“Because she chose not to be,” Sabrina mutters.
The name hits me like a punch.
Sabrina.
The one who didn’t want to be part of this world. The one they pretended didn’t exist.
“She doesn’t want this,” Sabrina continues, eyes still locked on me. Her voice softens, but the steel in it is impossible to miss. “Ariana didn’t choose this.”
“She’ll come around,” Mr. Kensington says sharply.
“She cried herself to sleep every night this week,” Sabrina fires back. “That’s not choosing. That’s surviving.”
I take a step forward before I realize I’ve moved.
Sabrina moves too—shielding Ariana with her body, like I’m the threat.
Like she’d go to war for her.
I’ve never wanted someone more.
She isnothinglike the women they tried to line up for me. She's a challenge and fire. She’s a storm in a silk dress. She’s the first person in this house who’s spoken the truth out loud.
And I want her. Not because she’s beautiful.
But because she’s the only one who doesn’t flinch.
“She’s not the one I want,” I say.
The room goes still.
Sabrina blinks. Slowly.
And then I take another step, eyes never leaving hers. “If the deal isn’t for her—it’s off.”
Ariana lets out a shaky breath beside her sister. The stepmother gasps.
Mr. Kensington stares at me like I’ve set fire to the room. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’ve never been more serious in my life.” My voice is calm. Final. “You want the Blackwell name? The diamonds? The empire? It comes with my terms. And I choose her.”
Sabrina tilts her head, one brow arching as she gives me a smile that should come with a warning.
“Well,” she says slowly. “That’s going to piss everyone off.”
And for the first time in years… I feel free.
Even if I’m walking straight into hell to get there.
The Wrong Kind of Girl
Sabrina
They’re both talking over each other.
My father and his wife.
One loud and defensive, the other sharper than glass—clashing voices echoing off the vaulted ceilings of this monument to wealth and control.
