- 1 day ago
Rekindled Love In Error
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00My stepbrother Sebastian was drugged.
00:02I undid my own clothes and dedicated my first time for my stepbrother.
00:06I fantasized about this scene countless times.
00:09I really wanted him. His big manhood.
00:12When I got pregnant, parents pressured him to marry me.
00:15The same day Sebastian agreed, he got a car incident.
00:18He was an ice hockey star and billionaire.
00:21I didn't care that he'd never skate again.
00:23I still wanted to be his bride.
00:25I thought he'd be grateful.
00:27I thought we'd grow old together.
00:29Until our wedding night, the estate caught fire.
00:32I woke up choking and my first thought was to get him out.
00:35Instead, he smashed a vase over my head.
00:38It's you! You destroyed me!
00:41Don't think I don't know you orchestrated that night?
00:43Did you this thirsty?
00:45But I will never love you. I love Sienna forever.
00:49Now you can go to hell!
00:57I woke up to Sebastian's ragged breathing from the next room.
01:00I opened my eyes.
01:01Familiar walls.
01:03No wedding decorations.
01:04No smoke.
01:05I'd been reborn?
01:09Ellie, get me some water.
01:12I checked my watch.
01:13I'd come back to the night he was drugged.
01:19The memory hit me all at once.
01:21The blood blurring my vision.
01:23The fire eating through my skin.
01:25It felt like it was happening again.
01:27Every instinct I had said, run.
01:29Get as far from Sebastian Holt as possible.
01:32I hadn't even grabbed my shoes when he appeared in my doorway.
01:36Sarah, I already called Sienna.
01:39Go pick her up now.
01:40Quickly.
01:41I knew the drug tearing through him.
01:43He needed release.
01:45Was Sebastian reborn too?
01:46Obviously this time he called Sarah because he didn't want to sleep with me.
01:50Grabbed my keys and slipped past him sideways.
01:53Walking fast for the door.
01:57The address Sebastian gave me was near the arena district.
02:00An apartment building a few blocks from the practice facility.
02:03So Sebastian and Sienna had been living together this early.
02:06He said I destroyed his love life.
02:09He wasn't wrong.
02:10Sienna spotted my car and yanked the door open, dropping into the passenger seat.
02:15She looked panicked.
02:16I caught a flicker of satisfaction in her eyes.
02:19How is he?
02:20You'll see when you get there.
02:22I didn't want to talk to her.
02:24Not because I was jealous.
02:25Because neither my mom nor I had ever trusted her.
02:28Sienna Walsh had been a charity case my family sponsored through school.
02:32At first my parents adored her.
02:34She was driven.
02:35Brilliant.
02:36Dad and mom personally flew her out to Chicago to start college.
02:40I always thought her eyes looked calculating.
02:42I told myself I was being paranoid.
02:45Then one night, she called dad crying.
02:48Some drunk guy had cornered her outside a bar.
02:50He rushed over and she threw herself against him.
02:53The second he arrived, arms around him, face buried in his chest.
02:57She was dressed very provocatively, rubbing her breasts against dad's chest.
03:02And her genitals were also rubbing wildly against dad's body.
03:06Dad froze with both hands in the air, looking like he'd touched a live wire.
03:10Mom pulled up 30 seconds later and saw the whole thing.
03:17Sienna cried and said she thought of dad like a father.
03:20She'd been so scared she hadn't thought.
03:22My parents said all the right things.
03:25But after that, she was never invited to the house again.
03:28And dad never dealt with her directly.
03:30Mom wasn't stingy.
03:31She had her assistant wire, Sienna, $50,000.
03:35The night before Sienna was supposed to fly out, she came to say goodbye.
03:38And she walked right into Sebastian.
03:42He'd just gotten back from his graduate program in Vancouver.
03:45Fresh off two seasons playing in the Western Hockey League.
03:48First round draft pick, already a name people said with a little extra weight.
03:52The next day, Sienna returned every dollar and told mom she'd thought it over.
03:56She was going to work first, save up, do things right.
04:00Sebastian was heading out the door when he heard her say it.
04:03He looked at her.
04:04Plain clothes, steady eyes, and something in his expression shifted.
04:08A month later, Sienna joined the Holt organization.
04:12Personal executive assistant to Sebastian.
04:14I told him she wasn't what she looked like, that getting close to him was a strategy.
04:19Ellie, not everyone thinks about romance all day like you do.
04:23Less than a year later, she had a key to her apartment.
04:26I drove fast.
04:29Ellie, being upset doesn't mean the rest of us want to die.
04:32Sienna walked into the building.
04:34I stayed in the car and stared at the steering wheel.
04:37I knew exactly what was happening up there.
