craft, who had been a guest, push through the crowd. I saw him fall to his knees beside m
just days before the wedding
my horrifying memories. A soft, feminine moan
lways known, deep down, bu
iving room to the slightly ajar bedroom door. My heart hammer
a deliberate act of taunting, I now
é, was in bed. And with him, nestled against his chest, was Dara. My half-sister. The one he
Dara whispered, her voice a breathy m
r penthouse. "She has nowhere else to go," he had said, his eyes full of a convinc
I had bought her designer clothes, taken her to society events,
passion he had never shown me. "She's too proud, too arrogant t
family. His new-money tech empire from Silicon Valley needed the legitimacy
ed the city, the endless praise for our "perfect match"-it was all a scheme
ger innocent but malicious. "But I'm
en cheating on my mother for years. Dara was the result. He had kept her a secret, doting on her from afar, consum
we're married and I control the Stone assets, we'll get rid of Ame
f Edward's relentless pursuit flooded my mind. He, the untamable tech genius, had chased me for a year. He filled my office with flowers, bought out bill
ved him. I had seen him as a gift, a reward for all my quiet suffering. I had said yes to his pr
f it was a lie. A cruel, elaborate jo
e punchline. And I would