Chapter 3

My mother stood over me with one hand still raised, fury in her voice.

"Are you trying to destroy us? Marissa told me you're working at some cheap dessert shop under the Winslow name. What happens when people in Stonewick society see you?

"Whose reputation do you think you're wrecking? You did it on purpose, to humiliate your father and me."

I held my cheek and tasted blood.

"Mom, isn't this what you wanted? You wouldn't give me anything for my wedding, so I have to earn it myself."

My father came up behind me and kicked me hard in the shoulder.

"Don't you talk back to your mother.

"You think I can't see what you're doing? You want strangers to pity you so you can pressure us into signing businesses over to you. It's never going to happen.

"Get out of my sight. Go back to your room. I can't stand looking at you."

The kick curled me onto the floor, and I stopped wanting to explain.

I got up, caught the banister for support, and headed for the rear wing.

Then I looked up.

Marissa stood in the shadow of the hallway, studying the swelling across half my face.

She smiled.

Slowly, she shaped two words without making a sound.

"Filthy bitch."

Then she ran into my parents' arms and announced she wanted the caviar flown in from the coast.

They were soothing her before she finished the sentence.

I looked back once and shut my bedroom door.

At the desk, I opened my notebook and crossed out the second entry about Orchard Spoon Dessert House.

I'd need another job.

Tears hit the paper and spread the ink into new stains.

I put down the pen, lay on the bed, and fell into an exhausted sleep.

The pillowcase was wet again when I woke the next morning.

I stared at the ceiling for a while.

I still couldn't remember why I'd cried.

Rapid knocking came at the door, and then Mrs. Pearce's voice.

"Miss Elise, your mother wants you in the front room right away."

When I came downstairs, an unfamiliar man at the breakfast table stared at me without stopping.

I avoided his eyes and concentrated on the oatmeal in front of me.

Then he laughed, cold.

"Did you leave those bruises untreated on purpose so I'd see them? Give it up, Elise.

"The engagement ends today."

I looked up and found no memory of him at all.

All I could do was ask,

"Sir... who are you?"

The man froze, and then his face went dark with rage.

A maid behind me whispered,

"That's Graham Ellsworth, the Ellsworth heir. He's your fiance."

Graham looked like his anger might consume him.

He ignored my unfinished breakfast, dragged me outside, put me in his car, and drove fast toward the Ellsworth estate.

"Still pretending. Do you know how much I hate this act?"

I tried to explain patiently.

"I'm not pretending.

"I'm sick, and I couldn't remember who you were."

Graham laughed, contemptuous.

"Sick?

"A cold, a fever, a broken bone. What are you pretending to have this time?"

I opened my mouth and couldn't answer.

I didn't remember the name of my condition anymore, and I hadn't written it in the notebook.

My hesitation looked like guilt to him.

He refused to keep talking.

At the Ellsworth estate, he pulled me straight into the drawing room.

In front of his mother, he announced that the engagement was over.

Adelaide Ellsworth looked at me like she wanted to step in.

"Elise, if you don't want to end it, perhaps I could..."

I shook my head.

I repeated the sentence I'd written for myself.

"I have to stop loving Graham Ellsworth.

"So let's end it."

Mrs. Ellsworth had nothing else to say, and she nodded, reluctant.

I thought Graham would ease up once the engagement was over. Instead he drove me home in a complete rage.

He didn't want to see me, and I wanted to avoid him.

I hurried upstairs to my room.

The moment I opened the door, I found the place torn apart.

Trunks stood open, blankets were thrown across the floor, books covered the carpet.

My ceramic savings jar had been smashed. Marissa held the small stack of bills from inside it and looked at me in triumph.

"Mom and Dad never give you spending money. Where did this come from?

"You've been stealing from the family, Elise."