04:40I wasn't jealous.
04:41In my last life, my death had taken my parents down with me.
04:44That was what finally made it clear.
04:47What I felt for Sebastian was poison to him.
04:50Just being loved by me cost him something.
04:53Ellie, he's your brother.
04:56Whatever twisted thing you felt for him drove him to another country.
05:00He has me now.
05:01Let it go.
05:03Sebastian had known.
05:04He'd known all along that I had feelings for him.
05:07And he'd left for Vancouver to get away from me.
05:10If I'd known that sooner, I wouldn't have.
05:12Last time, watching him suffering and barely conscious,
05:15I wouldn't have reached for my own buttons.
05:17You're an adult now.
05:19It's time to find someone right for you.
05:21She was afraid I'd cling to Sebastian.
05:24I wouldn't.
05:25Not this time.
05:26Whatever I'd felt for him was gone.
05:32Sebastian came down in his sleeping clothes.
05:34Where were you last night?
05:35The marks on his neck were obvious.
05:37His voice was rough, lazy.
05:39I went to see my friend Jess.
05:41Jess was my best friend.
05:42Sebastian had met her.
05:43He still thought to check where I'd been.
05:46Maybe he'd made peace with things too.
05:48Maybe we could just be siblings again.
05:49Normal.
05:50I almost let myself feel hopeful.
05:52I know you look down on Sienna's background.
05:54Think she's not good enough.
05:55But she's the woman I'm going to marry.
05:57And you're going to treat her with respect.
05:58When had I ever looked down on where she came from?
06:00I must have shown the confusion on my face.
06:03Drop the act.
06:04She put herself on the line fixing a mess you made.
06:05She paid for your mistakes with everything she had.
06:08What does that mean?
06:09You're going to tell me the drug wasn't from you?
06:12Sienna is a decent person.
06:13She wanted to wait until our wedding night.
06:15You took that from her.
06:16I didn't.
06:18I said it loud and clear.
06:19Yes, I had feelings for Sebastian for years.
06:22But I would never have done something like that.
06:24We had dinner out, came home, I drank the milk you left on my nightstand.
06:27If it wasn't you, who?
06:28Last time, I never understood why Sebastian didn't investigate.
06:31I assumed he'd been compromised outside the house and was too ashamed to dig into it.
06:34He thought it was me.
06:35That's why he hated me so much.
06:37Enough to want my parents to burn with him.
06:40Enough to make sure our six-month-old baby never saw the world.
06:43Something bitter sat in my chest.
06:44My eyes burned.
06:45Believe me or don't.
06:47But it wasn't me.
06:48Sebastian's bedroom door opened.
06:50Sienna stepped out wearing his dress shirt, looking like a startled rabbit.
06:54Sebastian, is Ellie angry at me?
06:56His eyes were a clear warning.
07:00Ellie's not angry.
07:01She's happy for us.
07:03Sebastian's right.
07:04Congratulations, you two.
07:06Sienna saved Sebastian.
07:07I'll talk to Mom and Dad.
07:09I'll make sure they agree to the wedding.
07:10A flicker of triumph crossed Sienna's face.
07:12Sebastian watched me like he was looking for the trap.
07:15Let him look.
07:16He was willing to die for her.
07:17Even knowing what she was, I wasn't going to let my parents carry any more risk because of me.
07:21Don't make things hard for his parents.
07:23I know I'm not what the family expected.
07:25I just want to be by his side.
07:27Sebastian pulled her close.
07:28Sienna showed me the look of someone who had already won.
07:31Ellie, your brother kind of wrecked my shirt.
07:33Can I borrow something?
07:35Last month you didn't wear the dress I gave you.
07:37You said you didn't like it.
07:38Why not give it to Sienna?
07:39He had given it to me for my birthday.
07:40I hadn't worn it because I was saving it.
07:42Giving away something he gave me.
07:44A small thing.
07:45And I knew it.
07:45I felt it anyway.
07:46Then I didn't.
07:47Sienna put on my dress and did a little spin.
07:49Asking Sebastian if she looked beautiful.
07:51Ignoring me completely.
07:53None of it touched me.
07:54This time I just wanted my parents and me to be okay.
07:56Mom and Dad got back from vacation after two weeks away.
07:59The day they returned, Sebastian told them he was marrying Sienna.
08:02When I got home, there were broken pieces of a teacup on the living room floor.
08:06Mom sat beside Dad, rubbing slow circles on his back.
08:09Her face was stone.
08:10Sebastian sat across from them.
08:12Expressionless.
08:13Mom.
08:14Dad.
08:14I went straight to them and wrapped my arms around them both.
08:17Fighting my eyes.
08:18Their faces softened immediately.
