The Betrayal

Chapter one

****

The fresh air blew open, the curtains were half drawn and the light was dim against the faded wallpaper. Elara sat on the floor of her late mother's room, legs crossed. She held her picture in both hands. Imaging her mother’s smile frozen in time, bright, alive.

“I miss you mum” Elara whispered with tears in her eyes.

Her voice was broken and swallowed by the silence. Ariana had taken her mum's necklace, the one handed over to her on her death bed. All she had were these pictures, pressed like prayers between her fingers.

She rose slowly and walked as her feet soundless against the floor to the hall. Her father’s study door was ajar. She lingered, hesitant, then knocked.

“Father?”

Robin Vale didn’t look up. Papers covered his desk, contracts spread like shields. His pen moved swiftly.

“I wanted to talk,” Elara murmured.

“Later,” Robin said, waving a hand.

“Just a moment—”

“Elara.” His tone cut. “I’m busy. Go.”

Her lips parted, then closed. The words she carried , loneliness, grief and the ache of missing her mother died in her throat. She stepped back, the door shutting between them like a wall.

Elara walks towards her room and laughs downstairs, Felicia's voice rises asking about her and Ariana's answer drifts out of the living room mockly. Jackson leaned against the railing of the stairs, with a smirk on his face

"Are you lost again, Little Dove?" Mockingly, he says.

Elara ignored him and went upstairs.

The moment her door closed, Jackson slipped quietly into Felicia’s vanity room. Perfume bottles glittered beneath the light, jewelry boxes left open. He whistled low. “Spoiled princess.”

His hand slid over necklaces until he found it—Felicia’s diamond choker, silver catching the lamp. He lifted it with a grin. “Perfect.”

He moved quickly down the hall, into Elara’s room. Her drawer stood slightly ajar. He tucked the necklace beneath folded scarves, lips twisting with amusement. “Let the storm break.”

Later that night , the long mahogany table stretched under glittering chandeliers, adorned with silver cutlery and crystal glasses for dinner. Robin sat at the head with Felicia to her right and Ariana by his side. Jackson lounged across from Elara, who sat quietly, her terrified eyes fixed on her plate. Before they could finish eating, Felicia's voice rose, shaky with pretended anguish. "My necklace—it's gone, Mom!"

Shocked, Ariana’s head snapped toward her daughter. “Which necklace?”

“The diamond choker? The one Father bought for me in Milan.” Felicia clutching her chest, eyes shimmering with false tears. “It was in my vanity this morning. Now it’s missing.”

“Have you checked your store box ?” Robin asked angrily.

“No, Father. I would never.” Felicia’s gaze flicked toward Elara. “I think… I know who might have taken it.”

Elara’s head jerked up. “What?”

Ariana's lips curved. Of course.

She tried to implicate a crime, her voice dripping with scorn and poison. "The girl who won't give up what isn't hers." She says.

Immediately Elara snapped back , "I didn't touch it; it wasn't me."

Jackson leaned forward, grin wide. “Why not check her room? Clear all doubts.”

Robin hesitated, but Ariana rose smoothly. “Search her chamber. Now.”

The maids hurried off. Elara’s pulse thudded. “It isn’t there. I swear.”

Minutes later, footsteps returned. A maid’s trembling hands lifted the necklace from a folded scarf. “We… we found it, Madam.”

Elara’s breath caught. “No—someone planted it. I didn’t”

Felicia gasped clutching her pearls. “How could you, Elara? To steal from your own sister?”

“I’m not your sister,” Elara snapped, rising to her feet.

“Sit down,” Ariana commanded.

Robin’s brows knotted. “Elara, why?”

“Dad, I didn’t do it!”

Ariana stood up angrily, struck her cheek, sharp and merciless. The sound echoed. Elara staggered back.

“You ungrateful child,” Ariana hissed.

Elara’s cheek burned, tears threatening. The table was silent, all eyes on her. Ariana raised her hand again.

Something inside Elara broke. Her hand shot up, catching Ariana’s wrist midair. For the first time, she pushed back. With a swift motion, she slapped Ariana across the face.

Gasps exploded around the table.

Felicia cried out. “Mother!”

Jackson’s eyes gleamed with twisted delight. “Oh, this is rich.”

Ariana’s staggered back, clutching her cheek,her face went pale, then flushed scarlet.

“Elara!” Robin roared, rising from his chair. His fist slammed the table. “How dare you?”

“She hit me first!” Elara shouted, voice raw.

" What? You are a disgrace to me and our family." Robin's voice echoed down the hall angrily. "Is this how you repay me for raising you alone all these years.? Violence against your stepmother? Against this family?”

“I am your family!” Elara cried. “She isn’t. She’s tearing everything apart, and you let her!”

“Enough!” Robin’s face twisted with fury. He pointed toward the door. “You are no daughter of mine. From this day on, you are done here.”

Elara froze, her chest heaving. “Father—”

“You will leave this house tomorrow. You will go to Roverthhood Academy. Perhaps they can fix what I clearly failed to raise.”

“Father, please—”

Robin’s gaze was stone. “Not another word. Guards, escort her to her room. She is not to leave until morning.”

Two guards stepped forward. Elara’s knees trembled as they guided her out, her vision blurred with tears. Behind her, Ariana’s satisfied smirk cut deep.

Her room door shut with a heavy thud. She pressed her forehead against it, shoulders shaking.

A soft voice whispered. “Miss Elara…”

It was her maid, Clara, slipping inside with cautious steps. She held a kerchief, dabbing gently at Elara’s reddened cheek.

“They’ve hated me since the beginning,” Elara whispered. “And now Father—he hates me too.”

Clara shook her head. “He’s blinded. But one day, Miss… one day, you will leave this house with dignity. Marriage will free you. A husband will protect you.”

Elara’s laugh broke, bitter and hollow. “Marriage? Another cage.”

Clara squeezed her hand. “No cage lasts forever.”

Elara turned toward the window, moonlight slicing across the floor. Her heart pounded with betrayal, with grief. Tomorrow she will be exiled. Tomorrow her life would end or begin.

She whispers to the night pressing her hand against the glass as if to sense her mum's shadow. “I will never forgive them.”

Behind her, Clara’s voice quivered. “Then promise me one thing, Miss. When the time comes, do not let them destroy you.”

Elara’s gaze hardened, tears drying on her cheeks. “They already have.”

Her words were swallowed by the night. The sound of her vow was carried into the darkness by the rising wind outside, which rattled the glass panes.

Tomorrow, Roverthhood awaited.