Chapter 1

I'd barely gotten one foot through the door when Sienna threw herself into my parents' arms, sobbing.

"Mom, Dad—I'm sorry. I just can't. I can't call her my sister."

She buried her face in my mother's neck, shoulders heaving.

"She's the one who's been spreading rumors about me at school. She's the reason I got diagnosed with depression."

My mother pulled her closer, stroking her back in slow circles, murmuring something soft I couldn't hear from where I stood—one foot still on the welcome mat.

My father stood by the fireplace. He looked at me, and the disappointment on his face was so complete.

"Unbelievable. We let you out of our sight for a few years and this is what you turn into."

He turned to the housekeeper, flicking his hand toward the door.

"Get her out. The Whitfields don't have a daughter who bullies her own sister."

My hands came up before I could think—fingers shaping the words fast, instinctive.

Me? Spreading rumors?

I'm mute. I've been mute my entire life.

Nobody looked at my hands.

Sienna was still pressed against my mother, crying so hard she could barely breathe. When she finally lifted her face, her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed.

"Mom, Dad, you don't know what it's been like."

She drew a shaky breath.

"Last month I placed second in the whole grade. Second. And she went around telling everyone I cheated—that Dad paid off the teachers, that I got my transcript bumped because I met with the department head in his office after hours—"

Each sentence landed. My mother's hand pressed harder against Sienna's back. My father's jaw tightened another notch.

I opened my mouth. A thin rasp of air. Nothing else.

I hadn't spoken since I could remember. The doctors said it was my vocal cords—damaged beyond repair.

I'd spent my whole life talking with my hands and a notebook.

I raised my right hand. My fingers started to form the sign for no—

My brother Caleb shot up from the couch.

Caleb was the only son in the Whitfield family. Three strides and he was in front of me, looking down with so much contempt.

"How long are you going to keep this up, Elara? Sienna's depressed because of you, and you're still trying to weasel out of it?"

My hand froze mid-sign.

"Caleb, don't be so hard on her…"

Sienna tugged the hem of his sleeve. Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Maybe she just wants so badly to be part of this family that she doesn't know any other way to get attention. I don't blame her. I really don't."

"That's because you're too kind for your own good."

My mother pulled Sienna tighter, then turned to me. The warmth drained from her face.

"Elara, we brought you home so you could have a family. Not so you could terrorize the people in it. Whatever you learned out there—the manipulation, the scheming—you need to stop. Right now！"

My father's knuckles rapped the coffee table. A single, heavy knock.

"A Whitfield—even one raised outside this house—should know how to carry herself. Your first day home, and you're already making up lies about Sienna. "

Behind me, two housekeepers whispered just loud enough for me to hear.

"I heard she grew up in foster care. Practically feral."

"Sienna's such a sweet girl. Who could do that to her?"

"Look—she's still doing the hand thing. Probably faking the whole act for sympathy."

I took a breath, forced my hands to stop shaking, and reached into the side pocket of my backpack.

My notebook was in there. I could write it all down—every single thing that actually happened.

My fingers touched the zipper.

Caleb grabbed my wrist. His grip was so tight I could feel the bones shifting under his fingers.

"What are you pulling out? Another prop?"

I twisted free with my other hand, fumbled the notebook out, managed to get it open—

He snatched it. One clean tear down the middle, and then again, and again, until the pages were confetti drifting down around me.

A scrap of paper landed in my hair. I didn't brush it away.

I stared at him. The last warm thing inside me went cold.

Sienna let out a perfectly timed sob and buried her face deeper.

"Caleb, please. She's just—"

"She drove you to this and you're still defending her?" He didn't look away from me. "Someone this twisted doesn't belong in this family."

My father's expression hardened. He gave the housekeeper a dismissive wave.

"Get her out. The Whitfields don't have a daughter like this."