Chapter 3

Ellie POV

The engagement party was a masquerade. Of course it was.

The Thornes loved hiding their sins behind silk masks and gold leaf. The ballroom was a gilded cage, suffocating and bright. The scent of expensive cologne, stale sweat, and vintage champagne hung heavy in the air, a cloying perfume that made my head spin.

A string quartet played in the corner, their mournful melody drowning beneath the roar of hollow conversation.

I stayed in the shadows, clutching a glass of sparkling water like a lifeline. I shouldn't have come. But Marcus had insisted. "Family attends," he had texted me. It was a command, not a request.

I watched him across the room. He wasn't wearing a mask. He didn't need one. His composure was usually shield enough.

But tonight, the cracks were showing.

He was drinking. That was terrifyingly new. Marcus Thorne never drank in public. Control was his religion, his currency. But tonight, he was knocking back scotch like it was water.

His eyes were glazed, tracking movement but refusing to focus.

Chloe was nowhere to be seen.

I turned to leave, desperate to slip out the French doors into the sanctuary of the garden, when a hand clamped around my wrist.

"Going somewhere?"

I spun around. Marcus. He loomed over me, swaying slightly, his usual grace replaced by a heavy, predatory instability. The smell of alcohol on his breath was overpowering.

"Let me go, Marcus," I said, trying to pry his fingers loose.

He pulled me closer. Too close. His body heat radiated through my dress, searing my skin. He stared down at me, his eyes dark, swirling with a confusion I didn't understand.

"You look beautiful," he slurred. "In that red."

I was wearing green.

"Marcus, you're drunk," I hissed, glancing around to see if anyone was watching. "I'm Ellie."

He blinked. A slow, confused motion, like a shutter closing on a camera. He reached up and touched my cheek, his thumb tracing my jawline. It was a lover's touch-tender, possessive, and entirely wrong.

"Chloe," he whispered. "My Chloe. Why did you run?"

I froze. My blood turned to absolute ice.

"I'm not Chloe," I said, my voice trembling.

"Don't lie," he groaned, leaning his forehead against mine. "You have her eyes. You have her face. I made sure of it."

*What?*

"I love you," he murmured against my skin. "Only you. She... the other one... she was just a placeholder. A shield. Until I could have you back."

I shoved him. I put every ounce of strength, every ounce of horror I possessed, into the motion.

He stumbled back, catching himself on a marble pillar. He looked at me-really looked at me-and for a second, the fog cleared.

"Ellie?"

I couldn't breathe. The air in the ballroom had vanished, sucked into a vacuum of betrayal.

"A placeholder," I whispered. The word felt like a serrated knife in my gut.

I turned and ran. I didn't care about the scene. I didn't care about the guests staring behind their jeweled masks.

I burst out onto the terrace. The night air was cool, but I was burning. My skin felt too tight for my body.

I needed to get away. I needed to find a dark corner to hide in until my heart stopped trying to beat its way out of my chest.

I ducked into the library, the heavy oak door muffling the party noise to a dull thrum. I leaned against the bookshelves, gasping for air, my hands shaking uncontrollably.

Then, I heard voices.

"Why did you marry her, Marcus? Why the engagement?"

It was Chloe. Her voice was sharp, angry.

"You know why." Marcus's voice. He sounded sober now. Cold. Calculated. The Marcus I thought I knew.

I crept closer to the gap in the shelves, holding my breath.

They were standing by the fireplace. Chloe was pacing, her silhouette sharp against the flames. Marcus was leaning against the mantel, swirling a glass of amber liquid.

"Because she looks like you," Marcus said, his voice devoid of emotion. "Because when you left for Paris five years ago, I needed a way to keep the wolves at bay. I needed a weakness that wasn't actually you."

"So you used Ellie?" Chloe asked. She didn't sound horrified. She sounded impressed.

"She was convenient," Marcus said. "An orphan. Indebted to me. And as she grew up... she started to resemble you. It was... comforting. While I waited for you to come to your senses."

I clamped my hand over my mouth to stop the scream that was clawing its way up my throat.

Four years. The kindness. The protection. The gifts.

It wasn't affection. It was projection.

He was grooming a ghost.

"And now?" Chloe asked, stepping closer to him. "What is she now?"

"Now she is a liability," Marcus said. He set the glass down with a definitive *clink*. "But a useful one. This engagement... it separates her from any real claim to the family. It cleans up the loose ends."

"And our baby?" Chloe placed a hand on her stomach.

My eyes widened.

Marcus smiled. A genuine, terrifying smile that never reached his eyes when he looked at me. He placed his hand over hers.

"Our son," he said. "We will name him Julian. Thorne-Davenport. He will be the heir I actually want."

"And Ellie won't know?"

"Ellie will never know," Marcus said softly. "She's too soft. Too blind. Even if she knew, she wouldn't leave. She thinks she owes me her life."

He laughed. A low, dark sound.

"She doesn't know she was just keeping your seat warm."

Something inside me snapped. It wasn't a loud break. It was a quiet, final severance. The tether that had bound me to Marcus Thorne for a decade dissolved into dust.

I sank to the floor, my back sliding against the leather-bound books.

*She won't leave.*

I let out a silent, hysterical laugh. Tears streamed down my face, hot and fast.

I wasn't a person to him. I was a prop. A mannequin he dressed up in his true love's clothes.

I waited until the wet sounds of their kissing faded, until the door clicked shut.

Then I stood up. My legs were weak, but my mind was crystal clear.

I walked to the mahogany desk in the corner. I grabbed a piece of stationery.

I didn't write a note. I didn't leave a tear-stained confession.

I pulled out my phone. I opened the airline app.

One-way ticket. Florence. Tomorrow morning.

Then I texted David.

*Book the venue. The big one. I'm coming home.*

I walked out of the library. I walked out of the manor. I walked past the guards, past the iron gates.

I stood on the curb, the sharp gravel biting into my bare feet because I had left my heels in the hallway.

I looked at the phone screen. David had replied with a photo of a plane ticket confirmation and a single heart emoji.

It was the first real thing I had seen all night.