The champagne tower was a masterpiece of engineering-hundreds of crystal coupes stacked in a perfect pyramid, golden liquid shimmering under the lights.

Kalea stood in front of it. She could see her distorted reflection in the glass. A woman in a blue dress wearing green earrings, looking like she was made of broken shards.

Haleigh's laugh floated through the air. The crisis was being managed. The party would go on.

Eleanor appeared at Kalea's elbow. She gripped Kalea's arm with bruising force.

"You will go to the guest room," Eleanor whispered, her voice shaking with suppressed rage. "You will wait there until the party is over. And then, you will apologize to Jennie."

Kalea turned her head slowly. "What?"

"You heard me," Eleanor said. "Franco is furious. The merger is at risk. You will apologize, you will say it was a misunderstanding caused by your medication, and you will give the earrings back."

"Give them back?" Kalea repeated. "To the mistress?"

"To keep the peace!" Eleanor hissed. "Do you have any idea what is at stake? You are selfish. You have always been selfish."

Something inside Kalea snapped. It wasn't a loud snap. It was the quiet sound of a tether finally breaking.

"Am I your daughter?" Kalea asked softly. "Or am I just a poker chip?"

Eleanor's eyes were cold. "You are an Alexander. You do what is required."

Kalea smiled. Tears welled in her eyes, but the smile stayed fixed.

"Okay," she said.

She reached out. With one finger, she pushed the bottom glass of the tower.

"No!" Eleanor gasped.

It happened in slow motion. The glass tipped. The balance shifted.

CRASH!

The sound was deafening. An explosion of crystal and wine. The tower collapsed in a cascading wave of destruction. Shards of glass flew everywhere. Champagne sprayed like a geyser, soaking Eleanor's couture gown and drenching Kalea from head to toe.

The room went dead silent again. This time, there was no murmuring. Just shock.

Kalea stood in the wreckage. A shard of glass had sliced her palm. Blood mixed with the champagne dripping from her fingertips.

"You love her more!" Kalea screamed, her voice cracking, pointing a bloody finger at Eleanor. "You love the perfect, stolen daughter you shaped from clay more than the one who shares your blood! The one you broke!"

The words, though not the ones everyone might have expected, still hit the room like a bomb.

Haleigh dropped her drink. Her face went gray.

Franco let go of Jennie and stormed toward Kalea. "That is enough! You have lost your mind!"

He grabbed Kalea by the shoulders and shook her. "Stop this! Now!"

Kalea looked at him. Her eyes were empty holes.

"Choose," she said.

"What?" Franco yelled.

"Choose," she said, louder. She pointed at Jennie, who was cowering near a waiter. Then she pointed at herself. "The contract. Or her. Right now."

Franco looked around. He saw the board members watching. He saw the press taking photos. He saw Kalea, bleeding, wet, screaming like a madwoman. She was a liability. She was a disaster.

He let go of her. He took a step back.

He turned and walked toward Jennie. He took off his tuxedo jacket and draped it over Jennie's shoulders, shielding her from the cameras.

The message was clear. He chose the mistress.

The crowd let out a collective breath. The humiliation was complete.

Kalea didn't cry. She felt a strange, terrifying lightness. The worst had happened. She was free.

She turned and walked toward the French doors leading to the terrace and the pool.

"Where are you going?" Eleanor shouted.

Kalea didn't answer. She just kept walking.

The night air was freezing against her wet skin. Kalea walked onto the patio, her heels clicking on the stone. The wind whipped her dress around her legs.

Behind her, she heard the commotion. The cleanup crew. The shouts.

She walked to the edge of the infinity pool. The water was lit from below, glowing an eerie turquoise. It looked peaceful.

"Sister!"

Haleigh came running out onto the terrace. She was followed by three of her "friends"-socialites who lived for drama.

Haleigh stopped a safe distance away. She was breathing hard. She reached into her clutch and pulled out a pair of earrings.

"Look!" Haleigh shouted, making sure her friends heard. "I have the real earrings right here! Jennie just found a cheap replica! You got upset over a misunderstanding!"

It was a brilliant lie. Gaslighting at its finest.

Kalea turned slowly. She touched the heavy emeralds in her ears.

"If those are real," Kalea said, her voice carrying over the wind, "then what are these?"

Haleigh froze. She hadn't realized Kalea was wearing the ones from the floor.

Reporters had followed them out. Cameras flashed, blinding in the darkness.

Kalea walked toward Haleigh. Jennie and Franco appeared in the doorway.

Kalea pointed at Jennie. "Homewrecker," she said. The word hung in the air.

