"I understand perfectly. You bid on some scholarship girl at a charity auction and now you're parading her around like she's your equal. Do you have any idea how this looks?"
"I don't care how it looks."
"Well, you should. The Thornhill name means something. And you're dragging it through the mud for what? Some passing infatuation with a girl who's clearly using you?"
My blood runs cold.
"She's not using me?—"
"Sebastian." His father's voice is sharp. "I've had people looking into her. Her background, her family situation, her financial status. Do you know what they found?"
No. Please no.
"Her mother is drowning in medical debt. Her sister has ongoing health issues that cost thousands monthly. And conveniently, right after you bid on her, she suddenly has money to spare. Money she's been sending home."
My vision blurs. The money from the auction. My twenty percent. I did send most of it home to help with my sister's bills.
"That doesn't mean?—"
"It means exactly what you think it means. She saw an opportunity and she took it. And I can't entirely blame her, she's a smart girl, clearly. But I can blame you for being naive enough to fall for it."
"You're wrong about her."
But there's doubt in Sebastian's voice. Just a tiny hesitation, but I hear it.
"Am I? Then let me share one more piece of information." His father's voice drops. "One of your friends was kind enough to fill me in on some conversations she overheard. Isla bragging to her friends about how easy it was to 'land a Thornhill.' How this was her ticket to job prospects, connections, a better life after graduation. How she had you completely fooled."
No. That's not true. I never said any of that. Never even thought about it.
"I don't believe you."
"Then you're a fool. But I'm not going to stand by and watch you throw away your future for a gold-digger." There's a pause. "I'm giving you a choice, Sebastian. End this tonight, publicly, and I'll forget this whole embarrassing episode. Or continue with this girl, and I'll make sure everyone knows exactly what she is. I'll expose her scheme, her family's situation, everything. I'll ruin her reputation at this school so thoroughly she'll have no choice but to leave."
My heart stops.
"You wouldn't."
"Try me. Thornhills protect their own. And right now, I'm protecting you from yourself."
Silence. Long, horrible silence.
Then Sebastian's voice, quieter than before, "I need to think."
"You have until midnight. That's when I'm scheduled to give my donor speech. If you haven't ended this by then, I'll do it for you. Publicly."
Footsteps. His father leaving.
I wait for Sebastian to argue more. To defend me. To tell his father to go to hell.
But he doesn't.
The silence stretches so long I start to feel sick.
Finally, I hear him move. Not toward the balcony where I'm hiding, but back inside. Back to the gala.
Back to the choice he has to make.
I stand alone on the balcony, shaking with cold and shock and the horrible realization that everything I feared is coming true.
