Chapter 3

Delia's eyes reddened instantly. She lifted the soaked skirt, sounding flustered and wounded.

"A server bumped into me... I don't even know how it happened..."

She looked up with tears trembling in her eyes. "Evelyn, I need to change."

My fingers tightened around the handkerchief until my nails nearly cut my palm.

How convenient.

The spill happened at the exact moment I announced our departure.

But I couldn't force her to walk out of a formal gala in a stained dress while everyone watched.

I suppressed the dread inside me and signaled to Tessa.

"Take Delia to the guest suite and help her change. Bring my mauve evening wrap."

Delia followed Tessa obediently toward the east guest wing.

The tightness in my chest didn't ease.

I called another staff member, Paige Rowe, and spoke quietly.

"Wait outside the guest suite. The moment Tessa comes out, report to me."

Paige nodded and left.

I remained in the ballroom while one cup of tea cooled and was replaced by another.

The laughter, card games, and clinking glasses sounded as though they came through water. Twenty minutes passed.

Paige didn't come back.

Neither did Tessa.

I could no longer remain seated. I stood so quickly that the chair scraped the floor.

Several women looked at me in surprise, but I lifted my skirt and hurried out without explaining.

The moment I crossed the ballroom threshold, a scream tore through the east guest wing.

It was Delia.

My feet stopped, and every drop of blood in my body seemed to freeze.

The guest-suite door stood wide open.

When I entered, I saw Delia immediately.

She wore only a thin white slip, its neckline pulled open, and half her hair had fallen loose.

Her face was buried against her arm while she sobbed so violently that she could barely breathe.

Near the dressing alcove across from her stood Adrian.

His jacket had been pulled open. His face was gray with fury, his lips compressed, and his chest rose hard with every breath.

The suite was crowded with guests.

A suffocating silence filled the room.

I stood at the threshold as though my feet had rooted into the floor.

"Evelyn!"

Delia raised her face and lunged toward me.

She stumbled from the low couch, collapsed against my legs, and looked up through tears.

"Evelyn, help me. Adrian... he..."

She cried so hard that she seemed close to fainting, her fingers locked around my skirt.

Anyone seeing her would have felt immediate pity.

"He told me to wait for him in the guest suite.

"I thought he was bringing me a message from you, so I came. But when he entered, he started tearing at my clothes..."

She covered her face and shook with sobs.

"I fought him, but he was too strong. Evelyn, I can't live after this."

The moment she said it, the room erupted.

"At his own homecoming gala?"

"Major Prescott always seemed honorable. How could he do this?"

"She's Evelyn's half-sister. He attacked the woman who would become his sister-in-law?"

I raised my eyes slowly and looked at Adrian.

All color had vanished from his face, and a vein jumped at his temple.

He tried several times to speak before a rough whisper emerged.

"I didn't.

"I never touched her.

"She..."

"Adrian."

Eleanor Prescott's lips trembled.

"What happened here?"

"Nothing happened, Mom."

Adrian's voice was low.

"I arrived less than a minute ago. Her clothes were already disturbed. I turned to leave, and she screamed."

Someone muttered, "Her dress didn't tear itself."

"His jacket is open too. How does he explain that?"

"Are we supposed to believe she undressed and threw herself at him?"

"Mrs. Prescott, your family owes the young woman an answer."

Color rushed into Eleanor's face, then drained away completely.

An older society matron cleared her throat.

"If Major Prescott compromised her, he must take responsibility."

"Yes. Refusing to marry her after this would destroy her reputation."

"He was already engaged to Evelyn. Replacing one sister with the other may be humiliating, but it keeps the scandal within the two families."

"Either way, she would become a Prescott."

Every word landed like a needle.

I looked down at Delia.

Her face remained pressed against my legs as she cried.

But the corner of her mouth had lifted in a hidden smile.

I drew a slow breath, helped Delia upright, and covered her shoulders.

"Delia, where is Tessa?"