--- Blackwood Mansion – Two Days after the Necklace Incident Storms had brewed all morning. Not the thundershowers. The hot ones—the thick, gray-clouded suffocation that drained color and air and made the entire mansion feel older than it was. Leya wandered like a ghost in its halls. Not because she had a secret to hide. But because nobody wished to look at her. Even silence, eventually, is exile. Ironed sheets. Emptied breakfast trays. She did the sidestep along the lower wing when she took the additional step, simply so she wouldn't have to encounter Harrison in the upper wing. Not that she was afraid of him. But because there was still this idiot, pain spot in her that… hoped. Hoped he'd listen to her. Or ask what actually happened. Or remember, for a moment, she hadn't come into this world to bring him down. She hadn't signed up to join the family. Or the house. Or the battle. But she had persisted. Every. Single. Day. And now, not being wasn't enough. --- Outside H
--- Blackwood Mansion – Two Days after the Necklace Incident Storms had brewed all morning. Not the thundershowers. The hot ones—the thick, gray-clouded suffocation that drained color and air and made the entire mansion feel older than it was. Leya wandered like a ghost in its halls. Not because she had a secret to hide. But because nobody wished to look at her. Even silence, eventually, is exile. Ironed sheets. Emptied breakfast trays. She did the sidestep along the lower wing when she took the additional step, simply so she wouldn't have to encounter Harrison in the upper wing. Not that she was afraid of him. But because there was still this idiot, pain spot in her that… hoped. Hoped he'd listen to her. Or ask what actually happened. Or remember, for a moment, she hadn't come into this world to bring him down. She hadn't signed up to join the family. Or the house. Or the battle. But she had persisted. Every. Single. Day. And now, not being wasn't enough. --- Outside H
The campus breathed the bite of early fall. Leya leaned in the bursar's office, her fingers clenched around the miserable envelope of torn bills she'd fought to gather together in months of vicious night shifts. Her heart pounded, pride and humiliation tangled in her chest. Every tip, every penny, every extra hour she'd worked—the exhaustion that seeped around her bones—had brought her to this counter. "For Dalton Anderson," she said curtly but courteously, pushing the envelope forward. The woman across the glass from her scowled behind bifocals, fingers flying across her keyboard, fingernails clattering with each letter she typed. Time passed. A scowl furrowed the woman's brow. Leya's stomach dropped. Had she waited too long? Had they already expelled him? The woman kept on typing. Scratching. Then straightened to her feet. "Oh," she said, lighter now. "The account's paid. Paid in full two days ago." Leya's eyes scanned. "What?" “Yes, Miss Anderson. Tuition, h
The campus breathed the bite of early fall. Leya leaned in the bursar's office, her fingers clenched around the miserable envelope of torn bills she'd fought to gather together in months of vicious night shifts. Her heart pounded, pride and humiliation tangled in her chest. Every tip, every penny, every extra hour she'd worked—the exhaustion that seeped around her bones—had brought her to this counter. "For Dalton Anderson," she said curtly but courteously, pushing the envelope forward. The woman across the glass from her scowled behind bifocals, fingers flying across her keyboard, fingernails clattering with each letter she typed. Time passed. A scowl furrowed the woman's brow. Leya's stomach dropped. Had she waited too long? Had they already expelled him? The woman kept on typing. Scratching. Then straightened to her feet. "Oh," she said, lighter now. "The account's paid. Paid in full two days ago." Leya's eyes scanned. "What?" “Yes, Miss Anderson. Tuition, housing, fees
— Blackwood Mansion – Midmorning The knock was not a knock. It was a declaration. Sharp. Clean. Deliberate. Leya froze, one hand still clenched around the rumpled pillowcase, the other hesitating above the linen chest. She did not have to look at the clock. She knew something was off. The hallway was too quiet. The air, too heavy. And when the door creaked open without waiting for her voice, she already knew who stood there. Vivian. Eleanor. Two staff members behind them—eyes lowered, mouths sealed like stone. Leya stood fully. She didn’t say a word. Vivian didn’t bother pretending. “Inventory inspection,” she said with a faint smile. “A family heirloom has gone missing. We’ve decided to begin with your room.” A pause, long and deliberate. “It’s not personal.” But of course it was. It's all in Blackwood's house. Eleanor went in first. In white. The colour of conquest. The colour of innocence. Her heels clicked too merrily on the floor. Leya did n
Two Months Ago — Samuel Blackwood's Private Study The fire in the hearth was too smoldering to warm the room, but it flared up fiercely in the iron grill with a bad will-a good bad will, as all the rest of the Blackwood house. Harrison stood stiff before it, shoulders squared, jaw locked tight enough to ache. "I don't need a wife," he said again, as if the repetition would tilt the ground under his feet. Samuel didn't even look up at the decanter of brandy. "You don't need a wife. You need a legacy." He poured the drink into crystal—measured, controlled. A performance, not a pour. Harrison laughed. "And this is your concept of legacy? Marriage to some desperate nobody so I can impress the board?" No, Samuel spoke softly, putting down the decanter on the side table with a snap. "This is my idea of pruning." Harrison's eyes widened. "I beg your pardon?" "You've been flowering like a weed, boy. Playing as if inheritance were heredity by blood. But blood will not buy land. Discip