08:20But he was already ruffling my hair.
08:22Mom pulled me onto the couch.
08:23You're grown and you're still doing this.
08:25Sebastian wants to marry his assistant.
08:27What do you think, Ellie?
08:33Sebastian's eyes came to me too.
08:35I think it's great.
08:36Sienna and Sebastian are good together.
08:39You really think that?
08:40Mom.
08:41Sebastian is 26.
08:42He gets to choose his own life.
08:43We should support him.
08:45Whether you like Sienna doesn't matter.
08:47What matters is Sebastian wants her.
08:49After the wedding, they can have their own space.
08:51And I'll live with you two forever.
08:52That softened their faces a little.
08:54I caught Sebastian's eye and gave him a small nod.
08:56Our whole lives.
08:58Mom.
08:59Dad.
09:00After we're married, Sienna and I will take care of you both.
09:02Please.
09:03Sebastian knelt on the floor in front of them.
09:05I pushed again from the other side.
09:06They looked at each other.
09:07Then they gave in.
09:08Sebastian got his wedding.
09:09This time, the tragedy didn't have to happen.
09:12I felt the tension drain out of my hands.
09:14After Mom and Dad went to bed, I went up to my room.
09:17I'd just opened my journal when the door swung open without a knock.
09:20Sebastian.
09:21He glanced at the journal.
09:22His face changed.
09:24I barely stood up before his hand closed around my throat.
09:26Ellie.
09:28Write more of your disgusting thoughts about me.
09:32What are you talking about?
09:38Sebastian picked up the journal.
09:41You kept a whole diary full of this when you were in high school.
09:44He'd read my diary.
09:45I was furious and humiliated and I shoved his hand off me.
09:48I grabbed the journal and threw it at him.
09:50What do you want from me?
09:51I helped you get what you wanted and it's still not enough?
09:54I had feelings for you.
09:55That was my mistake.
09:56I don't anymore.
09:57What else do you want?
09:59You love looking at my private things?
10:01Go ahead.
10:01But the guy I'm writing about isn't you.
10:05You actually said yes to my brother?
10:07You want to be my sister-in-law?
10:09She was so loud.
10:10Two people at the next table looked over.
10:12I reached up and covered her mouth.
10:14I ran into him a few days ago.
10:16We just...
10:17My face was getting warm.
10:18Clicked.
10:19Okay, but tell me everything.
10:21He asked you out six months ago and you turned him down?
10:24How did you end up here?
10:25Her brother, Grant Walsh, had asked me out six months before my rebirth.
10:29At the time, my whole heart was Sebastian's.
10:31I said no.
10:32Coming back and fixing what I'd gotten wrong didn't change Sienna's behavior.
10:36She was in my house every day, marking her territory, making sure I knew my place.
10:41Even after I stepped back completely, she didn't stop.
10:44I needed to get out of the house.
10:46I went to a bar and had a few too many.
10:48And when I was dizzy and trying to find the bathroom, some guy cornered me in the hallway.
10:52I was about to cry from panic when Grant appeared out of nowhere and dropped the guy with one punch.
11:00When Grant pulled out a handkerchief to wipe my face, I laughed out loud before I could stop myself.
11:06Grant!
11:07Who carries a handkerchief in this century?
11:10What are you, 80?
11:11Do you have any idea what this cost?
11:13Doesn't matter.
11:14A napkin would have worked better.
11:15He thought about it, nodded, and threw the expensive handkerchief in the trash.
11:21Ellie says it, Ellie gets it.
11:23One handkerchief, and suddenly we were talking every day.
11:26Whenever I was low, I'd message him, and he always had some ridiculous thing that landed exactly right.
11:31After my rebirth, the only time I felt like I could breathe was when I was talking to Grant.
11:36Don't billionaires have better things to do than text all day?
11:39Because it's you, I don't want you waiting even a minute.
11:41I've basically had my phone in my hand for three weeks straight.
11:44So this was what being loved felt like.
11:46Sebastian had never given me anything close.
11:49This time around, I wanted to know what it felt like for real.
11:52I told Grant, yes.
11:54I kept a journal.
11:54Lately, the man in it was Grant.
11:56I didn't know if Sebastian had read it this time.
11:58When I got home, the notebook was sitting neatly on my desk.
12:01Sebastian was gone for days.
12:03Good timing.
12:04I used the space to tell mom and dad about Grant, the heir to the Walsh family.
12:08I held their hands and made them promise to stay with me.
12:10Always.
12:11They patted my head and said yes like I was being adorable.
12:14I didn't care.
12:14They'd agreed and I was holding them to it.
12:16That evening, Sebastian brought Sienna home for dinner.
12:19She was wearing something expensive enough to somehow look elegant.
