Chapter 19 · Dinner's Ruined. By Her.

"Get your hands off me, you pathetic leach!"

Ella’s voice cracked through the ballroom like a gunshot. She didn't just pull away; she wrenched her wrist from her sister’s grip with enough force to make Sarah stumble. The high-society crowd froze. Crystal glasses stopped halfway to lips. The orchestral music seemed to fade into a hum of collective shock.

Sarah didn't fall. She recovered instantly, her face twisting from a mask of faux-concern into something jagged and cruel. "Ella, darling, you're making a scene. You've always had such a flair for the dramatic, even when you were rotting in the Void."

"Rotting?" Ella stepped closer, her heels clicking sharply on the marble. She could feel the heat of the room—too many bodies, too much expensive perfume, all of it suffocating. "I think the only thing rotting here is your conscience, Sarah. Or maybe just your breath. What's the matter? Afraid I'll tell everyone how you actually felt about me being thrown away?"

Sarah let out a sharp, melodic laugh that didn't reach her eyes. "Who would believe you? You're a ghost, Ella. A mistake. A glitch in the family tree that finally got pruned.