Eleanore POV:

Their outrage was almost comical, if it weren' t so pathetically predictable. They were furious, not because I suffered, but because my suffering wasn't aimed at their benefit. Their possessiveness, their ego-it was breathtaking in its audacity.

"Eleanore, you are being completely unreasonable!" my mother shrieked, her voice thin and high.

Before I could respond, Josie, ever the opportunist, stumbled. A delicate, graceful fall, engineered for maximum sympathy. "Oh! My ankle!" she gasped, clutching her leg.

Immediately, my parents and Colbert rushed to her side, their fury at me momentarily forgotten. "Josie, darling, are you alright?" My mother fretted. Colbert gently helped her to her feet.

Josie, ever the martyr, waved them away with a brave smile. "No, no, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy from the altitude. But… Eleanore, could you help me? I don't want to bother Mom and Dad." Her eyes, when they met mine, held a malicious glint. It was a dare. A trap.

I knew the game. I also knew it was my last one to play. I walked over, my head still throbbing from my fall down the stairs, and offered my arm. Josie leaned heavily on me, her weight disproportionate to her delicate frame. We moved a few steps away from the others, just out of earshot, or so she thought.

"You really think you're escaping, don't you?" Josie whispered, her sweet facade dropping instantly. Her voice was venomous. "Going to marry a vegetable? How pathetic. They'll forget you even faster then." She leaned in closer, her breath hot on my ear. "No one cares about you, Eleanore. Not really. Not like they care about me."

I simply stared straight ahead, my face a blank mask. I wouldn' t give her the satisfaction.

Her eyes narrowed. "What, no reaction? Are you finally broken?"

Then, before I could even process it, she swung her hand and slapped herself, hard, across the cheek. The sharp crack echoed in the mountain air. She let out a piercing scream, collapsing to the ground. "Eleanore! How could you?! You hit me! You pushed me!"

My parents and Colbert, already on high alert, spun around. "Josie!" my mother cried, rushing towards her.

Colbert' s eyes, filled with immediate rage, landed on me. He didn' t hesitate. He lunged, pushing me with a force that sent me stumbling backwards. My head, still tender from the previous fall, slammed against a jagged rock. A searing pain exploded behind my eyes, then a warm trickle down my temple. Blood. Again.

"Eleanore! What is wrong with you?" my father roared, his face purple with fury. "Hitting your sister?! After everything we've done for you? After all Josie has suffered?"

My mother rushed to Josie, cradling her. "Look at her! You monster! How could you be so cruel? Josie is so sensitive, she's fragile! She's had such a difficult life, Eleanore. Don't you have any empathy?"

The words, the accusations, the sheer injustice of it all, finally broke something inside me. A sob tore from my throat, raw and guttural. My entire body trembled. "She hit herself!" I choked out, tears mixing with the blood on my face. "She's lying! She always lies!"

Josie, sniffling dramatically from my mother's arms, looked up with wide, innocent eyes. "Sister, why... why are you saying such awful things? I just asked you about the wedding. About Kayson. I was just trying to understand." Her gaze, filled with feigned innocence, flickered to my parents. "You know, Eleanore was talking about delaying the wedding. She seemed so upset about it. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay."

My parents' attention immediately snapped back to the wedding, their fear of scandal overriding their temporary concern for Josie's 'injuries.' "Delay the wedding? Eleanore, what is this nonsense? You know this marriage is paramount!" My father glared at me. "After all the trouble we went through for Josie to take your place..." He trailed off, realizing his mistake.

My mother quickly interjected, "Never mind that! Eleanore, you are not delaying anything! Your reputation, our reputation, depends on this!" She pulled Josie closer, whispering reassurances.

I watched them, my heart a hollowed-out cavern in my chest. They walked away, comforting Josie, leaving me bleeding on the mountain. My head throbbed, the world spinning. I reached for the simple silver locket I always wore, a gift from my grandmother before she passed. She was the only one who truly saw me. I clutched it, a new, cold resolve hardening my gaze.

The blood from my head mixed with the tears on my cheeks. This wasn't a family; it was a performance, and I was done playing the villain.

Eleanore POV:

A kind hiker, a stranger, found me bleeding on the path and helped me down the mountain, calling for an ambulance. In the emergency room, the nurses looked at me with thinly veiled disapproval. "Another one of these domestic incidents, huh?" one whispered to another as they cleaned my wound. I couldn't bring myself to explain. What was there to say? My family beat me up, not out of malice, but out of their blinding self-interest and allegiance to a conniving girl. It sounded insane.