12:22Mom and dad were polite.
12:23Nobody caused a scene.
12:25After dinner, we all settled in the living room.
12:27Sebastian.
12:28Sienna.
12:29We're not standing in the way away of your wedding.
12:31But there are things we need to say first.
12:33Sebastian's gaze kept drifting towards me throughout the evening.
12:36It made my skin crawl.
12:40Sebastian's getting married.
12:41Ellie has a boyfriend.
12:42To make sure there are no arguments down the road, I want to be clear now.
12:45Married or moved out, you each get half of what we leave behind.
12:48That doesn't seem fair.
12:49Ellie's a daughter.
12:50She'll marry out of the family.
12:52Splitting it evenly is just handing assets to strangers.
12:54You're not even part of this family yet and you're already telling us how to run it.
12:58Isn't that a little early?
13:03Ellie's boyfriend isn't trying to get his hands on our money by dating her, is he?
13:07He pulled Sienna a little closer.
13:09I'd actually say the split is unfair too.
13:11Ellie's adopted.
13:12I don't mind supporting her forever.
13:14She can marry whoever she wants and stay in the house.
13:16That's generous enough.
13:17Mom and dad's expressions went somewhere dangerous.
13:20Who told you Ellie was adopted?
13:23That's impossible.
13:24Ellie is the one who...
13:27Elisa is our biological daughter.
13:29You're the one who were adopted.
13:33Mom and dad were among the first people from their small town to go to college.
13:36They graduated.
13:37Moved to the city.
13:38Built something.
13:39When it started to go well, they came back for the people they'd grown up with.
13:42Brought a few of the younger ones to Chicago to give them a start.
13:45Sebastian's father was one of them.
13:47The town was poor back then.
13:50Your mother ran out on you and your dad when you were small.
13:53Your father was a good driver and a good son.
13:57He didn't want to leave your grandmother.
14:00Your grandmother didn't want to be the thing holding him back.
14:03So she made the choice herself.
14:05Sebastian's face was blank with shock.
14:08Even I was hearing this for the first time.
14:11Your grandmother's last wish was for us to bring your father and you to the city.
14:15We said yes.
14:16You just started walking.
14:17Things didn't go the way anyone planned.
14:19Your father was killed in an accident within six months.
14:22He was barely 25.
14:23He left you behind at not even two years old.
14:25Mom's voice was steady but her eyes weren't.
14:28I was pregnant.
14:30I looked at this tiny little boy alone in the world and we talked it over and we said yes
14:33to taking you in.
14:35Sebastian's expression kept shifting.
14:37You're making this up.
14:39You want to cut me out of the inheritance so you're inventing a story.
14:42More disappointment settled into dad's face.
14:44He looked at Sebastian without the warmth that was usually there.
14:52Mom and dad aren't lying.
14:54Junior year of high school when you were in the hospital with that flu,
14:57I noticed your blood type didn't match.
15:00I brought the chart to mom, that's when she told me.
15:03We don't share blood.
15:04That was also when I started to love him.
15:07Completely, every page of every journal.
15:09His mood was my mood and there had been years.
15:12All the years before the last month of his senior year when he was actually a good older brother.
15:17When mom and dad were working, he was the one taking care of me.
15:21I spent more time with him than I did with either of my parents.
15:25There was a stretch when I'd watched a horror movie and couldn't sleep alone.
15:29I crawled into his room every night.
15:32His classes were brutal, but he would sit with me, patient, until I fell asleep in his bed.
15:38Then he'd take a blanket to the chair in the corner.
15:41In the morning light, with his eyes closed and his face relaxed, every piece of him seemed to glow.
15:47That version of Sebastian fit every quiet dream I'd ever had.
15:51I did his laundry without telling him.
15:53Straightened his room when he wasn't looking.
15:54Put a hot mug of something on his desk every night.
15:56I thought I was hiding it. I wasn't.
15:58He saw it in how I looked at him.
16:00And then that pink journal nailed it permanently into something shameful.
16:03This is a lie.
16:06You're making it up to give the estate to the girl you're actually related to.
16:10Sienna's voice had gone sharp.
16:12She worked inside the Holt organization.
16:14She knew exactly what half the estate meant.
16:22Sebastian's expression was unreadable for a long moment.
16:25This can't be real.
16:27You're doing this together.
16:29All of you!
16:30If you don't believe us, we can run a paternity test.
16:33The results say you're not our blood.
16:35I'll give you a starting season and step back.
16:38Just add a go to Ellie.
16:40Dad was done.
16:40The love he'd always shown Sebastian wasn't in his voice anymore.
16:44The reason Sebastian had always been so certain I was the adopted one.
