Chapter Twenty-Three ~ Cinderella-1

It was a blur. Golden chandeliers and glittering champagne. Sharp thorns and damp night air. The feeling that no matter how hard I ran, it would catch me. They would catch me. "Sebastian," I said. "Sebastian, I need your help." I was surprised he could hear me through the tears as I choked his name into my phone. I don't even know how far I'd made it before my legs had given way and I'd lost my footing, the earth pulling my shoe from my feet and leaves catching in my hair. Of course, even though my brother had agreed to rescue me in an instant, he was still an hour's drive away. I threw my mask from my face, instead burying it in my hands as sobs overcame my body. Just like that, my entire life had been ruined. Nicholas Clemonte was oblivious to the fact that my parents had attempted to sabotage his family's business with a secret marriage certificate. We'd been high school sweethearts for long enough for them to use us, but when he broke up with me my parents saw it as a threat. The idea was that it connected his assets with mine and they could pull strings behind the curtain. It was the last push I needed to run away from home. I'd never signed the document. I'd never gone to prom. Instead, I'd adopted the last name Preston and gotten into college on my own. I'd taken up crappy jobs that had eventually landed me here. But, it didn't matter. After we'd ended things, my parents had forged my signature and his, paid a witness and minister, and eventually it had landed in the hands of Penelope. And since then, they'd tried everything to rope me back in. It didn't exactly look good for the pristine family image that their daughter had run away, and it especially wasn't good for their strategy, considering I was the key to their competitors son. This was why I couldn't have them in my life. They poisoned me, and they poisoned the ones that I loved. Nic had been sucked in. And now he was in this mess too, because his family was as bad as mine. I wasn't really sure what had happened after I'd ran from the party. Maybe Penelope explained to Felix that I was supposedly married. Maybe she'd shown Nic the certificate and he'd called the cops on me for fraud. Maybe it was time to come clean about my family to the authorities. The idea had me terrified. Sebastian's car finally pulled to the side of the road where I'd crouched into a ball on the edge of the forest. In the bright light I couldn't identify the car, but I figured it was either him or someone here to abduct the crying girl in the ballgown. Either way, I was ready to go with whatever was the universe's bidding. But, it was my big brother. For the first few moments in the car I just cried, and then I finally managed to explain to him everything that had happened. From the moment I took the pull-tab from the poster on the bulletin board to the point I was face-to-face with my supposed husband. I laughed aloud. This whole thing was absolutely insane. Sebastian's knuckles were white around the wheel and he hadn't said anything for a really long time. I was wondering if he had had enough of this all, too. Maybe he'd abandon me. But, he let out a long breath and finally reached over to pat my arm. "I'm so sorry. So sorry." He drove me to his house and made me a hot chocolate, giving me a hoodie to put over my dress. My arms were scraped from branches and I was still one high-heel short. "You were right, you know." I looked up from where I'd been blowing the surface of my drink. "To run away." That was a first. Sebastian, though he'd always supported me, had never approved of my recklessness when I'd cut ties and started college. He was constantly worried about me, always trying to convince me to run back into the safety net of our inheritance. But deep down, I'd always hoped that even he couldn't turn a blind eye to some of the things they could do. "They always protected me, Mom and Dad. I've always felt like I need to impress them, like it's just what I'm supposed to do—follow in their footsteps. For you it was always different. They were cruel, trying to soften all the edges that made you my crazy sister." "You had it easy," I agreed. To them, Sebastian was faultless. He'd aced his classes, his degree, and he was engaged to someone with an equally elite background. "But that doesn't mean I shouldn't have done something," he muttered. "I ignored everything because it was bad—it's so easy to do that. I didn't even try to see what they were doing. I just wanted everyone to be... a happy family." I closed my eyes, remembering the worst of Sebastian's betrayal—forcing me to face Mom when I wasn't ready, always trying to lace us back together like loose cords of a shoe. When I opened them again, Sebastian was giving me a sad smile, swollen with regret. "You know, Seb, I'm starting to think everyone is just messed up. Mom, Dad, Penelope Algate... us." Well, not quite everyone. Maybe not Poppy. Or Felix. But I couldn't give myself the luxury of thinking about them right now. "Well, we were raised by the best," he said. Remy had woken up and was wearing a robe, shuffling around the kitchen in his slippers. "You guys want some cake?" "No thanks," I said, smiling politely. I still don't think Remy and I would ever get along, but if there was one thing that softened him up it was a girl crying in his living room. "You know I'll never go back," I told Sebastian. "We'll never be that happy family." "Well... I don't know if I can, either." I looked around at Seb's huge house with its big yard and high fence in a gated neighborhood. He was safe here. Set up for life. "I had no idea she literally stole your identity." "And Nicholas Clemonte's," I whispered, rubbing at my temples. What was I going to do? "I'll fix it," Sebastian said. His tone was so steadfast I looked up to test whether he was serious. "I owe you one. If I didn't keep forcing you to reconnect with them then you might have trusted me with this sooner." "What exactly are you going to do to fix it?" "Well, it seems undercover work is in our gene-pool," he joked. I could see Remy watching him carefully from the kitchen and stifled a laugh. The last thing Remy would want is for Sebastian to go against our parents. I think he was accustomed to the luxurious life they gave them. Who was the brat now?