Chapter 2

For a moment, the changing room went silent.

Vivian reacted fast. She shoved the box of pins into a drawer and hustled Brooke and Tessa out the back door.

Then she fixed her hair and went to stand by the door.

The moment the door opened, Nathan practically burst in.

"Where's Elena?"

Vivian put on a smile. "How would I know? It's her first event like this. Maybe she got nervous and went off to hide."

Nathan walked right past her without a glance.

Vivian reached for him. "Nathan, I'm talking to you."

He shook her off.

"Not now."

When I came out the side door, Nathan spotted me right away.

He strode over, checked my face first, then my arm.

"Who touched you?"

I looked down.

The pinpricks really were tiny.

Vivian had already followed him and jumped in before I could speak. "She's not going to blame me for getting pricked by a sewing pin, is she?"

"Shut up."

That was all Nathan said.

Vivian looked like she'd been slapped in front of everyone. Her expression instantly soured.

"Nathan!"

He took off his jacket, draped it over my shoulders, and asked quietly, "Can you walk?"

I nodded.

Vivian wouldn't give up. She hurried after him and hooked her arm through his.

"I told you she's too sensitive. There are so many people here today. It's only natural she'd feel out of place."

Nathan looked down at her hand.

"Let go."

"You—"

"I said let go."

She slowly dropped her hand.

In that moment, I could actually see the disbelief in her eyes.

The Weir family had spoiled her for 19 years. She'd probably never imagined that one day Nathan would treat her like this over another girl.

In the car on the way home, I didn't say who'd stuck me with the pins.

Not because I wanted to protect Vivian. I just knew there were no cameras, and nobody would admit to anything. Besides, my parents were already on edge after finding out I'd been hurt. I didn't want to turn the whole house upside down over a few pinpricks.

But Vivian obviously took my silence as a win.

That night, Vivian sat with Brooke and Tessa in her dorm room, going over what had gone "wrong."

"Last time was just bad luck."

She said it carelessly as she painted her nails.

"Elena's phone kept ringing, and Nathan just happened to be nearby."

One of the girls asked quietly, "So what about next time?"

Vivian smiled.

"Take her phone.

"Pick a place nobody walks by.

"Most important of all, don't leave any marks."

She put the brush back in the bottle.

"As long as there aren't any wounds, she won't even have anything to show them."

Meanwhile, back at the Weir house, my father had the butler bring me a new phone.

"It has emergency location tracking." My father handed it to me. "Don't complain that it's a hassle."

I'd just taken it when Vivian came home from school.

She stood in the living room doorway, her eyes on the phone.

"You're getting her a new phone?"

Nobody answered.

She took a couple of steps closer, her smile a little sour.

"She's only been back a few days, and now she gets a special phone too?"

My father finally looked up.

"Because she's my daughter."

Vivian's smile froze again.

She probably hated that feeling.

Every time she opened her mouth, it was to embarrass me, but somehow she was always the one left embarrassed.

She stared at the phone in my hand for a few seconds, then turned and went upstairs.

As she passed me, she lowered her voice. "Don't get cocky.

"You just got lucky today."

I didn't answer. If she really believed that, I knew she'd come after me again.