Chapter 1

Introduction

When I came back to the Weir family, I carried a secret nobody could explain.

Whenever I got hurt, my parents and my two older brothers felt it at the same time.

Everyone in the Weir family who knew about it made sure no outsiders found out.

The only one who didn't know was Vivian Weir, the girl who'd been raised in my place.

She was sure that as long as she got rid of the evidence and nobody saw a thing, no one could ever expose what she'd done.

What she didn't know was that every time she hurt me, the pain ran through our blood and set off an alarm everyone could feel.

She still thought I was just some broke nobody who'd crawled out of foster care.

On my third day back with the Weir family, my father, Richard Weir, called my two brothers and our family doctor, Dr. Peter Graham, into his study.

"Say that again." My father looked at me, speaking slowly. "When you get hurt, we feel it too?"

I nodded.

I'd only found out myself a year earlier. A kid in my foster home pushed me down the stairs, and the moment I skinned my knee, a stranger across the street dropped his cup. Later I found out that man was my brother, Alex Weir.

Back then, I didn't know who my real family was.

Now the DNA results were sitting on the table, and all those strange coincidences finally made sense.

My other brother, Nathan Weir, obviously didn't believe it.

"Sounds like a kids' fantasy movie."

I picked up the lancet the doctor had set out and pricked my fingertip.

The moment a bead of blood welled up, Nathan hissed and looked down at his own hand.

Alex frowned.

My mother, Caroline Weir, suddenly clutched her finger too.

My father was silent for two seconds, then looked up at Dr. Graham.

Dr. Graham looked even more lost than they did.

We ran two more simple tests, and the results were exactly the same.

My pain carried over to anyone directly related to me by blood.

My father made his decision on the spot.

"This doesn't leave this room."

My mother held my hand, her eyes red. "No one outside the family can know. If someone wanted to hurt you, they could hurt all of us at once."

Vivian wasn't home that day.

Ever since she'd found out I was the Weir family's real daughter, she'd been living in the school dorms. My parents hadn't made a point of calling her home. Nobody in the family imagined how absurd things would get a few days later, all because she didn't know our secret.

The day of the charity equestrian event, I made my first official appearance in the Weir family's social circle.

In the changing room, Vivian and two other girls, Brooke Ellis and Tessa Cole, blocked the door.

She gave my dress a once-over, her lip curling.

"Nice dress.

"Too bad you still look like you stole it from a foster home."

The girls with her laughed.

I didn't want a fight, so I tried to walk around her. She held out an arm to stop me.

"What's the rush? I just want to teach you some manners."

She picked up a box of long sewing pins from the table and handed it to Brooke.

"Don't touch her face. And don't go too deep."

She smiled at me.

"The pinpricks will disappear in a few hours. When she goes home crying, she won't even have anything to point to."

I looked at the pin and warned her, "You'd better not touch me."

Vivian acted like she'd just heard a joke.

"What, you'll die if somebody touches you?"

"No," I said. "If I hurt, they hurt too."

She froze for a second, then laughed even louder.

"Elena Weir, growing up in foster care doesn't mean you can treat everyone like an idiot."

She lifted her chin.

"Do it."

The pin stabbed into my inner arm.

In another building, Nathan was sitting in on a school board meeting with our father when he suddenly dropped his coffee.

"What the hell?"

He clutched his arm.

A moment later, the second pin went in.

Alex stopped flipping through his files too.

My brothers looked up at the same time.

My father already had his phone out.

And in the changing room, Vivian was still admiring the tiny red dots on my arm.

My phone suddenly buzzed.

Once.

Twice.

Then it kept buzzing, almost nonstop.

Vivian snatched my phone. Then her own rang. Her eyes lit up at the name on its screen.

"Nathan."

She made a point of turning the screen toward me, grinning smugly.

"See that? So what if you came back? He still calls me first."

She answered, and her voice instantly went sweet. "Nathan?"

There was no small talk on the other end.

"Where's Elena?"

The smile froze on Vivian's face.

"What?"

"I asked you where Elena is."

Nathan's voice had gone cold. "I can't get through to her. I'm coming over."

Vivian gripped the phone, her knuckles slowly turning white.

After she hung up, she stared at me for a few seconds.

I thought she'd at least stop.

Instead, she tossed the phone onto the table.

"You've only been back a few days.

"And now when he calls me, it's to find you?"

She turned to Brooke and Tessa.

"Again."

As the third pin went in, hurried footsteps were already pounding down the hallway outside.

Vivian leaned close to my ear and lowered her voice. "As long as you don't say anything, nobody will ever know."

The next second, Nathan's voice came from outside the door. "Elena!"