16:47Last time, I had told Mom to be honest with him about which one of us was bi.
16:51Illogical.
16:52I didn't want our already complicated dynamic made worse by him feeling obligated to me.
16:57Sienna's eyes were doing calculations.
16:59Sebastian understood what Dad was saying.
17:01Do the test.
17:02And it means choosing to fight Ellie for what was left.
17:04And cutting the cord on everything between our family and him.
17:08He didn't take the test.
17:11Even with Sienna pushing, he just looked at me.
17:14I looked back at him.
17:16Nothing moved inside me.
17:18After that night, Sebastian barely came home.
17:21Without him taking up space in my head, I felt lighter.
17:24I didn't realize how much of my energy had been going toward managing that weight.
17:31Grant and I started spending more time together.
17:35He kept showing up asking to formally meet my parents.
17:38His future in-laws.
17:39He called them.
17:40Completely straight faced.
17:41I walked in one afternoon and Mom was making soup while Dad sat at the kitchen counter.
17:46She called me over to taste it.
17:48I told her it was the best thing I'd ever had, which made her glow.
17:52Mom, can we buy another place?
17:54She paused.
17:55For Sebastian?
17:56For the wedding?
17:56Not exactly.
17:57Sebastian had pushed the wedding date out two years for reasons I couldn't figure out.
18:01But even with him barely home, sharing walls with him felt wrong.
18:04Especially with our rooms right next to each other.
18:07I want you to get me a place.
18:09Mom pinched my nose.
18:12Already trying to escape?
18:14You just grew up.
18:18I'm not escaping.
18:20I want you and Dad to come with me.
18:22Give this house to Sebastian.
18:23Part of it was the distance from Sebastian.
18:25Part of it was that last time.
18:27This house was where we all died.
18:28The walls still made me uneasy.
18:30Before Mom could answer, there was movement from the living room.
18:34Sebastian.
18:35At dinner, Mom and Dad seemed to have put the hard conversation behind them.
18:39They kept putting food on my plate and Sebastian's.
18:41Sebastian's eyes came to rest on me again, like they'd been doing lately.
18:45Dad, Ellie just graduated.
18:47She shouldn't just be sitting around.
18:49She should come work at the company.
18:50I was sure I'd heard wrong.
18:52He couldn't stand to be in the same room as me.
18:54Why would he want me in his office every day?
18:55Before I could object, Dad nodded.
18:58Good.
18:59You should get real experience now, before life gets more complicated.
19:02I don't want to.
19:03I want to be useless.
19:05Dad can support me now.
19:06And when I get married, my husband can support me.
19:08I deployed full effort puppy eyes.
19:10Dad must have noticed something had shifted between me and Sebastian.
19:13He assumed it was the inheritance conversation.
19:15And he'd been quietly trying to smooth things over between us.
19:21At this rate, no one's going to want you and you'll end up depending on your brother for the rest
19:25of your life.
19:27Dad was joking.
19:29Sebastian inexplicably was not.
19:31Ellie's welcome to stay home.
19:32I'll take care of her as long as she needs.
19:34The way he was looking at me had something in it I didn't want to name.
19:37It made my skin crawl.
19:39After dinner, Mom and Dad went for a walk.
19:42I did my makeup, a soft, deliberate look, and got ready to meet Grant.
19:46I hadn't even made it out of the hallway before Sebastian caught my arm.
19:49Are you avoiding me?
19:50Did he seriously need to ask?
19:52His eyes had an anger in them I couldn't account for.
19:55Do you actually want to see me?
19:58If you didn't have those feelings for me, I would have treated you like a real sister.
20:01I held his gaze.
20:02I don't have them anymore.
20:04But I felt for you burned up in the fire.
20:07Last time.
20:09His grip on my shoulders tightened, sharp enough to hurt.
20:12And then, at those last two words, his hands went still.
20:15You were reborn too?
20:19He let go.
20:24So you're running from me?
20:26Going off to marry some random guy?
20:28Is that how little you think of yourself?
20:29His expression was something I couldn't read.
20:31Angry, maybe.
20:32Regretful.
20:33And something under it that looked like it refused to accept what was happening.
20:37What random guy?
20:39At that, he looked startled.
20:40Then briefly, something like hope crossed his face.
20:44The man in your journal.
20:46This...
20:46Grant.
20:48You made him up?
20:49He'd seen the journal.
20:50And apparently, he'd decided from what I wrote that Grant was some kind of street-level
20:54con artist.
20:55All I'd written about was how he'd helped me that night outside the bar.
20:58And then the things we did together.
21:00Wandering through an outdoor market on the edge of the city.
21:02Going to a live show.
21:03Watching Grant play drums at a venue downtown.
21:06Under the stage lights.
