Chapter 12

Estelle's POV

"Miss Silverthorn. I saw everything that happened in there. And I believe you."

I stopped at the bottom of the front steps.

A tall man stood beside the fountain under the fairy lights. He wore a dark suit with no tie, and his black hair was pushed back from his face. He was holding his invitation card, and he looked at me like he could see straight through every lie in that house.

I knew who he was. Everybody in Crestwood City knew who he was.

Jude Sterling. The youngest billionaire in the country. His face was on the cover of every business magazine.

"No need, Mr. Big Shot," I said. "You don't have to pretend to be nice to me. I know I'm not worth your time."

He opened his mouth to answer, but I was already walking away.

"Miss Estelle! Miss Estelle, wait!"

A short, round woman in a maid's uniform came hurrying around the side of the house, wiping her hands on her apron.

Aunt Ruth.

She was the cook. And she was the only person in that whole house who had ever been kind to me. When I came home late from school and the leftovers were cold, she was the one who secretly warmed them up. When I cried alone in the storage room, she was the one who knocked softly and left a cup of hot tea outside my door.

She grabbed my hands. Her eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, my child," she whispered. "You're back."

"I am," I said. "But I'm leaving again. Tonight."

She nodded slowly. "I don't blame you. Not one bit. The way they've treated you..." She shook her head. Then she saw my back, and she gasped. "Jesus! Come, come with me. Let me clean that and bandage it first, please."

"It's okay, Aunt Ruth. It's just a few cuts."

"A few cuts?" She looked like she wanted to cry. "Then at least let me make you something to eat. Have you eaten today? I can make you rice and stew. It won't take long."

I squeezed her hands.

"Thank you, Aunt Ruth. But I just want to get out of here as fast as I can. The sooner I leave, the sooner I can start my life again. Somewhere far from them."

---

Cassius's POV

I sat in the driver's seat of my car with my phone in my hand.

The party was still going on inside, but I couldn't stay in that hall another minute. I kept seeing that red stain spreading across her back.

I opened the app for the car camera and pressed play.

The video started from this morning. Estelle climbing into the passenger seat. Me driving. Her staring out of the window.

The blue box was on the back seat the whole time.

I watched the video from start to finish. Every minute.

She never touched it.

She didn't even look at it. Not once. Not after I pulled it away from her. She just sat there with her hands in her lap, staring out at the city like she was seeing it for the first time.

I put the phone down on my knee.

She was telling the truth.

So who broke the necklace?

My chest felt tight. I thought of Delilah's face when Estelle asked her about it. The way she didn't answer. The way her tears stopped so quickly.

Maybe... maybe I really was wrong about her.

---

Four years ago...

"Cassius! Wait!"

I was standing at the front door with my suitcase, ready to leave for a long business trip to London. Estelle came running down the stairs, holding something behind her back. She had only been living with us for two months.

"I made you something," she said shyly.

She held out a scarf. It was dark blue and a little crooked at the edges. I could tell she had made it by hand.

"Grandma taught me how to knit," she said. "It gets very cold in London. If you ever feel lonely over there, just wear it, and remember someone at home is waiting for you."

I remember I laughed and stuffed it in my bag without even saying thank you.

I never wore it. I don't even know where it is now.

---

Present...

What happened to her?

That shy, smiling girl who ran down the stairs just to give me a scarf. That girl was gone. The girl who walked out of that hall tonight was cold and hard and covered in blood.

It was like she was a completely different person.

What did they do to you in that place, Estelle?

What did we do to you?

---

Estelle's POV

Aunt Ruth walked me all the way to the small back gate behind the kitchen. Before I could open it, she pushed a thin brown envelope into my hands.

"Miss Estelle, take this."

I looked inside. It was full of money. Not a lot. But for her, it was a lot. It was probably everything she had saved for months.

"I know they never gave you anything," she said. "Not one kobo. So take this, my child. And here..." She tucked a small piece of paper into the envelope. "That's my phone number. If anything happens, anything at all, you call me. Do you hear me? I'm just one phone call away."

"Aunt Ruth, I can't take your money..."

"Take it, Miss Estelle." She closed my fingers around the envelope and held them tight. "Please. Let me do this one thing for you."

My throat burned. For three years, not a single person had been kind to me. And now this woman, who had almost nothing, was giving me everything she had.

I hugged her tight. I didn't care that it hurt my back.

Then I opened the gate and stepped out into the dark street.

"Estelle!"

I turned.

Cassius was running across the driveway toward me, his phone still in his hand, his face pale under the street lights.

"Estelle, wait!" he shouted. "Where are you going?"