The lock clicked with a finality that echoed through Feng Yilan's ornate bedroom. She pressed her forehead against the door, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The whispers and pointed stares of their guests haunted her.
"Yilan! Open this door at once!" Her mother's sharp voice cut through the silence.
Feng Yilan squeezed her eyes shut, willing the world away. How had it come to this? The affair with Ji Hanjun was supposed to be her ticket to power and fortune, a way to finally outshine her almost perfect sister. Now, it threatened to destroy everything.
She stumbled to her vanity, staring at her reflection. The woman looking back seemed a stranger – eyes rimmed red, hair disheveled. Is this what ambition looked like when it crumbled?
