Emilia
I don't know when I started dreading the quiet moments. The spaces between words, the gaps where everything feels suspended in time, hanging like a thread that could snap at any second. After the conversation with Damien, the silence in the mansion feels heavier, more suffocating. I've learned not to trust anyone—not even Damien. The walls are closing in on me, and I can't shake the feeling that I'm walking on a tightrope, one wrong step away from falling into an abyss.
But today is different.
I'm wandering through the halls, lost in my own thoughts, when I hear a soft knock at the door. It's a sound so faint I might've imagined it, but something in me tells me to answer. Curiosity gnaws at me, an instinct I can't ignore. I open the door to find no one there. For a moment, I think I've been tricked, but then I hear it—a soft rustling from the shadows. A figure slips from the side of the door, a familiar face framed by dark hair.
My breath catches in my throat.
"Lydia?" I whisper, hardly believing what I'm seeing. My half-sister stands before me, her eyes shadowed with a mixture of fear and something darker—something that looks a lot like anger.
"Emilia," she says, her voice tight, but there's an undeniable edge to it. "We need to talk."
I step back instinctively, my heart pounding in my chest. The last time I saw Lydia, she was preparing to marry a man who, according to my stepmother, would take her far from here. She'd been the golden child, the one everyone adored, the one with the future laid out before her. But now, standing in front of me, she looks like a stranger, as though the woman I once knew has been swallowed up by a different version of herself—one filled with vengeance and secrets.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, my voice shaky. "How did you even get in?"
Lydia doesn't answer immediately, instead glancing around the room with a nervous glance. "I have my ways," she mutters. "But that's not important right now. What matters is that we need to talk, Emilia. I need your help."
I narrow my eyes, unsure of what to make of her words. Lydia and I have never been close. As children, we were forced to compete for scraps of affection from our father, but she always had the upper hand. She was the one who was loved, the one who was cherished. I was nothing more than the unwanted child, the result of an affair that my father never truly acknowledged.
But this… this is different. Her presence here, in Damien's house, the way she looks at me—there's something in her eyes I can't place. Something that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
"What do you want from me?" I ask, my voice quiet, careful.
Lydia steps forward, her expression intense. "I want revenge, Emilia. Revenge on Damien's family. They've done terrible things, and I'm not going to sit by and let them get away with it any longer."
I blink, startled by her words. "What are you talking about? What has Damien's family done?"
She hesitates, then looks around nervously, as if making sure no one is listening. "I don't know everything," she confesses, her voice barely above a whisper. "But I know enough. Enough to know that the man you married is not the one he seems. He's dangerous, Emilia. And he's connected to my past—our past."
Her words don't sink in immediately. My mind races, trying to grasp what she's saying. Damien? Dangerous? Connected to her past? The pieces don't fit. Damien has been nothing but distant, but dangerous? I've seen him at his worst—his coldness, his anger—but there's no part of him that screams the kind of danger Lydia is describing.
"What are you talking about, Lydia?" I ask, my voice growing more forceful. "What past are you talking about?"
She bites her lip, her fingers trembling slightly. "Our father. He was involved in things you don't know about, Emilia. Dark things. Damien's family… they were behind it. And I was going to marry into that family to get close, to find answers. But now I see—Damien is hiding something. He's not who he says he is. And I think—no, I know—he's been lying to you."
A shiver runs down my spine, my breath catching in my throat. Every word she says seems to take me deeper into a world I don't understand, a world filled with secrets and half-truths. I want to dismiss her, to tell her she's wrong, that she doesn't understand what she's talking about. But deep down, I know there's something to her words. Something I can't ignore.
"I don't know what you're trying to say," I say, my voice trembling. "Damien's family? What does this have to do with me? I'm just a pawn in all of this, Lydia."
She shakes her head sharply, her eyes dark with determination. "No, Emilia. You're not a pawn. You're more important than you think." She steps closer, lowering her voice. "Damien's family killed our father, Emilia. They framed him, ruined his reputation, and then threw him away like garbage. And now they've come after Damien, trying to finish what they started. I'm not going to let them get away with it. And neither should you."
I stand frozen, the weight of her words pressing down on me like a heavy stone. "But why are you here? Why come to me now?"
Lydia's gaze hardens, her expression determined. "Because we need to work together. We need to take them down from the inside. We need to destroy everything they've built, expose their lies, and make them pay for what they've done to our family. And we can do it if we join forces."
Her offer hangs in the air between us, as heavy and dangerous as any weapon. I'm torn—part of me wants to trust her, to believe that we could fight back together, that we could take down the people who ruined both of our lives. But another part of me… wonders if I'm being manipulated again, just like I've been my entire life. Can I trust Lydia? Can I trust anyone?
I take a step back, trying to clear my mind. "I don't know if I can trust you," I murmur, my voice low. "You left me. Why should I believe you now?"
Lydia looks pained, but she doesn't back down. "Because I'm here now. Because I'm not going to sit by and let them win. And because, deep down, you know you can't trust Damien either."
Her words hit harder than I expected, and I feel the truth in them, even though it stings. I don't know if I can trust anyone anymore, but the thought of taking down Damien's family—the family that has torn us both apart—is a temptation I can't ignore.
"I'll think about it," I say, my voice barely above a whisper.
Lydia nods, a small but determined smile tugging at her lips. "I'll be waiting for your answer, Emilia. But don't take too long. Time is running out."
As she slips back into the shadows, I'm left with nothing but uncertainty and a thousand questions. I want to believe her. I want to take her hand and fight for something more than the life I've been given. But a part of me wonders—can I truly trust my own sister, or is she another player in this deadly game?
And most terrifying of all—what if she's right?