Jennie shrank back into Franco's chest.

"Security!" Franco roared. "Get her out of here!"

Kalea ignored him. She stepped closer to Haleigh. "You're lying, Haleigh. Just like you lie about where you go on weekends. Just like you lie about who you sleep with."

Haleigh's eyes darted frantically to the side, toward the shadows of the pergola.

Kalea looked.

Standing there, smoking a cigarette, was Aidan Alexander. Her brother. The heir.

He watched Haleigh with a look that was too intense, too possessive for a brother. He didn't move to help. He just watched.

Kalea felt sick. The corruption in this family went down to the bone.

Eleanor ran out. "Kalea! Stop it!"

Kalea backed up to the edge of the pool. Her heels teetered on the coping.

She reached up and unclasped the earrings. She held them over the water.

"They're dirty," she said. "I don't want them."

She made a motion to throw them.

"NO!" Eleanor and Haleigh screamed in unison. "Those are worth millions!"

Kalea stopped her hand mid-throw. She looked at their terrified faces. They cared more about the stones than her life.

She laughed. She clipped the earrings back onto her ears.

"Kidding," she said. "Grandma left them to me. You don't deserve to touch them."

Franco charged. He had lost his patience. He was coming to physically drag her away.

Franco lunged for her arm. Kalea sidestepped, her movement fluid despite her exhaustion.

Franco's momentum carried him forward. He slipped on the wet stone, his arms flailing, barely catching his balance before he hit the water. The guests watching from the doorway laughed nervously.

Eleanor didn't laugh. She snapped.

She rushed forward and slapped Kalea across the face.

CRACK.

The sound was sharper than the breaking glass. Kalea's head snapped to the side. Her lip split against her teeth, the taste of copper flooding her mouth.

The music inside had stopped. The only sound was the wind and the hum of the pool filter.

Kalea slowly turned her head back. She looked at her mother. There was no pain in her eyes. Only a deep, terrifying void.

She leaned in close to Eleanor. Haleigh was standing right next to her mother.

"If you touch me again," Kalea whispered, her voice a thread of ice, "everyone will find out what really happened on that yacht last summer. I will burn this family to the ground with your secrets, starting with Haleigh's."

Eleanor stopped breathing. Her face went slack with horror.

Haleigh heard it. "You bitch!" she screamed. "You wouldn't dare!"

Haleigh threw herself at Kalea, claws out, aiming for her eyes.

Jennie, seeing an opportunity to play the hero for Franco, ran forward to help shove Kalea.

Kalea didn't cower. She didn't block.

She lifted her right leg and kicked Haleigh square in the stomach.

It was a solid, satisfying impact.

Haleigh gasped, doubling over. She stumbled backward, colliding with Jennie.

Their limbs tangled. Gravity took over.

SPLASH.

A massive plume of water erupted as both women fell into the pool.

"Help!" Eleanor screamed, her voice shrill. "My baby! Save her!"

Aidan didn't hesitate. He sprinted from the shadows and dove into the water, swimming toward Haleigh with desperate urgency.

Franco dove in a second later, swimming toward Jennie.

Kalea stood on the edge, looking down at the chaos. The water churned. Everyone was screaming. Everyone was saving someone.

No one was looking at her.

She felt incredibly tired. The rage was gone, replaced by an unnerving clarity. This was the end of a chapter. To start the next, the old Kalea Alexander had to die. Publicly. Dramatically.

She looked at the dark sky.

I'm done, she thought.

She closed her eyes. She leaned back.

She let gravity take her.

She hit the water. The cold shock was instant. She sank.

Down. Down.

She opened her eyes underwater. The pool lights turned the world into a hazy blue dream.

She saw Aidan hauling Haleigh to the surface, his arms wrapped tight around her.

She saw Franco pushing Jennie toward the stairs.

They were all leaving her behind.

She didn't fight. Her dress was heavy, pulling her down to the bottom. Her lungs screamed for air, but a strange calm settled over her. She watched the bubbles escape her lips, each one a prayer for a different life. Through the shimmering, distorted surface, she saw it—a tall, dark shadow eclipsing the party lights at the edge of the pool. A lifeline. Or a different kind of cage. Her vision started to fade to black, a new plan crystallizing in the void. Let them think I'm broken, she thought, a final, defiant spark before the darkness took her. Let them think I'm gone.

The last bubble escaped her lips, and the hazy blue dream dissolved into nothing. The world contracted to a single point of light, then winked out. The cold gave way to a profound, silent blackness, and Kalea knew no more.