21:07Loose and confident.
21:08With half the women in the crowd losing their minds.
21:11I'd been one of them.
21:12Yelling myself hoarse.
21:13Apparently, I had described a charming screw-up who preyed on rich girls.
21:17He's a good person.
21:18I pushed past Sebastian.
21:22And he's not some deadbeat!
21:24There was heat in my voice now.
21:27Come work with me.
21:29Meet real men.
21:31You'll see what you're walking away from.
21:33Then I remembered.
21:34Grant had mentioned our families were in the middle of closing a deal.
21:37Fine.
21:38I was curious, honestly.
21:41Private Grant.
21:42The one who dragged me to flea markets and crowdsurfed at concerts.
21:46I wanted to see what he looked like when he walked into a room in a suit and made an
21:50entire boardroom nervous.
21:51Ellie, just stay close to me.
21:53I'll look after you.
21:54Like a brother should.
21:56I moved his hand off my arm.
21:57Something impatient rose in my chest.
22:00That's okay.
22:01I'll have my parents and my boyfriend for that.
22:03Sebastian went cold.
22:05I felt it.
22:06And I still walked out the door.
22:10On the street, I made a mental note to push harder on the new apartment idea.
22:18Grant was waiting outside in a casual jacket, forehead creased in thought.
22:23What are you thinking about?
22:27Wondering what else I can find for us to do.
22:29He folded me against his side and I thought of something Jess had said once.
22:33She said her brother spent his early twenties being exactly what everyone expected.
22:38Reckless, loud, careless with money and people.
22:41Then their grandfather handed him the company and put him through two years of the most intensive reshaping of his
22:46entire personality.
22:47The result was someone almost unrecognizable, steady, calculated, kind of man who made a room fall quiet when he walked
22:53in.
22:53She'd said it like a complaint.
22:55I laughed and said I'd never want a man like that.
22:57Jess asked what I did want.
22:59I said I wanted someone who'd still come out and play.
23:01We were both laughing when Grant walked in with a bowl of fruit and stood in the doorway looking completely
23:06at a loss.
23:07I looked at him now, sideways.
23:09Grant, have you been doing all this?
23:11The markets, the shows, the driving around at midnight because you thought that's what I wanted?
23:17He hesitated.
23:18You don't like it?
23:19I knew it.
23:20I felt something turn over slowly in my chest.
23:26When I'd loved Sebastian without him knowing, I'd asked him once, carefully, what kind of girl he was drawn to.
23:31He said, quiet, steady.
23:32For years after that, I made myself smaller around him.
23:35He thought it was maturity.
23:37It wasn't.
23:37Grant had taken me bungee jumping, scuba diving, and to a racetrack.
23:41And somewhere in all of that I'd remembered something about myself.
23:44That I'd always loved the feeling of my heart going too fast.
23:47Grant was five years older than me, and somehow loved exactly the way I did, like someone who'd never been
23:52told to tone it down.
23:55Just be yourself.
23:57You don't have to keep up with me.
23:59Grant held on.
24:03I was scared you'd think I was too old, or boring, or insufferable.
24:09His voice had this quality, like a complaint, but soft, and it made me laugh before I could help it.
24:13I'm going to need to do a full inspection for the insufferability levels.
24:18Grant laughed and tried to get away from my hands, and I thought, this is what it feels like.
24:23Being loved back.
24:24Sebastian had never given me a single second of this.
24:27Wanting someone who doesn't want you is the whole problem, I thought.
24:30That was always the original sin.
24:35I started at the company and immediately understood why Sienna had been on edge since the moment I walked in.
24:41She'd been Sebastian's assistant on paper.
24:43In practice, she was running the floor like she'd already signed a prenup.
24:47I came in as a junior associate on the projects team, and I pushed hard to keep my name out
24:51of any introduction.
24:52Dad was supportive.
24:54He thought starting at the bottom built real judgment.
24:56Sienna treated my arrival like an occupation.
24:59Three separate attempts to make things difficult in the first two weeks, and I ignored all of them.
25:03Mostly I kept to my desk and avoided the executive floor entirely.
25:06It held up for two weeks.
25:08Then the day came when Grant was scheduled to walk into the building for a deal meeting.
25:11I ran into Sienna in the break room while I was waiting.
25:17Sienna, I'm not here to take anything from you.
25:19Not Sebastian, not your standing in this company.
25:22I'm here because Dad wanted me to come.
25:24That's it.
25:25No one else was around.
25:26I said it plainly.
25:28I don't believe you.
25:32She looked at me like I'd said something in a language she'd decided not to speak.
25:36I picked up my coffee.
25:37That's your choice.
25:38All I could think about was the look on Grant's face when he realized I was already here.
