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“Not to us,” Nicholas is quick to snap back. “She’s easily forgettable, and we need to make sure people remember her.” My fork lurches forward, the metal scraping across the plate. Again, I’m ignored, or else someone might notice how my pulse just kicked up a beat. Placing my fork aside, I draw my gaze back up to Nicholas’ face, effectively entering myself back into the discussion.

“What does her disappearance have to do with us?” I gesture to Everest and me, my pierced brow pinching as I frown. An uneasy stirring happens within my chest as Nicholas’ cold blue eyes flay me alive. How dare I speak up when not spoken to, yet he answers me anyway.

“Two kidnappings at an elite academy in the space of one year? There will be a countrywide media frenzy, and it’s our duty to ensure Hollowbrook remains a place of prestige. We can’t have parents pulling their children out due to fear. We can’t have our name dragged under because someone brought danger to our doorstep.” Out of the corner of my eye, I note how Everest’s face hardens.

“You’re referring to Meg.” Like the rest of the food on the table, Everest’s has gone untouched. No one actually came to this dinner to eat. It’s a business meeting. I glance at mine, unable to even think of stomaching food now. Not with the way the conversation is forming around me.

“Miss O’Connor’s history has been both unfortunate and useful,” Nicholas inclines his head. “Which presents us with the chance to do as we always do, for the good of the school and for us.”

“Control the narrative,” Everest fills in. Nicholas smiles, and there’s no warmth in it. It’s the kind of smile of a proud micromanager that his protégé is finally becoming the mirror image of himself. When he looks at Everest like that, I could be sick.

“Exactly,” the head of the table agrees. Throughout this all, my mother sits diligently, listening intently as if she’s hearing all of this information for the first time now. She doesn’t have a clue what’s happening, but I’m starting to put the pieces together as if they’re parts of a bomb about to detonate my entire world.

“Miss O’Connor’s plight and your recent co-captainship have already set the foundation. In a time of public despair, your relationship with her will be the shining beacon everyone focuses on. The kidnapping victim and her high-status savior. It provides the kind of romantic horseshit people devour. It makes us look progressive and unified.” My few mouthfuls of potato threaten to come back up. Relationship? That’s the opposite of scaring her into dropping out. At my side, Everest is yet to move a muscle.

“I can’t date Meg,” he replies indifferently, as if he’s practiced this line hundreds of times in his head. “She’s disgraced, shunned by the entire student body, and she hates me. She’d never go for it.”

My eye twitches, some understanding filtering in. Even before Meg disappeared, he created this narrative of their rivalry, keeping her at arm’s length, keeping her out of Nicholas’ war path. He’s been protecting her…and in my efforts to get rid of her once and for all, I’ve only managed to bring her further into the light.

“You speak as if she gets a choice,” Nicholas narrows his eyes at his son, the smile a distant memory. Now, only a scowl remains. “In light of the recent kidnapping, we need to get ahead of the media, paint a picture that we’re at the forefront of the investigation and willing to do whatever it takes to find…Laura,” Nicholas inclines his head my way. “Starting with a vigil for her on academy grounds.”

“A vigil?! She’s not fucking dead,” I hiss before I can stop the words from coming out. Nicholas’ wine glass pauses halfway to his mouth, his eyes cutting to Everest instead of me. I can almost hear the silent command passed between them. Handle your mutt. Everest’s hand is on my thigh a second later, squeezing me back into submission.

Shrinking back in my seat, I make a mental effort to reel myself back in. I’m the only person who knows that Laura is alive and doing incredibly well for herself. Well, that is, as long as my dear, oblivious mother doesn’t start asking questions about the money she sent me. Inhaling, Nicholas puffs out his chest and knots his fingers over his dinner plate.

“Where there is hopelessness and fear, the Calloways offer resilience. We capitalize on it, keeping the police, academy board, and media close so we can control what they see and know. Part of staying well-connected means showing up in times of crisis, putting ourselves in the forefront and redirecting the attention onto us. The charitable, loving family everyone adores.”

“Everyone except those in it,” I mutter. Everest squeezes my thigh again, this time hard enough to hurt. It’s a warning, a plea, a desperate attempt to keep me in line, but apparently I can’t help myself. Holding Nicholas’ stern gaze, his mouth curves down at the corners. That’s when I know I’m in deep shit.

