I’d like to think that we’ve helped each other. My determination rubbed off and she worked hard. The fact that she still graduated in four years made me as proud of her as my own achievements did of me. We both accomplished our goal. Her degree just had a different school’s name at the top.

While I was the studier, she was the survivor. She knew more about the game of people like Shaun because she did what she needed to do. And even though she was now a college graduate, extra money wasn’t one of her luxuries.

“Well,” she said with a wink. “I was going to sign the receipt. You did book this room in my name after all.”

I stood. “I did. If Alex or Alexandria isn’t who I am this week, I didn’t want my name on the reservation. I mean, Charli with an i can’t be listed on the reservation.” I shrugged. “She doesn’t have a last name.”

“Oh! I know! We could be sisters! You can share my last name.”

As I grabbed my small purse and took one last look at the creation in the mirror, I shrugged. “Our eyes are different colors. Yours are hazel and mine are some weird shade of brown.”

Chelsea hugged my shoulder and looked at us in the mirror. With her head close to mine, she said, “Our hair could be the same color. I’ve changed mine so many times, I forget what it really is. And hazel is close to gold. That’s the color I’ve always used to describe your eyes—golden.”

“Okay, sisters it is. And if I’m not back by midnight—”

“Oh no. I’m not sending out the cavalry until tomorrow. Charli with an i has some life to discover. I’m not the type of sister to put her on a time clock. There’s no magic pumpkin or glass slipper. Charli will be here all week. The stroke of midnight will have no bearing.”

“ALEXANDRIA!”

Alex, I silently corrected.

My mother’s greeting echoed through the enormous foyer as she stepped quickly from the sitting room. Her high heels clicking across the floor as she made her way toward me, arms open wide.

The brief pleasure I felt at seeing her evaporated as soon as Alton turned the corner only a few steps behind her. Of course he’d be on her heels. Heaven forbid that I’d have even a few seconds alone with my mother outside of his earshot.

“Mom,” I murmured against her shoulder as she wrapped me in her arms.

Almost immediately, she stiffened and held me at arm’s length. “Look at you. Are you ill? You look pale. I thought you were supposed to be resting before moving to New York. It’s that horrid girl, isn’t it? What does she have you doing?”

“Alexandria.” Alton’s icy tone sent a chill through the air.

Ignoring him, I kept my gaze focused on my mother. “I’m fine. I’m just tired, that’s all. I’ve been flying most of the day.”

“My dear, that’s why you should have flown privately and not commercial, all those layovers are ridiculous. You should rest, but first we can eat. I had Martha hold dinner.”

The idea of sitting in the dining room with my mother and Alton made any possible twinge of hunger evaporate. “Really, Mom, I’d like to settle whatever business you deemed so important it warranted my immediate trip to Savannah. Then I’d like to go.”

“Go?” Her perfectly painted face scrunched as her eyes narrowed. I wasn’t sure how many appointments she’d had with her plastic surgeon, but I wondered if her skin could be pulled any tighter. “Nonsense. Brantley! Brantley!”

“Yes, madam.”

It was an amazing feat that all well-instructed house staff possessed. They could materialize out of thin air. One moment, they weren’t there, and you were alone. The next, they’re beside you. If they were truly well-trained and well-paid, they also had the ability to be blind and mute to their surroundings. The employees of Montague Manor were among the best-trained staff on the face of the earth.

“Where are Alexandria’s bags? Have you taken them to her room?”

“Madam—”

“Mother, I asked Brantley to leave them in the car. I was hoping that we could conclude this family meeting and I could be back in the air. There’s a flight scheduled—”

“Brantley,” Alton’s voice superseded our discussion. “Retrieve Miss Collin’s bags and put them in her room. You may retire the car for the evening. We won’t be leaving the property.”

Though my neck straightened in defiance, my lips remained still, glued together by experience. Just like that, Alton had declared the future and sentenced me to prison behind the gates of Montague Manor.

Mother reached for Alton’s hand and turned back to me. “Dear, have you said hello to your father?”

“No, my father is deceased. I hate to be the one to break the news to you.”

Alton’s glare narrowed while Adelaide did her best to make light of my comment. “Alexandria, you always did get cranky when you were tired. Now show Alton the respect he deserves.”

If only I truly could, but I was quite certain that my mother wasn’t speaking literally.

“Alton, hello. You can only imagine my disappointment when I learned that you wouldn’t be out of town on one of those meetings of yours this weekend.”

“And miss this family reunion? I wouldn’t think of it.”

My skin turned to ice as he reached out and patted my shoulder. Keeping his hand there, in a silent reminder of his dominance, he scanned me up and down. Slowly his beady eyes moved from my flat ballet-styled shoes, blue jeans, and top, to my hair pulled back in a ponytail. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t accept your mother’s offer of the private jet. I’m most certain they would’ve assumed you were the help. Then again, if you’d flown privately at least the entire world wouldn’t have seen you gallivanting around airports like some common…”

Mother’s glare stopped his assessment.

“Common twenty-something?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Well, dear, you do look a little haggard. Why don’t you go up to your room and clean up? We’ll meet you in the dining room in fifteen minutes.”

I turned around for Brantley, ready to tell him to forget Alton Fitzgerald’s decree and take me back to the airport, but of course he had disappeared, evaporated into the mystical invisible plain. More than likely he was delivering my bags to my room. If I didn’t hurry, some poor young woman on the staff would be unpacking before I ever made it up the stairs. I wondered what that same person would think of my vibrator. It was the first thought since I’d been picked up at the airport that put a smile on my face. Honestly, I didn’t care if it was the talk of the kitchen. Montague Manor needed a good laugh.

“Mother, you know I’m in the middle of getting things set in New York. I have a lot that needs to be done before classes begin. I don’t have time to spend wandering around Montague Manor.”

She reached for my hand and led me toward the large staircase. “No one’s asking you to wander, dear: straight up to your room and back down. It’s been so long since you’ve been home. Don’t forget to wear appropriate clothes for dinner.” She squeezed my hand, like she was doing me a favor. “I may have done a little shopping. Besides, I’m sure the things in your suitcase are wrinkled.” She kissed my cheek. “Just peek in the closet.”

With each step up the stairs, I lost a piece of my life. When I’d entered the front gates I was Alex, a twenty-three-year-old college graduate. In less than ten minutes, I’d regressed to Alexandria Charles Montague Collins, a teenager caught in the tower of lies and deceit. If only the stairs went higher and higher. Instead of a teenager, I could go back further to a time of pure innocence.

How far back would I need to go?

I closed my eyes and inhaled the familiar scents. Even after four years, nothing had changed. The closed doors to unused rooms were like soldiers along the corridor, assuring that I did as I was told. They didn’t need rifles upon their shoulders. The glass doorknobs that glistened from the crystal lighting were their weapons, locked portals to destitute lands.