Chapter 2

It was deep into the night when we finally arrived home.

My panic attack had already peaked in the car ride, but I bit down on my lower lip so hard I drew blood, refusing to let out even a single sound.

Because Eleanor had made it clear: if I dared to have an episode in the car, she would throw me out onto the street.

My legs felt like lead as I dragged myself down to the basement—my bedroom. There were no windows, only a ventilation fan that rattled incessantly.

My fingers had barely brushed the doorknob when Harper's piercing shriek shattered the silence upstairs.

"It's gone! Mom! The sapphire necklace Grandmother left for me is gone!"

My heart lurched.

A sickening sense of dread washed over me instantly. That necklace was the Vane family heirloom, absolutely priceless.

When Grandmother passed away, her will explicitly stated it was to be left to the eldest daughter—me.

But Arthur and Eleanor had forced it around Harper's neck, using the excuse that "a psychotic doesn't deserve to own valuables."

Chaotic footsteps immediately thundered down the hallway. Less than half a minute later, the basement door was kicked violently open.

Arthur stood in the doorway, his face twisted in fury. Eleanor followed close behind, tightly cradling a tear-stained Harper.

"Elara, hand it over." Arthur didn't waste a single word. He thrust his hand out toward me, his eyes filled with absolute certainty and disgust.

"I don't have it... I don't know anything about the necklace." I backed away instinctively until my spine hit the freezing wall.

"Who else could it possibly be?!" Eleanor screeched, her voice grating on my ears. "You kept staring at Harper with those jealous eyes all throughout the banquet! You bad seed, you're not just a useless burden, now you've resorted to being a thief!"

"I swear I didn't! I was in the car with you guys right after the banquet. How could I have stolen it?" I tried to defend myself, my voice trembling wildly from sheer terror.

Harper lifted her head from Eleanor's embrace. Her eyes were red, and she spoke with a pitiful, fragile tone. "Sister... if you're angry because you didn't get to eat the steak tonight, you can hit me or curse at me. But that necklace is Grandmother's legacy... Can you please just give it back to me? I promise I won't tell the police."

"Search her room," Arthur spat out coldly.

Two burly household staff immediately barged into my cramped room and began desperately tearing through it.

My pathetic handful of old clothes were thrown to the floor and trampled, and my journal—the only place I could record my feelings—was ripped to shreds.

"Sir, we found it in the lining of her bag," one of them announced, holding up the necklace that shimmered with a deep, ghostly blue light.

At that moment, I felt the blood in my veins turn to ice.

I stared at the bag. It was the one I had carried to the banquet tonight. But halfway through the evening, Harper had claimed her clutch was too small for her lipstick and had casually slipped her things into my bag.

"It was you..." My head snapped up to glare at Harper.

Harper instantly flinched and buried herself behind Eleanor, bursting into even louder sobs. "Sister, why are you looking at me like that?! Are you saying I shoved the necklace into your bag to frame you? Why would I ever do that?!"

She was right. Why would she? She already possessed all the love, wealth, and status in the world. In the eyes of absolutely everyone, there was zero motive for her to frame me.

A vicious slap cracked across my face.

Arthur had put all of his weight behind it. I was knocked straight to the floor, ears ringing endlessly, as the metallic taste of blood seeped into the corner of my mouth.

"You shameless animal!" Arthur roared, pointing a trembling finger in my face. "How did the Vane family produce such a cheap wretch! Stealing from your own sister—were you planning to pawn it off for more of those disgraceful psychiatric meds?!"

"Call the police," Eleanor ordered ruthlessly, pulling out her phone. "We can't keep enabling her. She steals a necklace today, she'll kill someone tomorrow. Let the police teach her how to be human."

"No... Mom, please, please don't call the police. I swear I didn't steal it!" Ignoring the searing pain in my cheek, I crawled across the floor, desperately trying to grab the hem of Eleanor's dress. The police station was an absolute nightmare for me; the claustrophobic holding cells and interrogations would shatter me completely.

Eleanor kicked me away with utter disgust. "Don't call me Mom! I don't have a thief for a daughter!"

Less than ten minutes later, the screeching wail of police sirens pierced the air outside the mansion. Two officers walked in, took one look at the necklace on the floor and then at me, and immediately unclipped their handcuffs.

"Elara Vane, you are under arrest for grand theft. You have the right to remain silent..."

The moment cold metal clamped down on my wrists, I lifted my head.

Over the officer's shoulder, I caught sight of Harper standing at the top of the stairs. She had completely stopped crying. Instead, a deeply concealed, sickeningly malicious smile curled up the corners of her mouth.

"No... I didn't take it... I don't know how it got in there..." The sheer injustice and panic reduced me to desperate tears. I sobbed helplessly, shaking my head as hard as I could, but no one was listening.