Chapter 2
For three heartbeats, nothing happened.
Madison lowered the empty glass and grinned at me, wiping a stray drop of champagne from her chin with the back of her hand.
“Mmm, that’s good,” she said. “Thanks, Nat! You’re the best sister ever.”
She squeezed my shoulder again and drifted off toward her friends, already laughing about something else.
Already forgetting I existed.
I stood there, the empty spot where the glass had been still cold against my palm.
My eyes locked with Richard’s across the ballroom.
He was no longer calm.
He was no longer in control.
His face had drained of all color, leaving him ashen, his mouth slightly open.
His hands were clenched into fists at his sides.
He looked like he was about to be sick.
Good.
Let him suffer.
He’d been ready to watch me drink that.
He’d been ready to let whatever was in that powder happen to his own daughter.
Ten seconds passed.
Twenty.
Thirty.
And then Madison stumbled.
It was small at first.
Just a little trip over her own heels as she stepped down from the small stage where she’d been posing for photos.
Her friend caught her, laughing.
“Whoa, Maddy! Easy there! You haven’t even had that much to drink!”
Madison laughed too, but it sounded wobbly.
“Shut up, I’m fine. Just… dizzy for a second.”
But she wasn’t fine.
I saw her hands go to her head.
Her perfect smile faltered.
Her eyes, usually so bright and sharp, started to glaze over.
Richard was moving now.
Fast.
Pushing through the crowd, knocking over a tray of canapés, not caring who he shoved aside.
He reached her just as her knees buckled.
“Madison!” he screamed, his voice raw, tearing through the noise of the party. “MADISON!”
He caught her before she hit the marble floor.
Her head lolled back against his arm.
Her eyes rolled up so only the whites showed.
Her skin had gone gray, her lips turning a frightening shade of blue.
The music cut off abruptly.
The whole room went dead silent.
Every head turned.
Every guest stared.
“Call 911!” Richard roared, shaking like a leaf, holding her limp body against his chest. “NOW! CALL AN AMBULANCE!”
Chaos erupted.
People were screaming.
Someone was yelling for a doctor.
My mother came running from the other side of the room, her face a mask of terror, her champagne glass shattering on the floor as she dropped it.
“Richard! What happened? What’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know!” he lied, his voice cracking. “She just collapsed! One second she was fine, the next—”
He stopped.
His eyes found me again over my mother’s shoulder.
Standing perfectly still by the champagne table.
Watching.
In that look, I saw everything.
Fear.
Rage.
And the terrible, dawning realization of what he’d done.
He’d tried to poison me.
And instead, he’d poisoned the only person in the world he actually loved.
The sirens started wailing in the distance, getting closer every second.
Two paramedics burst through the front doors with a stretcher, pushing through the crowd of frozen, horrified guests.
They took Madison from Richard’s arms.
He wouldn’t let go at first.
He clung to her like a child, sobbing, screaming her name over and over.
It would have been heartbreaking.
If I hadn’t seen what I’d seen.
If I didn’t know he was the reason she was lying there, not breathing right, her pulse thready and weak.
They loaded her onto the stretcher and strapped an oxygen mask over her face.
Richard jumped into the back of the ambulance before they could close the doors.
My mother followed, white-faced, her hand pressed over her mouth.
The doors slammed shut.
The ambulance pulled away, lights flashing, siren screaming into the night.
And then the estate was quiet again.
The guests stood around in shocked clusters, whispering, staring at the spot where Madison had fallen.
No one looked at me.
No one suspected.
I was just the other sister.
The quiet one.
The one who never caused trouble.
I walked slowly to the champagne table.
I picked up the tiny gold card with my name on it.
The one Richard had insisted on.
I turned it over in my fingers.
I could go to the police right now.
I could tell them everything.
But I knew Richard.
He was rich.
He was powerful.
He had the best lawyers money could buy.
He’d find a way to make it look like I was lying.
Like I was crazy.
Like I was just a jealous, bitter daughter who hated her perfect sister.
No.
I wouldn’t give him that chance.
I’d wait.
I’d watch.
And when the moment was right…
I’d burn his perfect world to the ground.
May you like
I dropped the card into an empty ice bucket.
And I walked out to my car to follow the ambulance to the hospital.
