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Izabella talks to me in every class, sitting beside me in the ones she can and rushing to catch up with me every time I leave the room. Either Gulliver or one of their friends is in all of my morning classes, and they dutifully follow her, following me.
“Come sit with us at lunch,” Izzy says hopefully, as we step out of the classroom and turn to head to the cafeteria.
The urge to cling onto the olive branch she’s offering me is so overwhelming, I feel myself leaning toward her. But I can’t allow myself to give into her comfort, because if my sister truly is as nice as she’s being right now, then she deserves so much better than I can ever be. Most people would be overwhelmingly grateful for how generous my twin is being toward me, considering my behavior for the last few years. But the truth is that I’m not a nice person, and I refuse to hurt her any more than I already have. I need to push her away now before she realizes exactly who I am. I’d rather upset her for a moment than disappoint her for a lifetime.
“Look,” I say, spinning around to face her. “I know you think I’m just like you, that I’m a victim of our parents, and that we share this trauma bond or whatever. But nothing’s changed, Izabella. We’re not friends, and everything that’s happened didn’t unite us. I did what I had to do to save myself, and it worked out that it saved you too. So, let’s not pretend that we’re real sisters or that we’re going to skip off into the sunset together because we’re not, okay?”
I turn to leave and gasp as I almost slam straight into Hawthorn, his brows furrowed together, his eyes hard. Without another word, I step past him, forcing my head to stay held high as I make my way into the cafeteria alone, leaving my sister and her new family in my wake.
I’ve always enjoyed the feel of the envious glances from the other students, knowing they were looking and wishing they were me. But today all I feel is the lack of eyes, no one’s looking at me anymore because no one cares. Without the money, I’m not worthy of their attention and adoration. I’m just Izabella Rhodes’s sister. She’s the important one now. She’s Gulliver Winslow’s fiancée, and the article they did in the society pages confirmed that she’s now very much a part of the power alliance that will see him, Davis, Kip, and Hawthorn take the business world by storm when they come of age.
My sister’s star is on the rise while mine is sinking. Instead of being Penelope Rhodes, the heiress, I’m invisible, unimportant, and unremarkable, just like I was four years ago before all of this started. For the first time since I gave Hawthorn my virginity and broke the will, I regret my decision. I regret walking away from a fortune. I regret ignoring my parents, and I regret making myself forgettable again.
11
HAWTHORN
I catch Penelope’s eye as she brushes past me, but she looks away, like I’m nothing, like she isn’t still beneath my control, and like we didn’t share something fucking incredible only days ago. Anger bubbles up my throat so hot I can feel it burning, and I have to fight the urge not to reach for her and drag her back to me, demand she apologize to her sister, demand she be the girl she was with me, not the harpy we all expect of her.
But I let her go. I’m too angry to deal with her right now, so I let her walk away and instead turn my attention to Izzy. “Are you okay?” I ask, watching as Gulliver pulls her into him, wrapping his arms around her tightly.
“I’m fine,” she sighs sadly. “I guess I shouldn’t have expected her to have changed because of this. I just sort of hoped she would,” she admits quietly.
“She’s a bitch,” Gulliver hisses angrily.
“Maybe the reality of what’s happened has hit her now that she’s back at school,” Kip says, but it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t believe what he’s saying.
“Let’s go and get some lunch, they have the gnocchi you love today,” Gulliver coaxes, kissing her sweetly before he unfurls himself from around her, takes her hand, and leads her toward the lunchroom while the rest of us follow.
It takes every ounce of my self-control, but I don’t look for Penelope as we enter the cafeteria as a group. I’m pissed at her, and if I see her, I’m not sure I’ll be able to hold my tongue and not make a scene, so instead I focus on my friends. We sit at the table we always sit at, and Kip places all of our food orders while we shoot the shit and wait for them to be delivered.
Izzy slips her blazer off and hangs it on the back of her chair, then leans into Gulliver, resting her head on his shoulder. Trying not to intrude on their intimate moment, I look away, and my eyes land on the small inside pocket in Izzy’s blazer and the glimpse of an old key that’s sitting inside it. Before I can second-guess what I’m doing, I reach forward and pull the key free, concealing it in my hands.
To be honest, until now, I’d forgotten about the room and the key. The very first time Gulliver saw Izzy, she was sneaking out of the old, unused darkroom. At the time, he’d thought she was Penelope, and that’s what started all of this and ultimately led to Izzy’s identity being revealed. Izzy eventually admitted that she’d found the room and the key years ago and had been using it as a place to hide from her sister and everyone else, when none of us had any idea she even existed.
The day Gulliver publicly proposed to Izzy in front of half of the school, I’d stood guard outside the darkroom while he’d blackmailed her into going along with his plan. Back then, we’d all thought Izzy was as evil as the rest of her family. I don’t think any of us ever considered that an engagement that started as a messed-up joke would result in them actually falling in love.
Truthfully, I haven’t really thought about the darkroom since that day, and I don’t think Izzy’s been inside since. Gulliver forced her to stop hiding when he slid his ring on her finger, and after her violent confrontation with her parents, we’ve made it our mission to make sure everyone at Green Acres Academy knows exactly who she is.
Discreetly slipping the key into my pants pocket, I pull my cell out and type a message before I can stop myself.
Me
We need to talk. Meet me by the lockers in two minutes.
Expecting her to ignore me, I lift my head and scan the room for her, finding her at her usual table, only instead of being surrounded by minions like she’s always been in the past, she’s alone.
I watch her read the text, then turn to look at me, her expression shuttered and cold. Holding my breath, I wait for her to ignore me, but instead she slides her cell back into her bag, abandons her untouched food, then pushes away from the table and leaves.
“I forgot something in my car, I need to go grab it,” I tell everyone at the table, pushing out of my chair and striding across the room without looking back. Just like I told her to be, Princess is waiting by the lockers, her posture relaxed and confident like she hasn’t got a care in the world.
When I reach her side, I glance down at her, locking my gaze with hers. Hardening my eyes, I let her see my displeasure, and she visibly swallows, a slight tremor vibrating through her. “Let’s go,” I order, turning and walking past her.
The moment I hear her start to follow me, a grin curls at the corners of my lips, and an addicting sense of power rushes through me at her willingness to still do as I say. It only takes a couple of minutes to reach the door to the darkroom, and I take the key from my pocket, checking that no one is watching as I unlock the door and gesture for Penelope to go inside.
Following her in, I close and lock the door behind me, only then realizing that I have no idea why I’m here, why I told her I needed to talk to her, or why I wanted her alone in this room with me.
“What do you want, Hawthorn?” she snaps after what feels like an eternally long silence.
