The Twins He Destroyed

heavy, thick with unspoken rivalries and

living here, all of us moths drawn to the Thorne f

prominent, now just a faded n

a disgrace, living as one of

e boy who promised me marriage, no

with his grandmother

n for Brenda, a former actress he was infat

victim narratives, was my bitterest

just paran

vid premonition, haunted

t me gasping for air, m

ed with a rage I never thou

t once held mine gently, were

of my newborn

d us. Al

r, was a shadow I lived

peared on the test, my first tho

His children. The on

ect them. I h

iller, was a man known for his dis

ing as I offered him a sum t

imbalance, Mrs. Ashton," he

ey. My secret w

ain hall buzzed wit

her hand resting protective

er voice triumphant, laced with a s

list, she claimed

, their eyes darting betw

rack to my life here, a constant r

ompetitor, now seemi

y I hadn't seen in years, a jo

Thorne, the matriarch, her silver ha

e firm, "Brenda is carrying my child

ask. He

n this dynasty, had promised that the first woman t

lineage, the immense w

Her gaze, usually unreadable, flic

en promises and a de

d Eleanor were more li

randmother entrusted

y, that affection, deeply. She

t hidden advantage, a fragi

her limits, her own c

their old money and political

coming one of Ethan' s "women" in this degrading

s, reduced to this. It w

premonition. They didn' t kn

iced my dignity for a

er voice calm but carryi

d, her eyes still not fully on Brenda. "

to argue, but a subtle gestu

s buying time. For me? F

a small crack of ligh

for me was an old,

youth with my grandmother, thei

to me once, her voice soft, "she wanted to

to protect me, even resorted to her own manip

metimes suffocating, car