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So much has happened since then, but standing here now, looking at the fake friendliness on my parents’ faces, it feels like it was only yesterday. Objectively, I know these people are my parents, but I don’t feel any kind of familial warmth toward them. Right now, they’re just strangers who contributed to my DNA, nothing more.
“Izabella, sweetheart,” my mom gushes, clamping her hand over her mouth as she rushes toward me, fake emotion masking her features.
When she throws her arms around my neck, I freeze, not letting go of Gulliver’s hand and not making any effort to return her pretense by hugging her back. From over her shoulder, Penelope catches my eye and waves her cell at me urgently, her eyes wide and scared. I offer her a barely perceptible dip of my chin and then pull back until my mom is forced to release her hold on me.
Curling my body around Gulliver’s, I back away from my father, who offers nothing more than a grim smile. “Nice to see you, Izabella. You’re looking well.”
“Hello,” I offer, not addressing either of them with the parental monikers of Mom and Dad. If Donovan wasn’t here, I’d probably have used their first names as a “fuck you,” but I manage to bite it back.
Gulliver greets them with forced cordiality. “Mr. Rhodes, Mrs. Rhodes, Penelope.” And then the room falls into stilted silence.
“Let’s sit,” Mom says brightly.
My cell vibrates in my clutch bag, and as I lead Gulliver over to the couch furthest away from my parents, I pull it out and quickly open the unread message.
Penelope – Don’t drink the champagne.
As we sit down, I lean into Gulliver and whisper, “Don’t drink the champagne” against his ear. His eyes widen, and he looks at me for more information, but I don’t know anything else to share. Instead, I just smile, and he returns the gesture, curling his arm around my body like the young lovers that we’re pretending to be.
Crossing to the bar cart in the corner of the room, Dad pulls a bottle of champagne from an ice bucket and starts filling glasses. I take the moment to look at my mom and sister. Mom’s dress is made for seduction. Bright red, tightly hugging her curves and with a neckline that plunges enough to show off the results of the several plastic surgeries she’s had in the last few years. She has the body of a woman in her twenties, despite her real age being in her late forties. In direct comparison, Penelope is dressed for purity and innocence in white, her hair straight, her makeup flawless in her usual pastel tones.
My dad looks tired and old, and I wish I could find some sympathy for him, but my hatred outweighs anything else I could feel for him. Moving toward us, he hands the first two glasses of champagne to Gulliver and me before handing one to Mom, Donovan, and then Penelope before finally taking one for himself.
“A toast,” Mom says, a wide smile spread across her lips. “To new beginnings and the joining of our families.”
I glance at Penelope, then look at Gulliver, tapping my glass against his, then lifting it to my mouth and pretending to sip from it without letting the liquid touch my lips.
My parents try to make small talk, but the conversation is stilted and strained because neither Gulliver nor I answer any of their questions with anything more than a yes or no. There’s an audible sigh of relief when Mrs. Humphries announces that dinner is ready. We all rise, and my cell vibrates again. Surreptitiously, I twist around, glancing at the new message.
Penelope – Excuse yourself to the bathroom, say you’re not feeling well. Tell Gulliver to come and find us in two minutes.
Carefully, I press the cell into Gulliver’s hand as I turn back around, blocking him from view while he has a chance to read the message. For a moment, I wonder if I should trust my sister. She was once a very willing participant in my parents’ games, but I think the night Mom and Dad attacked me changed things for her almost as much as it did for me. Call it gut instinct or just sheer blind trust, but something has been telling me that she’s truly on our side since the night she got drunk and told me about Geoffrey Bancroft.
Gulliver reaches for my hand, pressing my cell into it, as he hooks it through his elbow and moves to escort me into the dining room. A few steps out of the living room, I pause. “Excuse me for a moment. I’d like to freshen up before we eat; I’m feeling a little strange.”
Gulliver smiles at me, his eyes full of some unexplained emotion. “Are you okay, Ghost?” he asks, winking at me when no one else can see him.
“I’m fine. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I’ll come with you. I need to freshen up anyway,” Penelope offers, looping her arm through mine and marching me down the hall. Dragging me into the bathroom, she closes and locks the door behind us.
“They drugged your champagne,” she blurts.
“What?”
“They drugged both yours and Gulliver’s champagne. They put Rohypnol in your drinks, and they want me to…” She pauses, squeezing her eyes tightly shut and grimacing. “Mom told me that I needed to take you up to my room and lock you in, that the drugs would knock you out. Then she wants me to put on your clothes and take Gulliver to your room and have sex with him in the hopes that I’ll get pregnant,” she confesses, her voice barely above a whisper. “She set up cameras in there so she could blackmail him into marrying me, not you.”
“Oh my god,” I say, nausea hitting me like a freight train. “They tried to drug us so you could rape Gulliver. This is just…oh my god.”
“They’ve lost their minds. They were just sitting there discussing it over coffee when I got back from school today. Like it was the most normal thing in the world that they were planning to use the date rape drug on you. I need to get out of here; I can’t stay here anymore,” she cries, big, fat, scared tears rolling down her face.
A knock at the door makes us both jump. “It’s me,” Gulliver says.
I fumble with the lock three times before I finally get it undone and throw open the door, grabbing Gulliver and pulling him into the small room before locking the door behind him. “Tell him,” I say, looking at my sister, needing to hear the words from her mouth again, just in case I misheard her.
“The champagne is drugged with Rohypnol. My parents want me to lock Izzy in my room, take her clothes, then take you to her room and have sex with you. They even got colored contacts for me to wear just in case you were still conscious enough to notice.” She swallows thickly before forcing herself to continue speaking. “They hoped the sex would result in me getting pregnant, but if not, they set up video cameras to record it all with the intention of blackmailing you into dumping Izabella and forcing you to marry me instead.”
Gulliver’s face pales, and his mouth falls open. Without thought, he reaches for me, dragging me into his chest as if he needs to be touching me to know we’re both okay. “We need to leave, right fucking now. All of us. Penelope, you too. Your parents have completely lost their shit, and it’s not safe for you here anymore.”
