Chapter 213
Ellie’s POV
Dominic’s words hung in the silence like a noose dangling in front of my face, beckoning to me. Demanding that I step into it and let my past life repeat.
“If you can prove yourself, then maybe I’ll consider letting you have the job back.”
Consider.
Like I was some kind of fucking job applicant for an entry level position.
I stared at Dominic for a long moment, genuinely not sure how to respond to that. His eyes glimmered coldly in the light, and immediately, I knew he was challenging merHe wanted to see a reaction on my face.
I remembered moments like this all too well in my past life; being replaced by Vivian at every turn, then mocked whenever an opportunity arose to compete against her.
They both loved it. Humiliating me, watching me scramble to “prove” myself.
Back then, too, I really had tried to prove that I was better than Vivian. I bent over backwards every step of the way, constantly trying to show Dominic that I was a “good” Luna, and that he should choose me over
her.
All that had come of it was my demise. I would have walked right into that noose and let it hang me, willingly, for so much as a scrap of praise from Dominic
As I stared at Dominic now, that was all I could think of; how I had worked so hard to be perfect, only to have everything handed to Vivian in the end, and to wind up buried six feet under the ground myself.
It was funny, how that was happening now, in a way. Despite all of my efforts to ensure that this life was different from the last, she was still finding a way to weasel her way back in just like before, and he was holding the door open for her and slowly closing it on my fingers in the process. 1
But I was different this time around, even if she wasn’t. Smarter, wiser. I wasn’t going to let the same things happen to me that happened last time.
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So even though that fierce and familiar sense of competitiveness in my heart suddenly arose upon watching Vivian soak up Dominic’s praise like a sponge, I shoved it down, refusing to rise to their bait.
“I’m good,” I said, lifting my chin. I forced a smile, although it felt like wearing a mask that was too tight on me. “I’m glad someone else is around to do it, because I definitely don’t want to.”
Without saying anything else, I turned and walked out of the room. By the time I reached the bottom of the stairs, Vivian’s voice had resumed.
“Now, we should probably pick out centerpieces…”
I made my way upstairs, my fingers tight around the railing. Admittedly, each echo of her cloying voice in the large house made my frustrations rise like a pot of water threatening to boil over.
The fact of the matter was, no matter how much I tried to tell myself that I didn’t care, that wasn’t necessarily the truth.
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Because all I could think about was how similar this life was becoming to my last one. And how Vivian was seeping into the walls of this house right in front of tne. Again.
I could already picture it now: Vivian putting that crown on her head. Bearing Dominic’s mark. Standing over my grave with a hateful sneer and a satisfied gleam in her eyes.
Shaking my head, I went to my room and locked the door, and I made a second vow that day: not to let Vivian get into my head like that. If she wanted Dominic and my position, then she could have them. I wasn’t going to fight this time around.
If anything, I took it as a sign that Dominic was closer to considering divorce than he was letting on. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise.
By the following morning, I felt marginally better about the situation. The weather was atrocious, however -a heavy rain whipping through windy, dark skies, and thunder and lightning battling on the horizon.
I took one look out my bedroom window and shuddered, feeling cold just from looking at it. Going to the academy was definitely out of the question. The streets were probably flooded.
I decided to keep out of the way that day so Vivian could go about her precious festival preparations in peace, but I was hungry, so I padded down to the kitchen to make some breakfast.
Of course, Vivian was there. Like a ghost following me around the house.
“Ah! Ellie! There you are,” she said. She held up two candle holders; one that was brass with a clawfoot base, and one that was iron with a simple twisted design. “Which one of these do you think we should use for the tables?”
I walked over to the bread cupboard and opened it, grabbing two slices from a bag, which I threw into the
toaster.
“I thought you had it all handled,” I said curtly without looking at her.
I could hear Vivian’s sigh. “Well, excuse me for trying to include you,” she said. “But I guess if you’d rather sit around and do nothing, then that’s your prerogative…”
My fingers tightened around the butter knife as a fresh surge of indignation and competitiveness bubbled
r up inside of me. I tried to quell it, but Vivian’s words infuriated me.
“You’re not trying to help Dominic, are you?” I blurted out, turning to look at her, still holding the butter knife in my fist. “You’re just trying to weasel your way into my position.”
Vivian’s brows lifted. She glanced at the knife. “What would make you say that?”
“I know exactly what you’re doing, Vivian. Maybe no one else does, but I do.” I pointed the knife at her. ” You don’t actually care about helping the pack by doing all this. All you care about is yourself.”
She didn’t answer, but she didn’t need to. We both knew I was right.
Her eyes flicked to the knife again, and her throat bobbed, but her smile didn’t crack.
My toast popped out then. I turned, grabbing it, and slathered some butter on it. By the time I turned back around with the toast on a plate, Vivian was gone, along with the candle holders.
213
There was something on the table, though. A notepad with a to-do list on it.
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Curious, I walked over, picking it up. Half of the list was already crossed off; the next thing on it was to make a trial menu for the festival. That one was unfinished, with a notejotted into the margin beside it that read: “Figure out Dominic’s favorite foods”.
An idea suddenly struck me as I read those words.
I hated that I was actually considering getting involved in this when I had just promised myself that I didn’t care. But Vivian’s comment still irked me, no matter how much I tried not to let it, and I just… couldn’t help
If she wanted to run everything and take all the praise for herself, then so be it. But there were no rules stating that she needed to do a good job.
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