Die Erbin des Dons

I was still a step too late. By the time my head cleared, the photos had already spread through the guests' phones like wildfire. I stumbled to my feet and searched the crowd in a panic.

"Joanna, I didn't have anyone take those photos."

My sister, Joanna Cavanagh, looked down at where I was gripping her sleeve, wrinkling the fabric, and her brows furrowed slightly.

"Then, who did?" She shook me off without hesitation.

"I can't believe you'd stoop this low just to stay in the family."

I turned to Fallon Montrose, the childhood friend who'd invited me tonight. "Fallon, we grew up together. You believe me, right?"

But the moment she caught my desperate look, she turned her face away.

"Knox, you've gone too far! You drugged me and had someone take those photos. Even if you don't care about your own reputation, don't you owe anything to the family that raised you for over 20 years?"

I let out a bitter laugh and said nothing. Even with a second chance at this, I still couldn't figure out how to prove my innocence when the very people who set me up were standing right there, watching.

"All these years, and you actually thought you were one of us," Joanna said. "If it weren't for your jealous behavior, Chase never would have left home."

My silence only made her angrier.

"You're the one who should have left. I told Mom a long time ago that keeping you around would only cause trouble sooner or later."

The drug's aftereffects surged through me, and my head spun in waves. Every word out of Joanna's mouth cut straight through me until I could barely breathe. My vision blurred, and I collapsed under the weight of everyone's accusations.

"This again?" Fallon scoffed and kicked my face with her foot and then calmly turned to a nearby attendant.

"Splash him awake."

Three cups of cold water later, I still showed no sign of coming to. Fallon grabbed a bowl of hot soup from the table, her patience clearly gone.

"Knox Cavanagh, you're really committed to this act. I'm counting to three, and you'd better come to your senses. Otherwise, I can't promise what this bowl of soup is going to do to your face."

She used to be the girl next door I adored more than anyone. When we were kids, she followed me everywhere, always bringing me whatever treat she got her hands on first.

Once, I pricked my finger on the rose bushes in the yard, and she threw a fit so big she had every thorned plant ripped out by the roots.

But now, all it took was Chase Elwood leaving home for her to pin the blame on me without a second thought, just because he was the real heir, and I was the fake.

"Three, two… Knox, you brought this on yourself."

The count hit one, and Fallon threw the hot soup across my face without a flicker of expression. Joanna flinched and turned away, but she didn't say a word to stop it.

My screams tore through the hall. My face burned like it was on fire, and I thrashed my arms blindly, reaching for anyone who might pull me out of this. But there was no one, not a single person. The only ones who came close did it for a better look at the show.

To my sister, to Fallon, to every trust-fund kid in that room, a confirmed fraud like me was nothing but a joke.

I had to save myself.

"I know where Chase is! I can bring him home!"