25:42Then she grabbed my arm.
25:44There was a brief, sharp struggle.
25:45And then Sienna threw the contents of her mug against her own wrist and forearm.
25:49The sound she made was loud enough to pull in most of the floor.
25:53Ellie, you act like you support us to our faces and then you follow your brother here.
25:57And now this!
25:58Her voice carried.
25:59People were filing in from every direction.
26:01I know you hate me, but scalding me isn't going to make me walk away from Sebastian.
26:06The employees around us were wide-eyed, already running the math on the drama.
26:10She's his sister.
26:12That's wait, so this is a whole thing.
26:14Management is going to be stuck in the middle of a family war.
26:17Who does he side with when he shows up?
26:19Either way he loses.
26:20The noise closed in like walls.
26:22My eyes were burning.
26:25I have a boyfriend!
26:27I said it loud.
26:30Sure, you've got a fake boyfriend to make your brother jealous?
26:33We've all seen that move.
26:34You chased him to his own company, and now you're playing innocent?
26:38I slapped her.
26:41It was reflex.
26:43The second my hand connected, I knew I'd handed her exactly what she wanted.
26:48She just-
26:49Everyone saw that!
26:51That's Sebastian Holtz's sister hitting his fiancé because she's in love with her own-
26:55I raised my hand again.
26:57Sebastian came around the corner.
26:59Grant was beside him.
27:00Grant walked straight to me.
27:01He was in a fitted suit, the version of him that closed nine-figure deals and put entire front offices
27:07on the back foot.
27:08Sharp.
27:09Clean.
27:09The kind of presence that made a room recalibrate itself.
27:12But I knew he wouldn't turn that sharpness on me.
27:15I grabbed his hand without looking at Sebastian.
27:18Sienna.
27:19Look at him.
27:20That's my boyfriend.
27:21He's better looking than Sebastian.
27:22He has more money than Sebastian.
27:24And he actually loves me back.
27:26And I love him.
27:30Grant's expression went from anger to something that looked a little like trying not to smile.
27:35He stood up straighter.
27:36You think I don't know what you're doing?
27:38You don't want me near this company.
27:40On one side, you're scared I'll get too close to Sebastian.
27:44On the other, you're scared I'll use my share of the family assets to have a say in how this
27:48place runs.
27:49I glanced at Sebastian.
27:50Mouth pulled into something cold.
27:53This is the woman you chose.
27:56For her you were willing-
27:57Sienna hadn't processed what was happening.
27:59She turned and pressed herself against Sebastian.
28:01Ellie hates me!
28:02She burned me!
28:03She hit me!
28:04Sebastian, I know I'm not good enough for you, but-
28:08I took a step forward.
28:09I knew Sebastian loved her.
28:11I knew my parents genuinely loved Sebastian, and that I'd spent the last several months trying to make everyone happy
28:17by letting him have what he wanted.
28:19I'd been wrong.
28:20With Sienna involved, there was no version of this family that didn't eventually come apart.
28:27Sebastian, I didn't go after her. Check the footage.
28:31One of the watching employees spoke up.
28:34The break room camera's been down. Maintenance hasn't gotten to it yet.
28:37But the building's AI unit, it was stationed right outside the break room.
28:41Even without a full video record, it should have picked up audio. It should tell you pretty clearly who started
28:45it.
28:48People noticed the unit standing just outside the break room door. It blinked its camera eyes at the crowd and
28:54offered a small mechanical smile.
28:56Looks like my girlfriend has excellent taste in tech.
28:59This model uploads all audio and visual data to cloud storage automatically. Permanent record. You can pull anything, going back
29:07as far as you want.
29:08The color drained out of Sienna's face. Something close to panic. My stomach tightened.
29:14Jake, pull it. Sebastian said. No expression.
29:18Sebastian, you don't believe me?
29:20Pull everything on file related to Mrs. Walsh while you're at it.
29:23Sebastian didn't answer her. I stepped in right behind him.
29:26All of it. Everything that unit has ever recorded near her.
29:30You think money gives you the right to invade my privacy? Sebastian, your sister is humiliating me.
29:36Sebastian's face was working through something complicated.
29:38This model is male presenting and has never recorded anyone in a private space.
29:43Grant said, in the tone of someone reading off a spec sheet.
29:45Just public areas.
29:46The absolute deadpan delivery made me bite down on a laugh. He pressed my hand quietly.
29:51The fallout from Sienna spreading what she'd spread about me meant I handed in my notice that same afternoon.
29:56When I went up to Sebastian's office to leave my resignation, he watched me with an expression I couldn't name.
30:03So, Grant Walsh is actually Grant Walsh?
