Gil

“Are you threatening me right now?”

“Finally catching on?” I grin, and Yelena’s eyes flash murderously.

“What do you want?”

“The bullying, it stops today. From you and your mother too. The physical abuse, the sneaky tricks, the nasty comments, all of it. If Evie comes to me with even one complaint, if even a single ‘accident’ happens and she gets hurt, I’ll tell Alex everything you’ve been up to.”

She stares at me, jaw clenched, fairly shaking with rage.

“You know what kind of man Alex is. He won’t tolerate a cruel wife. If you have even a prayer of one day becoming Mrs. Livingston, I suggest you turn over a new leaf, and quickly.” 

“So you were like this,” she says, and her tone has changed completely. She stopped holding my arm a long time ago, and her sweet face is twisted with cruelty and sarcasm. “I never guessed you’d be so conniving. You hardly look the type.”

“Ah, ah,” I wag my finger. “What did I say about your thinly veiled insults?”

She hisses at me like a feral cat.

“Oh, and since I’m sure the idea’s already come into your evil little mind, you can forget about going to Alex with some story about how I threatened or molested you today to discredit me. We’ve been friends since childhood, so you don’t have to wonder whose story he’ll believe.”

“You’re despicable,” she spits at me.

“I’m sure you’d say the same to anyone who saw through your act, so I’ll try not to get my feelings too hurt by your insults.”

Yelena spins on her heel and stalks away. I smirk as I call after her, “Remember. If Evie has even one complaint…” I leave my threat unfinished. There’s nothing more I need to say.

Yelena got the message loud and clear.

Yelena

“Despicable, ugly bastard. Troglodyte!” I fairly screech under my breath, stopping every second step on my way back to the house to stomp my feet in my frustration.

How dare he threaten me?! What business does he have, sticking his nose into my affairs? But then, it all makes sense, since he’s been hanging out with her.

Evangeline. Those two ridiculous, revolting pieces of trash deserve each other, I think, clenching my fists so tightly I feel my nails digging into my palms.

That scheming, conniving, two-faced bitch. How dare she threaten my relationship with Alex? Should I kill her? I think as I storm through the kitchen, pushing furiously past Maddie so that she drops her bowl of freshly chopped onions and they spill out across the floor.

“Yelena!” she exclaims reflexively, and I round on her with a terrible slap that sends her head snapping sideways.

“You dare to call me by name?!”

“I’m sorry, Young Miss!” Maddie says, holding her cheek, eyes wide with shock. The fringe of her blonde hair doesn’t quite cover the spreading red mark left by my handprint. It’s a satisfying sight, but it would be even more satisfying if I could see her bleed. I think of my mother and the trick she uses with the backwards ring. Perhaps I should try it sometime.

“The staff’s attitude has become rather lax, I see,” I say, scowling down my nose at her as she cowers beneath me. “I’d best have a word with Mother to see what disciplinary measures would be proper.”

“No!” Maddie exclaims. “Th-that is, I’m sorry, Young Miss, I shouldn’t have been in your way, I shouldn’t have used your name so thoughtlessly, please forgive me.”

Like this I watch her for a few seconds, reveling in the power I have over this insect. You understand, don’t you? We are not equals, Maddie. You and I… could never be equals…

But I’ve gone too far. Even for one of my tantrums, this is excessive. I’d better correct my behavior now, or risk losing my reputation as the sweet and innocent Yelena.

Tears come easily to my eyes. I don’t even have to try to force them. Suddenly they are just spilling over, dripping onto the stone kitchen floor.

“Oh, Maddie,” I say, kneeling beside her, embracing her. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I was so upset by something that happened earlier and, oh, I ended up taking it out on you, how will you ever forgive me?”

“That’s alright, Young Miss,” Maddie says, still reeling from the shock of my outburst when I give her whiplash with this sudden personality shift. She reaches her arms tentatively around me and I lean into the gesture, though in truth I’d like nothing more than to wring her ugly neck. “Of course I know you’d never do something like this on purpose. Please don’t take it to heart, Miss.”

“No, you must let me apologize. I will give you a dress from my closet to make it up to you. You can pick any one you like.”

“Young Miss!” she starts to protest, but I silence her firmly.

