Chapter 2

Liana

I wanted to scream. I wanted to shake my moment vigorously and make her see what she’d done to me, or, more accurately, what she was about to do to me. 

My mother, Triana Robert, sat across from me at the kitchen table, her shaky hands wrapped around a delicate china cup that trembled slightly. The soft aroma of brewed coffee did nothing to calm my storming thoughts.

"You can't be serious, Mom."

“You don’t understand, Liana,” she said, her voice tight. “I didn’t have a choice. The debts… they’re more than I could ever hope to repay. The banks kept rejecting my loan application and those sharks have started asking me for their money. But even the money they loaned is nowhere to be found. And Tim, in his kindness, offered to help."

"Did he tell you that? Or did he think you loved him enough to marry him when you are just after his money."

"He’s offering stability and financial security. Something we deserve. Don't you get it?"

I stared at her as if she’d grown a second head. Stability? Security? From Tim Shedrach? My stomach twisted. 

“Deserve? Mom, do you even hear yourself? You can’t just marry someone because he writes a big check. This isn’t… it’s not like buying groceries!”

Her lips pressed into a thin line. “It’s not about groceries, Liana! It’s about survival. Your father… your father isn’t here, and this house, this business, it won’t last. I tried everything, Liana. Everything. And this… this is the only way.”

I slammed my hands on the table. “And what about me? What about my life? My choices? You’ve decided for me again, haven’t you? Like you did when you signed the school forms without even asking me how I felt about… everything.”

"That scholarship is the reason why you're about to have a job, you fool!"

"Well, I never asked, because now, I feel indebted to them! And now, you're doing this."

She flinched. I could see the hurt flicker in her eyes, but she was too proud, or maybe too desperate, to admit I had a point. 

“Liana, I’m asking you to understand. You’ve been given opportunities. A scholarship in the art school… everything. Isn’t that enough? Don’t you see? Tim isn’t just… just anyone. He’s powerful. He can fix this.”

“Fix it?” I echoed, my voice trembling. “Fix it by… by… marrying someone you don’t even know? Someone with a name that makes me sick to my stomach? You think I want to see his face again after all he's done?”

She leaned forward. “You think I wanted this? Do you think I enjoy being in this position? That I wanted to risk everything for my pride? I did it for us, Liana. For both of us. I thought you’d be grateful.”

Grateful. The word made me laugh. I had always been grateful, even for things that hurt me. “Grateful? You think I should be grateful that you’re selling me—us—into a world that destroyed me once already? Do you even remember high school? Do you remember the way I couldn’t walk down the hall without people laughing at me, whispering, pointing, judging? And do you remember who orchestrated most of that?”

Her face tightened. “Liana…”

“No, Mom!” I snapped. “You don’t get to tell me what to feel! You don’t get to tell me to be grateful for something that ruined me. You want me to be family with Liam Shedrach? The boy who made every single day a living hell? Do you think I forgot the way he humiliated me in front of everyone? The way he—”

“Liana, that was just normal teenage behaviour,” she interrupted sharply, her voice rising. “You were all immature.”

“It was normal teenage behaviour?” I asked. “It wasn’t cruelty? That’s what you call almost breaking me every single day?” I swallowed hard, trying to stop the heat in my chest from turning my words into fire. 

Triana blinked, her face flushing, but she held her ground. “You’re exaggerating. I know your memories are… colored by pain, Liana, but it wasn’t like that. You are twisting it. He—”

I jumped up, knocking my chair back. “No, Mom! You don’t get to dismiss this! I didn’t imagine it. I lived it!”

Her hands shook around the cup, but she didn’t reach for me or try to calm me down. And for a moment, I almost envied her ability to stay composed, even as I felt my own world cracking.

I turned away from her, storming toward the door. “I can’t do this. I can’t step foot in that world. Ever. Not with him, not with his family, not in their mansion. Ever!”

“Liana—” she started, but I didn’t stop. I needed to breathe, to get out before I said something I’d regret, or worse, before I saw in her eyes the same helplessness I felt. 

I ran down the driveway, my backpack heavy on my shoulder, the cool air hitting my face like a slap.

I didn’t go home for the next two days. I ignored calls, emails, and even the small, polite texts from my school administrators congratulating me on the internship. I needed space to think, plan, and breathe without the weight of someone else’s decisions pressing down on me.

A knock sounded on the door and something slipped through the crack underneath the door.

An envelope, thick and cream-colored, with my name embossed in gold on the front. Official invitation: Engagement Dinner at the Shedrach Estate.

I stared at it for what felt like hours. My stomach twisted into knots. I could refuse, of course. Walk away and stay home. Pretend this world didn’t exist. But the thought of losing my internship sponsorship and throwing away everything I had worked for, forced my hand.

I practiced the words in my head over and over as I stared at my reflection in the hall mirror. “I will go. I will sit. I will smile.”

The mansion was everything I expected and more. Marble floors, crystal chandeliers, hallways lined with portraits of men in suits and women with jewels, gardens that seemed to glow even under the dim evening lights. I felt painfully small. My dress felt too plain. My shoes creaked in ways I was sure were obvious.

Tim Shedrach was a gracious host, polite and commanding, moving through the room with effortless charm. Other family members smiled, offered light conversation, and for a moment, I allowed myself to think I might make it through the night without embarrassment.

Then, a voice came, familiar and mocking.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Liana Robert the four-eyed frog.”

I froze and my spine stiffened. The clinking of glasses and the music in the background all seemed to fade into silence. My heart thudded in my ears as the world shrank to the sound of that voice.

Slowly and painfully, I turned. And there he was, looking absolutely and unexpectedly different. 

He was taller and composed, looking impossibly sharp in his suit. His mismatched eyes, one green and one blue, locked onto mine like he called for a challenge I hadn’t agreed to. He had a buzz cut that would normally make anyone look basic, but he rocked like a clean-looking but rugged model. His lips curved into a small, deliberate smirk.

My throat went dry as my hands clenched at my sides. My stomach lurched violently.

“Liam…” I whispered, barely audible, as if saying his name aloud would break some fragile part of me.

"Hi, step-sister."