Chapter 1

I'd just set foot inside the Sterling estate when Chloe threw herself into my parents' arms, sobbing.

"Dad, Mom, please don't make me call her my sister. I can't."

She clutched Eleanor's blouse, shoulders shaking.

"She's the transfer student spreading vicious rumors about me at school. She's the reason I'm on antidepressants!"

Eleanor cradled her, stroking her hair.

Richard's face turned to stone. He looked at me like I was something scraped off his shoe.

"After everything it took to find you, this is who you turned out to be? A bully?"

I stood frozen in the foyer, hands flying into frantic ASL signs.

"Me? Spread rumors about her?"

"I can't speak!"

......

Nobody was looking at my hands.

"Get her out of my sight," Richard said to the head butler.

"The Sterlings don't raise cyberbullies. She's not welcome here."

My fingertips were still numb from the cold outside.

Chloe buried her face in Eleanor's neck, her sobs rising perfectly.

"You don't understand. Last month I scored second in our class. She told everyone I cheated. Said Dad paid off the teachers. Said I slept with the dean for my scholarship recommendation."

Every word landed.

Eleanor's hand on her back got firmer.

Richard's jaw locked.

I opened my mouth. Only a thin hiss came out.

I'd been unable to speak since birth.

Damaged vocal cords, the doctors said.

My whole life had been ASL and a notepad.

I raised my hands to sign "That's not true"—

Grayson shot up from the couch.

He crossed the room in three strides and loomed over me like I was trash on his designer rug.

"Clara, cut the act. Chloe's barely holding it together because of you, and you still want to play innocent?"

I flinched.

Grayson was the Sterling heir.

Since I'd walked in, he'd been glued to Chloe's side, his eyes soft for her and nothing else.

The way he looked at me now made my skin crawl.

"Grayson, don't..."

Chloe tugged weakly at his sleeve. Her voice was honey.

"Maybe she just wanted to fit in so badly she didn't know how else to get attention. I'm not angry. Really, I'm not..."

"You're too damn kind, sweetheart."

Eleanor pulled her closer, then turned to me with ice in her eyes.

"Clara, we brought you home to give you a family. Not so you could play mind games with your sister. Whatever gutter tricks you picked up out there, drop them. Now."

Richard's voice dropped to a lethal quiet.

"You carry this family's name. Do you understand what that means? And the second you walk through the door, you're terrorizing your own sister. You're a disgrace."

A cluster of maids hovered by the archway, whispering loud enough to carry.

"Heard she grew up in an orphanage upstate."

"How could anyone be cruel to sweet Miss Chloe?"

"Look at her waving her hands around. Probably faking being mute for sympathy. Attention seeker."

The words cut through me.

I forced myself to breathe.

I reached for my backpack.

I had a notebook in there.

I could write everything down. Make them understand.

My fingers touched the zipper.

Grayson grabbed my wrist.

His grip was brutal.

"What else are you pulling out to manipulate them?"

I twisted and reached with my other hand, finally dragging out a sheet of blank paper.

Before I could use it, Grayson snatched it away and tore it to shreds.

White scraps drifted down around me. Some caught in my hair.

I stared at him. The last warm thing inside me went cold.

Chloe hiccupped on cue and buried her face deeper in Eleanor's shoulder.

"Grayson, don't. She's just—"

"Just what? Look what she's done to you."

His voice cracked.

"Someone this twisted doesn't belong in this family."

Richard didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to.

"Throw her out. She is not my daughter."