“Marianne,” Nicholas states with a hard edge. “Leave us.” My mother’s hand pauses halfway towards her wine glass, eyes darting to me with a mix of concern and sorrow. Her chair scrapes softly as she rises, her hands smoothing over her silk dress and her mouth pressed into a soft, apologetic line as she leaves me behind. There’s nothing unusual about that, but Nicholas isn’t finished. “You too, Everest. Leave.”

The air is stolen from my lungs. Logically, I know I’m older now. I could probably hold my own for a few minutes, maybe, but Nicholas’ place in my nightmares gives him more power than I should allow. As Everest’s hand leaves my thigh, I could almost whimper. Pushing to stand beside me, he spares a single glance that I don’t meet.

“No,” he states. Marianne freezes before she reaches the door, and Nicholas’ harsh glare spearing me is lifted to Everest instead.

“Excuse me?”

“No,” Everest repeats, pushing his chair back and offering a hand to me. “Dinner is done, and the orders have been received.” My lungs seize, forgetting how to function. Standing tall in his immaculate shirt with his ruined tie and mussed hair, Everest continues. “I’ll attend the vigil. I’ll speak to the press. I’ll stand with the academy and play whatever part you need me to play. I’ll date the O’Connor girl if that’s what’s required of me.” His jaw works once, a sign of what the words are costing him. “And we’ll honor Laura until she is found and safely returned.”

The floor seems to fall out from underneath me, a ringing sounding in my ears. Instead of accepting Everest’s offered hand, my fingers curl tightly around the edge of my chair, my nails scraping the underside. Everything intensifies, the chandelier light becoming too bright, the smell of the lamb and mint becoming nauseating. He’s going to date Meg, fully and openly as he’s always wanted. Even worse, now he has permission to. Just not mine.

That’s when Nicholas’ anger subsides, and a genuine smile grows across his face as he looks at me. He’s gotten his own way, pushing me further out of the limelight and further out of Everest’s life. The love of my life is going to date someone else to keep me safe, despite how it’s going to destroy me from the inside out. Where is the sense in that? What are we even fighting for if not a life together?

The next thing I know, a hand wraps around my upper arm and hauls me from my seat. I’m numb, the panic from before setting in all over again but for a completely different reason.

This isn’t from fear of what Nicholas might do to me, but from realization of what he’s doing to us. Driving us apart by any means necessary. Maybe he knows as well as I do, once Everest has nothing hindering him from pursuing Meg, I’ll lose him. All of the years, the heartache, the beatings, the sacrifices, it’s all going to be for nothing.

Being tugged along, Everest keeps his hold tight as we near the edge of the table. Several more steps and we’ll be out of here, yet my feet don’t want to move. Leaving the manor means there’s no negotiation left, not that there was any to begin with. It means everyone wins except me. Leaning back in his chair, Nicholas has never appeared more smug, his hands locked behind his head.

“Oh, and Everest,” Nicholas grins, although his eyes are on me. “It must be a convincing public relationship. Remind everyone what you are. And more importantly, it will remind them what you are not.”

My jaw ticks, the panic slipping aside for another emotion to flood my veins. The meaning of Nicholas’ words isn’t lost on me. What Everest is – his father’s puppet. What he’s not – screwing his bisexual stepbrother.

Heat prickles along my skin, my breathing labored. I’m a problem to be managed. A rumor to be starved out. A shadow to be erased by putting Meg O’Connor in my place. A girlfriend solves everything. A traumatized, beautiful, headline-worthy girlfriend. Meg will have her public redemption, Everest becomes the devoted savior, and I become exactly what I’ve always been. Invisible and useless.

Led by pure instinct and little thought, I reach for Nicholas’ wine glass and smash it into his head. The shattering pierces the air, surrounded by a slice of disbelief. Red wine spills across his temple like blood before the real thing has time to follow, droplets raining over the white tablecloth. No one moves, the broken stem buried deep into my palm, warmth spilling between my fingers as my brain slowly catches up. I hit him. I actually retaliated.

Then Nicholas reacts, far too fast for me to track. His chair scrapes back hard enough to topple, one hand flying to his head while the other lashes out in a formed fist. Pain explodes through my cheek, white and blinding, knocking me sideways into the table. Crystal rattles, silverware clatters, and in the background, my mother gasps.