Chapter 07

Estelle's POV

"I came first in the National Math Olympiad," I said. "And because of that, I got a full scholarship to Westbrook Academy."

The whole hall went quiet.

Then a man near the champagne table nearly dropped his glass.

"Westbrook Academy?" he said. "That's the best high school in the country!"

"My son tried to get in three times," a woman beside him whispered. "Three times! They rejected him every year."

"Westbrook doesn't care how rich you are," the man went on, shaking his head. "Not like Kingsley Academy, where any child with a rich daddy can buy a seat. Westbrook picks every student by hand. Hard tests. Long interviews. For a girl to get a full scholarship there..." He looked at me with wide eyes. "She must be a genius."

Whispers spread across the room like wind through grass.

"A genius?"

"The Silverthorn girl?"

"I thought she was the troublemaker..."

---

"No." Cassius shook his head hard. "No, that's not possible. Westbrook is on the other side of the city. It's over an hour away. There's no way you got there every single day."

"You're right," I said. "Delilah and I never went to the same school. Not one day."

I looked at my parents.

"Did you ever wonder why I never ate breakfast with you?"

My mother's lips parted. Nothing came out.

"It's because I had to wake up at five o'clock every morning," I said. "I walked thirty minutes to the bus stop. Then I took two buses to get to school by seven. Every day. In the rain. In the cold."

My father's hand tightened around his glass.

"I never had lunch money. So I would go to the bakery near my school and ask for the old bread they were going to throw away. Sometimes it was hard as stone. Sometimes it had green spots on it. I ate it anyway."

Someone behind me made a soft, sad sound.

"And when I finally got home at night, you were all done with dinner. All I ever got were cold leftovers in the kitchen." My voice cracked, but I didn't stop. "And then you would walk past and laugh at me. You called me a stray dog digging through the trash. Because I was so hungry, I ate with my hands. I didn't even care anymore."

---

My mother pressed her hand to her chest. Tears rolled down her face.

"Oh, Estelle," she cried. "Oh, my baby. I'm so sorry. I didn't know you were living like that. I never knew you were suffering."

"Save it," I said.

She froze.

"You weren't there when I was growing up. So it makes sense you don't care about me." I shrugged. "It's fine. I'm used to it."

Then I tilted my head and looked straight at her.

"After all, a village girl can't be broken. Isn't that what you said, Mom?"

The color drained from her face.

---

*Three years ago...*

"Mom, please! Please, just watch the security video!"

I was on my knees in my mother's bedroom, holding onto the hem of her dress. My face was wet with tears. Downstairs, the police were waiting to take me away.

"There's a camera right above the drinks table. It saw everything. I didn't do it, Mom! Delilah put the poison in Lilith's glass, not me!"

My mother bent down and gently pulled my fingers off her dress.

"Estelle, listen to me," she said softly. "Delilah is delicate. She is gentle. She would never survive a place like that convent. It would destroy her."

She stroked my hair like I was a little child.

"But you? You grew up in a village with nothing. You're tough. You're used to hard things. A girl like you won't break so easily." She smiled. "So just go to the convent in Delilah's place, okay, sweetheart? Be a good girl for Mommy."

---

*Present...*

"Mom!" Cassius turned to her, his voice shaking. "What is she talking about?"

My mother didn't answer.

"Oh," I said. "That's right. Nobody told you."

I looked around the hall. At every rich face. Every wide eye. Every open mouth.

"There was a security camera above the drinks table that night. It recorded everything. It showed Delilah pouring the poison into Lilith's glass with her own hands."

Gasps rose from every corner of the room.

"But our poor, loving mother," I said, pointing at her, "ordered the head of security to delete the video. She erased the only proof that I was innocent. To protect Delilah. Over me. Her own daughter. Her own blood."

My mother's knees gave way. She grabbed the back of a chair to stay standing.

"She let the whole city watch me get dragged away like a criminal," I said. "And she knew the truth the entire time."

Cassius stared at our mother like he had never seen her before.

And my father, Benedict Silverthorn, the man who once told me he wished I had never been born, slowly turned around.

"Pandora," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "Is this true?"