And then, like a wave crashing through my mind, I remembered.
Five years ago. My birthday.
That was the day my parents had publicly announced my engagement to Elijah. The day Scarlett had lost control, blinded by rage and run me over, crippling me.
And in the five years since I had been brought back to this house, I had remained an outsider. No matter how much I tried, I could never act spoiled like Scarlett did in front of my parents.
At my own birthday banquet, I had always been a shadow, forgotten in the background, while Scarlett stood at the center, surrounded by guests I didn’t even know.
She had once sneered, “Only I deserve this banquet. You, an orphan from a shelter, don’t deserve anything.”
She had always basked in the thrill of stealing my spotlight. Tonight would be no different, would it?
I knew her too well.
So when she appeared at my birthday banquet, draped in a server’s uniform with a mask obscuring her face, I felt nothing. Not a flicker of surprise. Not even a ripple of emotion.
And yet, the moment my family recognized her, their reactions were anything but calm.