Chapter 5

Elena's POV

In the end, Joey drove me to Alexander's manor.

On the way there, he started to say something a few times.

But every time he looked at how pale I'd gone, he stopped himself.

It was full dark by the time the car pulled up.

The manor was lit from top to bottom, exactly the way I'd left it, as if nothing had changed at all.

Joey finally couldn't hold it in.

"Elena."

He turned to me, frowning.

"Are you really going in? He made himself pretty clear today."

I sat there a long time without answering.

Then I said, quietly:

"I want to hear him say it. To my face."

I looked down at the crumpled fabric of my skirt.

"I don't believe it. I don't believe he just stopped loving me."

Joey's frown got deeper.

"If he really—"

"Then I want to hear it from him."

I cut him off and pushed the car door open.

Joey stayed in the driver's seat, watching me walk away from him, like he wanted to call me back.

In the end, he didn't say anything.

*****

When I walked into the hall, it was quiet.

My father, my mother, Alexander, and that girl, all of them were there.

The four of them, sitting together like one family.

And me, walking in, like an intruder who'd taken a wrong turn.

I stopped where I was.

My mother saw me first.

She frowned, and disgust flooded her eyes almost instantly.

"What are you doing here?"

Her voice was so cold and so foreign it chilled me through.

I just stood there.

I couldn't quite process it.

A few days ago, she'd been brushing my hair, gently.

My father spoke, his voice icy. "Haven't you embarrassed us enough for one day?"

I opened my mouth.

"I just want to talk to Alexander."

I didn't get to finish.

He slammed his teacup down on the table.

"Talk about what? You still think you're the lady of this house?"

The room went silent, and the color drained out of me.

That so-called "sister" curled herself smaller against Alexander, eyes red, and said softly, "Father, please don't."

"My sister is probably just having a hard time accepting it." Her voice was soft and gentle.

But the word "sister" went into my ear like a needle.

My mother let out a bitter laugh. "You don't have to call her that."

"She can't accept it? And what about my daughter?"

Her eyes were red.

"My real daughter has been living in the slums all these years. She's suffered for so long."

"And you."

She looked at me.

She looked at me the way you'd look at something filthy.

"You lived twenty years of her life, and you actually have the nerve to come back here?"

I couldn't move.

"Mother?"

"Don't call me that. It makes me sick just hearing it."

I cut myself off, my eyes filling.

My father picked it up, his voice cold.

"A precious noble bloodline, lost out there all these years."

"While we raised a low-blooded fake under our own roof."

"Now that you know the truth, you can get out."

I just stood there.

The pain in my chest was so heavy I could barely breathe.

These people in front of me, were these really the family I'd loved for twenty years?

I didn't even recognize them.

"So," my voice was unsteady, "you don't feel anything for me at all? Even a dog you'd kept for twenty years would mean something to you, wouldn't it?"

I was so small, so wretched, kneeling there in front of them, and Alexander was watching all of it from his place beside my so-called “sister”.

His eyes were curious. Almost amused. This was the first time he'd seen me like this, and there was nothing in his face like pity, only a kind of interest, like it was something new.

My father looked at me without a trace of the gentleness he'd had for me my entire life.

"In this family, even our dogs are pedigree."

I felt something in my chest tear.

I bit my lip down hard, and the tears came anyway.

"Being the wrong baby wasn't my fault."

My voice was hoarse.

"I didn't want this either."

"But if you want an apology, I can give you one."

I turned slowly toward the girl.

And I bowed to her, deeply.

"I'm sorry. I took your life from you."

The girl flinched, as if I'd frightened her, and ducked behind Alexander.

"Alexander," she gripped his sleeve, eyes red, "she is my sister… Why does she hate me so much?"

I went stiff. I opened my mouth to explain.

But Alexander had already put her behind him, like a shield, and his eyes on me were cold.

"Don't scare her."

I froze.

It was like something had stabbed straight through my chest.

"Scare her?"

I looked at him, eyes burning.

"Alexander. You've known me my whole life. Don't you know who I am?"

He just looked at me, coldly.

"Do I?"

His voice was mocking.

"All these years, what I loved was a regular human. A regular human who couldn't even bear me a strong half-blood child."

There was a roaring in my ears, and it took me a long time to understand what he'd actually said.

"So," my voice shook, "because I'm just a regular human. Because I can't bear you a powerful half-blood. All of that love, none of it was real?"

Alexander's expression was flat, almost bored.

"Elena, don't be stupid. This is how it works among nobles."

He looked at me like I was a naive joke.

"You're the only one still living in a fairy tale."

In that moment the cold went all the way into my bones.

So it was just me, then.

I was the only one who'd believed any of it.

The only one who'd taken any of it seriously.

Then Alexander's gaze slid down to me. To the state of my dress, more precisely.

One heel snapped off. The skirt creased and stained with spilled wine.

He frowned a little, as if something had just occurred to him, and then his mouth curved into a slow, lazy smile.

"Your studio's probably finished too, isn't it?"

I went rigid. He'd already leaned back into the sofa, voice casual, like he was talking about the weather.

"Since you can't let go of your old life, why don't you stay?"

I just looked at him.

In his lap, Vicky must have sensed a threat, because she tugged at his sleeve unhappily, but he ignored it on purpose.

He said it lightly:

"Stay. As my blood slave."

The room went completely silent.

I stood there.

The whole world was buzzing in my ears.

The eyes on me were mocking, indifferent, openly contemptuous.

And Alexander, the man who had once promised to protect me forever, sat there now, high above me, humiliating me.

I couldn't hold myself up anymore. My knees buckled, and I dropped down onto the floor.

The cold marble cut into my knees.

I couldn't feel it.

I just wrapped my arms around myself.

As if that could keep me a tiny bit of dignity, before they took the rest of it too.