“I absolutely insist.”

“Thank you, Young Miss. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve such a fine mistress. Oh, but, Young Miss, perhaps it isn’t my place, but—”

“Yes, Maddie?”

“You said the visitor earlier upset you. Was it Mister Gilbert? Did he do something inappropriate to you, Young Miss?”

An easy target, at least he would be, if he weren’t Alex’s friend. I’ve framed more than one man who angered me with charges of inappropriate sexual conduct, causing them to lose their jobs, their homes and families. If I thought I could get away with it I’d saddle him with an accusation in a heartbeat. But I know how much Alex likes that wretched man. He sees him like a brother when he’s nothing more than a low-born soldier and refuses to let anyone speak a negative word about him. It’s infuriating, but for now, I must bear with this insult. For now.

I shake my head in answer to Maddie’s question. “He didn’t do anything inappropriate. Something he said angered me, is all.”

“What did he say?” she asks, hazel eyes wide with incurable curiosity.

These paupers, I think with a barely repressed sneer of contempt. They love nothing more than a juicy bit of gossip. Then, should I give them something to talk about? I think as a sudden, brilliant idea springs to my mind.

“You’ve perhaps noticed how my sister has been feeling rather close to Mr. Gil recently?”

Maddie nods, hanging onto my every word.

“He said—oh, you mustn’t repeat it. Evangeline will be crushed.”

“I won’t tell a soul, Young Miss.”

I confide a few words to Maddie in secret. Her eyes go even wider to get the juicy news. I dab my eyes and pretend to be very upset, and allow her to spend another minute consoling me. Thanking her, I rise to leave the kitchen before her pauper’s stench begins to rub off on me.

Making my way upstairs, I am alerted to the sound of my mother’s raised voice, and I recognize at once she’s scolding Evangeline. Ordinarily I wouldn’t intervene and just watch from an aloof place where my sister could not see, but today I rush in.

“To be gone all day and then return with that good-for-nothing soldier—what did you do to get on his good side? Did open your legs for him? I’d expect nothing more from a whore’s daughter—wait until your father hears about—”

“Mother!” I come between them. “Stop this at once! You’re being unfair to Sister!”

Mother’s gray eyes, so like my own, widen with surprise at my challenge. “What’s gotten into you, Yelena?”

I communicate volumes with my expression; Mother knows me so well I imagine she reads my meaning perfectly.

Not now; I’ll explain later.  

“Evangeline,” I turn to her and she winces as my hand lifts to caress her face. “We’ve been awful to you in the past, haven’t we? It’s no wonder you distrust us. But things are going to change from now on,” I say, and I give her my most saintly smile. “You can rest assured, no one’s going to bully you ever again. But look at you, you seem so bedraggled. You must go to the kitchen and get Maddie to make you a cup of cocoa.”

She doesn’t trust me, not one bit. Her dark eyes are wary as she moves past us, as though expecting a blow to come at any moment, but both Mother and I only watch her go with frozen expressions, her with a scowl and me with a smile plastered on my face. Yes I’m sure I look very angelic. But what Evangeline doesn’t see, what no one will ever see, is that beneath the mask churns a demon of hate so ugly it’s all I can do to contain it. 

Bitch. How dare she rat on me to that ugly brute? How dare she threaten to take my shining future from me as mistress of Alexander’s vast wealth? She should know her place. She shouldn’t get so full of herself just because she finally has a little support.

Gilbert’s support, yes, that’s why she dared to go against me. Because he happens to have a good relationship with Alex, she thought she could fight back. But what happens when that support runs out?

Who will she run to after I break them up?

The first stage of my plan is already in motion. With Maddie’s unwitting help, the rumors I planted will eventually get back to my sister. She’ll falter then, come to doubt Gil’s feelings for her. Her self-esteem is already so worn down from the years of abuse she’s suffered at mine and Mother’s hands, just that small seed of uncertainty will quickly grow into a great choking vine to crush the very heart within her.

And that’s just the beginning.

Without Gilbert’s backing, Evangeline will return to the way she was before; stupid and defenseless, a miserable sniveling wretch, begging for mercy at my feet.

And then—then—

I’ll kill her.