Chapter 2 - I Died So You Could Finally See Me

Elara's POV

Everything's pitch black. All I can hear is my ragged breathing echoing in here. I open my mouth trying to breathe, but I can't get any air.

Three years ago, after a drug trial, someone said they needed to do a physical exam and took me to a small room. The door shut, and that was it. I stayed in there for two full days, so hungry my stomach cramped, convinced I was going to die. Ever since, I can't handle darkness or tight spaces.

"Let me out!" I pound on the door, nails scraping metal. "Dominic! Please!"

My palms go numb fast. The pain shoots from my fingertips up my arms. My throat feels shredded, every scream tasting like blood. But nothing.

Eventually, the door opens. Light floods in and I practically crawl out, grabbing at his leg. "Please don't lock me up again. I'll die in there. That time they locked me in that room at the lab for two whole days..."

Dominic looks down at me. His eyes are completely empty. "Can you stop putting on a show? Everything you went through these past five years, every employer, every job, I set it all up. They were just helping me teach you a lesson. Make you humble. Grateful. They weren't actually going to hurt you."

I freeze.

Images flash through my mind. The nurse at the plasma center deliberately jabbing the needle in and out over and over. The kitchen manager at the restaurant putting his hands on me when no one was looking...

"Those were all... you set all of that up?"

Dominic nods like it's obvious. "Yeah. If I hadn't put you through all that, how would you ever earn your place back in this family? You should be thanking me."

Thanking him? I want to laugh, but nothing comes out.

"Anyway, tonight's Vanessa's birthday," Dominic says. "We're going out on the yacht. You're coming too. You're going to tell everyone she's not some kidnapper's daughter."

Sebastian walks over. "Just behave yourself and play along. We'll still be a family. You always wanted a wedding, right? I'll give you a big wedding."

He has no right to say any of this.

I close my eyes and push down the hatred inside me. "Fine. I'll go."

The yacht is crawling with guests all dressed up, holding champagne glasses, laughing and chatting. I stand in the corner. My worn clothes and haggard face don't belong among all these polished people.

Someone glances my way and whispers. "Who's that?" "No idea, she looks rough." "How did someone like that get on this yacht?"

Backstage in a small room, Mom grabs my shoulders and speaks slowly, deliberately. "When you get up there, you say you weren't kidnapped. You wandered off on your own. Vanessa's mother took you in out of kindness. She was good to you."

Dad adds, "And say that after you came home, you were jealous of Vanessa. You bullied her. You've spent these years thinking about what you did. Got it?"

Mom shakes my shoulders hard. "Did you hear me?"

Dominic pushes the door open. "Time to go on. Vanessa's waiting."

They shove me onto the stage. The lights hit me, blinding. Dozens of eyes stare at me with curiosity, judgment, disgust. I see Vanessa standing in the front row in a white dress, looking like some innocent princess.

Mom's words replay in my head. I open my mouth, but I can't get those words out.

"Why? Why should I apologize to someone who stole my life?" My voice blasts through the speakers across the deck. "She took my identity for over a decade. That wasn't enough? Now she has to take my husband too? My son?"

The whole crowd erupts.

Vanessa's face goes white for a second before she covers her face and starts crying, like I just slapped her. Sebastian immediately goes to her side and steadies her, then turns to glare at me. "Enough, Elara! How can you say something like that?"

Dominic rushes onto the stage and turns to the guests. "I'm so sorry, everyone. My sister's been struggling mentally. She has severe delusions. Nothing she's saying is true."

"I'm not delusional!" I'm practically shouting. "Ask her. Just ask her if she..."

Sebastian cuts me off. He wraps his arm around Vanessa and takes a small red booklet from her hand, holding it up for everyone to see.

"This is our marriage certificate. We're legally married." His voice is ice-cold. "Elara's been harassing me for years, but she was never my wife. She's the one breaking up a family."

Everything spins.

Of course. Of course every time I wanted to see the marriage certificate, he found some excuse. This whole time, I was never his wife at all.

All the blood drains from my face. I stare at Sebastian, frozen.

He won't look at me and keeps talking. "I know this sounds crazy. But the truth is, Elara didn't grow up with us. When she came back, she never really fit in. She was jealous of Vanessa. She started having these fantasies."

The whispers start immediately. "So she is crazy." "No wonder she looks like that." "How does someone like her even get into our circles?" "Poor Vanessa, having to deal with this."

The disgust in their eyes cuts into me. I stand there feeling stripped naked.

Then a little boy bursts out of the crowd. He runs to Vanessa's side and points at me, furious. "You're mean! Leave my mom alone!"

One look and I know. This is my son, Oliver. But he's calling Vanessa his mother.

I start shaking. Every instinct tells me to go to him. Oliver backs away and hides behind Vanessa. The way he looks at me is full of fear and hatred, like I'm some kind of monster.

Dominic walks over and grabs my arm. "Stop fooling yourself. Vanessa has nothing. Unlike you. I'm not letting you take him away from her."

My voice shakes. "But he's my son..."

"I have a video on my phone." Dominic's voice drops so only I can hear. "I know it's fake, that we staged it. But if I showed it to Sebastian and Oliver, you think they'd believe that? You think Oliver would want a mother like that?"