While they stitched my scalp, my phone buzzed. A video message from Josie. She filmed herself in front of a mirror, a small bruise on her cheek, expertly applied with makeup, no doubt. "Oh my god, Eleanore, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to fall like that, and I know you didn't mean to… well, you know. Mom and Dad are so worried about your head. They said to send you this. See? I'm fine. Just a little bump. Nothing compared to what you endured!" The camera panned slightly to reveal my parents and Colbert in the background, hovering over Josie, doting on her, feeding her grapes. My mother was stroking Josie' s hair, her face a picture of maternal concern. My father was loudly demanding a doctor check Josie's "blood pressure from the shock."

Josie's voice, sickly sweet, continued, "Mom and Dad said they' re so relieved I'm going to New York instead of you. You're just too sensitive for all that pressure, Eleanore. You know, with Kayson Knight still in a coma and all. It would have killed you."

The knife twisted. They truly believed I was weak, that I was grateful to be spared. They didn't even acknowledge my pain, only Josie's manufactured drama. My heart turned to ice. I deleted the message.

I discharged myself against medical advice and returned to the cold, empty mansion. I stayed in my room, the silence a strange comfort after years of emotional warfare. I didn' t come out, not even for meals. Days blurred into a week. My birthday arrived, unmarked, uncelebrated.

Until that evening. A distant hum of music, a sudden burst of laughter from downstairs. I cautiously crept out of my room, drawn by the unusual commotion. The grand ballroom, usually reserved for formal galas, was ablaze with lights. Streamers, balloons, a towering cake-it was a party. A birthday party. Josie' s birthday party.

My mother, spotting me on the landing, gave a small, forced smile. "Eleanore! Darling! Come down! We're celebrating Josie's birthday! It's so important to mark these occasions, you know." Her voice was strained.

My father beamed. "Josie deserves this after all the stress Eleanore has put her through." He gestured to two beautifully wrapped gifts on a table. One, small and elegant, clearly for Josie. The other, surprisingly, was also quite large. "We got something for both our girls," he announced to the room, though his eyes lingered on Josie.

I overheard a maid whispering to another. "Poor Miss Eleanore. Always getting the short end of the stick. Everyone knows who the real favorite is."

I retreated, a phantom in my own home. Back in my room, I whispered to myself, a bitter affirmation, "I am the intended bride. I am the one meant to marry Kayson Knight." The words were a quiet vow, a reclamation of my fate.

Downstairs, Josie was draped in white silk, a radiant vision. She danced, she laughed, she accepted accolades. The spotlight, always her natural habitat, followed her every move. I watched from the shadows, an invisible guest at my own family' s celebration of my replacement. No one noticed me. No one spoke to me. A tray of canapés passed, overflowing with seafood, a cruel irony given my severe shellfish allergy. They didn't even remember that.

Then came the procession of gifts, a grotesque display of their devotion to Josie. My mother presented her with a trust fund, a substantial portion of the Spence family wealth. My father, beaming, handed her a portfolio. "Shares in Spence Corp, darling. You're family now." The guests whispered, impressed.

Finally, Colbert stepped forward, holding a crimson velvet box. He opened it, revealing a magnificent diamond and ruby necklace, a Spence family heirloom, once promised to me. "For my dearest sister," he announced, placing it around Josie's neck. "You deserve all the beauty in the world."

The crowd gasped. Murmurs erupted. "Isn't that…?" "The Spence family seems to truly adore her." "Poor Eleanore, she's practically disappeared."

As Josie basked in the spotlight, draped in jewels that should have been mine, I felt a strange sense of clarity. They weren't just giving her things; they were giving her my identity, piece by agonizing piece. And I was letting them.

Eleanore POV:

The cacophony of celebration downstairs was a distant hum, a mosquito buzzing in my ear. I stood at the edge of the ballroom, a ghost in my own life, watching Josie glitter under the chandeliers. She was the star, radiant and cruel, bathed in the love and attention that had once been mine. I felt nothing but a profound emptiness.

