Page 97 of Until We Burn
A calculated attempt to oust me and place Jonathan at the very top.
“So, you had time to think and plan on it, and not evenoncedid you consider what I would’ve felt?”
Sophia’s eyes fly open, blazing with desperation and rage. “I had to protect myself, Diana!”
“I would’ve protected you!”
“Oh, like how you’re protecting yourself now?” Sophia hisses. “You can look out for me all you want, but you’re not enough to shield me from everything bàbaputs us through. At the end of the day, you’re his little lap dog, chained up to do everything he says and soak up everything he thinks about you, and that saves you more than you think it does!”
“Saves me?” I gasp. “Were you not in that room just now? He practically disowned me!”
Sophia laughs, the sound lithe and cruel. “You know for someone who is known for using her head, it’s shocking how it stops working at a time you need it most.”
“I don’t thinkyoushould be the one lecturing me on using your head,” I scoff.
“He didn’t kick you out of the running even though he knows how that will look to the board,” Sophia seethes. “How could anyone believe in a CEO who keeps a liability so close?”
I huff, my hands fisting at my sides. “Spit it out, Sophia. What are you trying to say?”
“Bàba istestingyou, Diana! You’ve never once acted out of line. Not like this. He knows your every move. He knows that you’re going to redeem yourself, which is why he’s keeping you close enough for you to get back on, but just far enough to save face in front of the board.”
Sickness cinches my gut. I’ve been trying to rack my brain on why he didn’t punish Gregory hard enough, why he didn’t believe me, because he’s seen everything I’ve done so far. Bàba knows I would never stoop this low to get ahead and yet…
No.I refuse to believe that bàba would purposefully let me endure weeks of vitriol and alienation if he knew I was innocent. He’s hard on us, but not without good reason. He doesn’t believe me because, in the last several days leading to the scandal, I disappointed him.
The fault is mine.
Sophia charges on.“You’re protected because you’re capable of being molded, you’re fine with conforming to what he wants you tobe.” Resentment tears through her voice. “You don’t have to become everything you hate just to feel safe in this family.”
I catch the scar slashing her palm. This time, Sophia doesn’t hide it. She holds it up for me to see.
“You remember this? The night I told bàbaI wanted to pursue fashion instead of taking over the company. He told me to break one of the blades on the Huang family sculpture and then he would let me go.”
I remember sitting in the war room five years ago when it happened. Sophia—sixteen, small, and defiant—folding her hand over the blade to snap it off the hilt. It cut her instead. Bàba didn’t even flinch when the blood hit the carpet.
“Take this as a lesson,”he warned.“If you ever want to leave this company, you won’t do it so easily. Not without struggle. Not without pain. No luck falls on ungrateful children.”
Sophia’s hand trembles. Her fierce dark eyes are glassy with unshed tears. “I know what I’ve done is wrong. And I’m sorry that I can’t be the sister you deserve. But don’t act like you’d be above doing everything I’ve done. You don’t know what it’s like to outrightly defy bàbaand survive.Noneof you do. You all want to walk the same path and that’s fine. I only have myself and I will do anything to make sure I don’t bleed again.”
My rage dies.
Before I can say anything, headlights flash across the driveway, drowning us in a white glow. Hans pulls the car up until the door handle aligns with my hand.
Sophia swallows hard. She smooths her hands over her shiny hair before straightening up with all the dignity she has left.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to argue with the Indigo store manager for not saving the last copy of Jessica Lovelace’s book for me.”
Sophia turns back to the mansion. Her strides are taut as she braces herself to go back in. Fear and regret swallow me up. Sophia’s fate is what I’ll have to endure if bàba ever finds out I went against him by sleeping with Kai behind his back. After all, Sophia and I don’t have Gregory’s privilege of being the firstborn son. There’s so much he canget away with unscathed, while we have to brave the scars made by their mistakes.
I quietly slip into the car.
Hans glances at me in the rearview mirror. Concern softens his face when he sees me dab my eyes. “Is there anything I can do for you, Miss Diana?”
Can you take us back to the days when we were just kids who knew nothing about competing and taking over a mass media company? Back to the time when Sophia wasn’t the sister I hardly knew, but the sister I read romance novels with and trusted with all my heart?
“I just want to go back to the Fairmont.”
Hans simply nods.
