CHAPTER 7: THE ECHO OF HER

Days and nights had passed, but the words of Tori remained. "I don't know what unsettles me more, the things Tori said or the way Connel looks at me," Ariel thought. "Like I wasn't there, like I had become something fragile he didn't know how to hold anymore."

The silence in the mansion had grown thicker. It wasn't just the absence of noise, it was the stillness of unresolved questions, unanswered glances and emotions left unspoken. Ariel felt trapped in a house air seemed heavy with secrets. Each day Tori's voice seemed to grow louder in her mind.

Ariel was drowned in thoughts, as Tori's words kept replaying in her head, "She said Vienna, she said ask why he picked you, she said I don't know what side I'm on yet." And the worst part? She might be right. "I came here with my own secrets, sure. But this place is full of shadows. Secrets in the wine, truth in locked drawers. Ghosts in people's smiles.” she thought to herself. "I want to believe he married me just to help. I want to believe I'm not another move on a chessboard he's been playing long before I showed up. But the silence that moved in the mansion screamed louder than Tori's warnings ever could."

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Your presence is needed at the dining hall." Came the maid's voice. 

Ariel stood, the cold weight of uncertainty hanging over her like a cloud. She didn't want to go, didn't want to face Connel or see Tori's smug face once again. She ached for distance, but she knew she had no choice.

Ariel entered the dining room to find Tori already seated in her chair, wearing a familiar dress, a soft beige silk that clung to her frame like it had been tailored just for her. Connel's eyes flicked up from his phone, unreadable. He didn't say anything.

Ariel froze. "That's... mine."

Tori turned, feigning surprise. "Oh? Watson said I could help myself to anything in the guest closet. I assumed it was just another dress you left behind." She looked down at the soft beige silk clinging to her frame, fingers smoothing over the fabric. "Fits better on me anyways."

Ariel clenched her jaw. "It's not from the guest closet."

Tori raised her brows, all faux innocence. "Well, it was hanging there and it looked so lonely."

Connel cleared his throat. "Tori, return the dress."

But she was already standing, already sashaying towards Ariel. She stopped just close enough. "Funny," she said quietly, only for Ariel to hear. "You wear his ring but I still wear his name in my mouth. You sure you know which one means more?"

Ariel didn't respond, couldn't. The words burned, but she knew better than to give Tori the satisfaction of reacting. Instead, she turned her attention back to Connel, who had barely reacted to the exchange.

As Ariel sat down she took a glimpse at Connel. "I know there wasn't love in the contract, but that doesn't mean I should be treated like I have no feelings." Her words hung in the air, a small cry for acknowledgement.

Connel stared at her, "It's just a dress, I'll tell Zoey to send in more. Enjoy your meal. I have business to take care of." He stood and left.

"It wasn't just a dress," she thought bitterly, "it wasn't even about the dress. It was the way Connel acted, blind to everything, the way the silence moved in with her arrival. I'm not asking for your love, just a little care."

It was quiet in the dining room, with only Watson and Ariel present. Ariel tried to make conversation but Watson seemed distant, lost in his own thoughts. Ariel wondered if he was worried about something or if the echoes were affecting him too. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.

Later that day, Ariel walked around the mansion, aimlessly. She entered into the music room; her sanctuary seeking solace. But as she crossed the threshold, She found the piano lid open, the keys freshly played. Tori's perfume still lingered in the air.A half played sheet of Chopin was resting in the stand. 

Ariel didn't even know Tori played, but she did. Almost too well. Each note she touched, each space she stepped into, it was like Tori was retracing Ariel's life But better, deeper. As if she had been there before.

The final straw came at dusk.

Ariel stepped into her bathroom and found her lipstick smeared on the mirror. Four words, written in a hand she didn't recognize:

"You're just filling space."

Her breath caught in her throat, her hand trembled as she wiped it away, but the message lingered. Not just on the glass but in her chest. The words echoed in her mind, each repetition making her feel insignificant and congested.

She felt her world tilting. Slowly. Quietly but undeniably.

She knew those words could be true but how true? She only accepted this marriage to pay off her family's debt and nothing more." She stood in the bathroom reminiscing. "There was no love in this union, of course she was filling space."

Her heart raced, “What's really her motive? She clearly doesn't see that this union was only a deal but yet she claims to know so much. What game is Tori playing?” She said coming out of the bathroom.

She leaned against the wall staring into thin air. "Why did I accept this contract, this arrangement?" She wondered aloud. "Tori's not wrong, I didn't expect anything. But she knows something, what game am I a pawn to?"

She sank into the bed, her mind racing. "Should I confront him? Should I demand the truth?” she wondered but quickly dismissed the thought. Connel wouldn't talk, he never did. And did it even matter? "This was a deal, wasn't it? He doesn't owe me an explanation." But as the words bounced around in her mind, she couldn't help but feel she was losing.

Ariel had entered this marriage because it was a deal. No illusions of love had ever been part of it but now, with the silence thick between her and Connel and everything getting under her skin, Ariel wasn't sure if she believed that anymore.Tori wasn't just a ghost from Connel's past, she was trying to erase her and she felt it.