Josie, her eyes scanning the room, found me. A predatory smile touched her lips. She glided over, her new necklace sparkling, a mocking beacon. "Eleanore, you're here!" she chirped, her voice too loud, too sweet. "I hardly recognized you hiding in the shadows. Feeling alright? It must be difficult, watching me receive all this… attention." Her gaze dropped to the heirloom around her throat. "And this. It' s so beautiful, isn' t it? I just adore it. Colbert said it' s always been meant for the truly cherished daughter."

I met her gaze, my expression as flat as the polished marble floor. "It suits you, Josie," I said, my voice devoid of emotion. "You've worked hard for it."

Her smile faltered, her victory tasting less sweet when it drew no visible reaction from me. She tried again. "You know, Mom and Dad are so relieved I'm going to New York. They said you were always so fragile, too delicate for the demands of the Knight family, especially with Kayson's… situation. They truly believe I'm stronger, more capable. Don't you agree?"

My silence was my only weapon. I simply looked past her, towards the glittering crowd. Josie, frustrated by my lack of response, her carefully constructed facade crumbling, finally huffed and walked away, back to her adoring public.

My energy, already depleted, ebbed further. I felt a bone-deep weariness. It was time to leave. I turned to go, to escape the suffocating opulence and the stinging indifference.

"My necklace! It's gone!"

Josie's shriek ripped through the ballroom. The music died. Laughter ceased. Every head snapped towards her, then towards me. My blood turned to ice. No.

"Someone stole my necklace!" she cried, her voice laced with theatrical panic. She pointed a trembling finger at me. "Eleanore! You were just standing right here! You were the last one near me!"

A hundred pairs of eyes, glittering with suspicion, turned to me. I felt the weight of their judgment, their immediate conclusions.

"I didn't take anything," I said, my voice calm, steady, despite the tremor in my hands.

"Of course you didn't, darling," my mother said, her voice laced with doubt. She looked at Josie, then at me. "But... Eleanore, where were you going? Why were you standing alone?"

Josie, dissolving into tears, ran to my father, clutching his arm. "She hates me, Daddy! She's always hated me! She's jealous! She wants to ruin everything good in my life!" She sobbed into his chest. "I just want my necklace back! Unless... unless she doesn't want me to marry Kayson Knight! Is that it, Eleanore?"

My father's face contorted in a mixture of confusion and rage. "Eleanore! Give it back! This is not some childish game! That's a family heirloom!"

"I didn't take it," I repeated, my voice flat.

Colbert stepped forward, his eyes cold. "El, just give it back. Don't make a scene. It's embarrassing."

"I told you, I didn't take it," I said, my voice rising in frustration.

Josie, pulling away from my father, her eyes wide with a terrifying innocence, looked at him. "Daddy, please. Make her give it back. Or… or make her prove she didn't take it. Maybe… maybe she needs to be searched."

A collective gasp went through the room. My parents looked horrified at the suggestion, but then their gaze fell upon Josie' s tear-streaked face. My father hesitated, then, "Eleanore, this is outrageous. Please, just cooperate."

"Cooperate?" I asked, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. "You want to search me? In front of everyone? For a necklace I didn't steal?" My heart hammered against my ribs. "No."

Josie, seeing her opportunity, intensified her sobs. "She won't let you search her, Daddy! She's hiding it! She's just trying to hurt me, trying to stop the marriage! She' s always been so jealous!"

My mother, her face pleading, looked at my father. "Darling, please. Josie is so upset. We have to do something."

My father, his face grim, nodded. "Guards! Search her!"

Two burly security guards stepped forward. "No!" I cried, backing away. This wasn't happening. Not again. Not in front of everyone.

Colbert grabbed my arm. "Eleanore, don't be difficult!" He shoved me towards the guards. The guards grabbed me, their hands rough. I struggled, screaming, "Don't touch me! I didn't do anything!"

My parents stood by, watching, their faces hardened. Addison, his eyes conflicted, looked away. The guests whispered, their judgment a palpable weight. My world crumbled. They had chosen her. They had always chosen her. The memory of Colbert pushing me down the stairs, Addison leaving me for Josie, flooded my mind. They truly don't care.

As the guards wrestled my arms behind my back, a desperate thought sparked. My little recording device. I carried it everywhere, a shield against Josie's endless manipulations. It was small, tucked into the lining of my dress.

With a surge of adrenaline, I fought back, kicking one guard in the shin. He grunted, loosening his grip. "You want to know the truth?" I screamed, my voice raw and broken, cutting through the stunned silence. "Let's hear it then!" My hand, trembling, reached for the hidden recorder beneath my dress.