The day my fiance returned from deployment,he invited me to the Celebration galaheld in his honor, and before midnight I watched my younger half sister try to destroy his career, steal my future, and force him into a marriage he had never chosen.
Chapter 2
“Delia,” I said, “where is Tessa?”
She froze for less than a second.
“I don’t know.”
“She brought you here.”
“I was upset. I wasn’t thinking about her.”
The guests exchanged glances.
Someone behind me said, “That’s right. Miss Wynn escorted her.”
I looked around the suite.
A crystal perfume bottle lay on its side near the vanity.
The room smelled faintly of jasmine, but beneath it was something bitter.
Almonds, perhaps.
Or medicine.
I turned toward Adrian.
“Tell me exactly how you entered this room.”
Before he could answer, Delia’s godmother, Mrs. Sterling, stepped forward.
“Evelyn, surely this is not the time to interrogate anyone. Your poor sister has been violated.”
I did not look at her.
“My fiance has spent five years serving this country. He deserves the courtesy of being heard before we hang him in his own home.”
The room quieted.
Eleanor came to stand beside me.
“Speak, Adrian.”
He took a slow breath.
“I was in the west gallery with Owen and Marcus. A footman came and said Evelyn had fainted in this room.”
I looked at him.
“You came alone?”
“No.”
Relief moved through me.
“I remembered what you said. Owen came with me. Marcus followed.”
“Then where are they?”
“The east corridor lights went out. Marcus heard movement near the service stairs and went after it. Owen stayed back to secure the hall. I stepped inside calling your name.”
His jaw tightened.
“The door slammed behind me and locked from the outside.”
Delia began crying again.
“Liar.”
Adrian ignored her.
“She stepped out from behind the dressing screen already wearing that slip. Then she grabbed my jacket and screamed.”
Delia lifted her face.
“You told me you loved me.”
Adrian stared at her.
“What?”
“You said Evelyn was cold. You said you stayed with her out of duty.”
A murmur rippled through the room.
The lie was clever because it was exactly the kind of scandal people liked to believe.
I looked down at her.
“You said he tore your clothes.”
“Yes.”
“And you fought him.”
“With everything I had.”
“Stand up.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“Stand up.”
“I can barely—”
“I’ll help you.”
I lifted her by the arm.
She tried to collapse into me.
I held her upright.
“Everyone look at her wrists.”
Delia’s face changed.
I raised one of her arms.
Her skin was pale and flawless.
“No bruises. No red marks. No scratches.”
“He didn’t grab my wrists.”
“Then where did he grab you?”
“My dress.”
I examined the torn silk strap.
The edge was almost perfectly straight.
“This was cut.”
“No.”
I held it toward the women nearest us.
“Look at the fabric. This is not a tear from force. It was sliced with something sharp.”
Delia’s face drained of color.
I crossed to Adrian.
His formal uniform jacket had two buttons undone.
Not torn.
Undone.
“If there had been a violent struggle, these reinforced buttons would likely be damaged. The threads are intact.”
I looked at his collar.
“No powder. No lipstick. No perfume.”
Delia stared at me.
“Whose side are you on?”
“Truth does not have sides.”
Her expression hardened.
“You’re my sister.”
“You should have remembered that earlier.”
Mrs. Sterling sniffed.
“Even if there was no assault, they were still alone in a bedroom. Reputation alone may demand a marriage.”
A sharp voice came from the hall.
“They were not alone.”
Everyone turned.
Tessa stood in the doorway.
Her hair was disheveled and dirt streaked one sleeve.
Paige stood beside her.
Between them was a young footman with his wrists tied behind him using a curtain cord.
Eleanor’s face hardened.
“What is this?”
Tessa stepped inside.
“This man was paid to extinguish the east corridor lights, deliver a false message to Major Prescott, and lock him in this room.”
The footman dropped to his knees.
“I didn’t know what they were planning.”
“Who paid you?” Eleanor demanded.
The young man looked at Delia.
Her face went white.
“Her maid gave me the money.”
Delia backed away.
“That’s a lie.”
Tessa placed a small vial on the vanity.
“She also gave him this.”
Adrian’s physician, Dr. Bradley, pushed through the crowd.
He uncorked the vial carefully and smelled it.
His expression changed.
“This is a strong sedative compound.”
Silence.
“What would it do?” Eleanor asked.
“Mixed into alcohol, it could cause dizziness, confusion, weakness. Enough of it would leave a grown man barely able to stand.”
Every person in the room turned toward Delia.
I looked at the perfume bottle on the vanity.
Then at the incense burner beside the bed.
“You were going to drug him.”
“No.”
“You needed him disoriented so he couldn’t defend himself.”
“No!”
“You planned to have the door opened after he was incapacitated.”
Delia’s breathing became frantic.
“Stop.”
“You wanted a room full of witnesses.”
“I said stop!”
Her sweet expression vanished.
I had never seen her face like that.
Not even as a child.
“What did you think would happen?” I asked. “That everyone would force him to marry you?”
She laughed.
It was harsh and ugly.
“Why shouldn’t they?”
The room went still.
Delia’s eyes filled with years of resentment.
“You have always had everything.”
“Delia.”
“No. You want truth? Fine.”
She pointed at me.
“You were the daughter everyone respected. You inherited your mother’s money. You got the family house. You got invited everywhere while people looked at me like I was the second wife’s little mistake.”
Her finger swung toward Adrian.
“And then you got him.”
Adrian said nothing.
“You got the decorated hero. The Prescott name. The estate. The wedding everyone wants to attend.”
Her voice broke.
“What was I supposed to get? Some boring businessman who looks at you when I’m speaking?”
I stared at her.
“So you were willing to ruin Adrian’s career.”
“If I had him, none of that would matter.”
“His honor would be destroyed.”
“He would still have me.”
The words horrified even the people who had defended her.
Delia’s eyes glittered.
“If everyone turned against him, he would need me.”
Eleanor crossed the room.
The slap echoed beneath the chandelier.
Delia stumbled.
“You tried to destroy my son so he would have nowhere else to go.”
Delia clutched her cheek.
“I love him.”
“No,” Eleanor said. “You wanted to own him.”
Two estate security officers stepped forward.
Eleanor pointed toward Delia.
“Keep her here until law enforcement arrives.”
Delia looked at me.
“Evelyn.”
I said nothing.
“Please.”
“You tried to frame the man I love for assault.”
Her face crumpled.
“I’m your sister.”
“You stopped behaving like one long before tonight.”
The guards took her arms.
She screamed my name as they led her away.
Then something shimmered before my eyes.
Golden light.
The same impossible words.
The trap is broken.
The future is no longer fixed.
Then the letters disappeared.
My knees gave way.
Adrian caught me before I hit the floor.