30:06Yes. So you can relax. I'm not chasing you, I'm not fighting you for the inheritance, and if you want
30:11to marry Sienna, I'm not stopping you.
30:13My voice was polite, distant. I'd never talked to him like that before.
30:16Sebastian, I hope we both get to be happy this time.
30:26Grant came to the house for dinner on the same day Jake delivered the footage results.
30:30I didn't ask what was on it, but my walking away had cut off whatever Sienna had been building toward,
30:35and that felt like enough.
30:36Mom and Dad took to Grant immediately, Dad especially.
30:39They spent most of dinner talking about business, and by the time dessert came out, they were finishing each other's
30:44sentences.
30:44After Grant left, Mom pulled me into her room.
30:47Ellie, since Sebastian and Sienna got together, I've been worried about you.
30:50My chest tightened. Did Mom remember too? She saw my face and smoothed my hair back.
30:55You think I don't know why your father and I pushed back so hard on the wedding?
30:59We had our own reasons, but you handled it so well. And now look at you.
31:04I exhaled slowly. She didn't know. Neither of them knew. That was good. Sebastian wouldn't make the same mistakes twice,
31:11and our family would be okay.
31:13The night before Grant's and my engagement party, Sebastian came home late.
31:17I thought it was Mom when he knocked. I didn't lock the door. He came in and pulled me against
31:22him, and the smell of whiskey hit me immediately.
31:24Ellie, I was wrong. Don't get engaged to someone else. Be with me.
31:29I pushed against him as hard as I could and kept my voice low.
31:32You've lost your mind.
31:34Marry me. We stay a family. All four of us. Isn't that what you always wanted?
31:42You don't love me. So what is this?
31:46I couldn't get free.
31:47I do. I just didn't know it until it was too late.
31:50He stepped back and held my shoulders, looking at me directly.
31:54I don't love you anymore.
31:56The red in the corners of his eyes was visible now.
31:58I don't buy that. Years don't just disappear.
32:00Sebastian, I told you. Whatever I felt for you was incinerated in that fire, in our last life.
32:07Both his hands were trembling. His eyes were wet.
32:10I was wrong. I'll say it to anyone. I'll get on my knees in front of Mom and Dad. I'll
32:14spend the rest of my life making it right. Just come back.
32:17Standing there, watching him, I felt something almost like grief. Not for him, but for the version of me who
32:23would have fallen apart at the sight of this.
32:24I'll sign everything over to you. Every asset. Every share. I'll spend what's left of my life earning it back
32:30from zero.
32:30I couldn't tell if he was drunk or broken or both. I put everything I had into shoving him back.
32:37Sebastian, Mom and Dad don't know anything about our last life. Don't blow that up. I'm asking you to let
32:42this go.
32:43He moved toward me again. I said it, steady and quiet.
32:46Do you want to lose the last thing we have? Because that's what this does.
32:50He stopped. The pain on his face was real. I didn't look away from it.
32:55Sebastian, I love Grant the way I used to love you. And he loves me back. Be happy for me.
33:01I'll be happy for you too when you find someone who's actually rightful.
33:04I said each word slowly. Sebastian's face went white by degrees. Then he left. Sebastian was one of the proudest
33:11people I'd ever known.
33:12That retreat. That night. He would never put himself through it again. I was sure of that. What was done
33:18was done.
33:18Last time's pain was last time's. Holding onto it meant letting it keep costing me things. I chose to let
33:25the light in. And I believed, standing there in the quiet after he left, that we would both find our
33:30way to something good.
33:34I was gonna lose Ellie completely. Even if she still called me her brother. Coming back the second time, I
33:39fought to hold onto what I'd thrown away. In the end, I was just a joke.
33:42The footage Jake pulled told me everything about why my parents could never warm to Sienna. She'd been using the
33:47office landline to call her mother. Talking about my dad being old. Talking about my mom watching too closely. Talking
33:53about me like I was a lock she'd already figured out how to open.
33:56She was disgusting. She'd gone after my father first, then pivoted to me. And I fell for every bit of
34:01it. How did I ever convince myself Ellie had drugged me? Ellie was the most straightforward person I'd ever known.
34:07The drug came from Sienna. She'd slipped it to me over dinner. Then she'd fixed herself up and fed me
34:12a story about saving herself for our wedding night. And I believed her because I needed to believe something. She
34:17needed into the whole family fast, so she took a shortcut.
34:19Last time, when Ellie stood in my doorway looking uncertain and reached for her own buttons, I still had some
34:25part of my brain left. I knew what I was doing, but she was so disarming and I was so
34:29weak, and I did something I've never forgiven myself for.
34:32Then I buried the guilt under outrage and called it her fault. And blamed it on her. On my parents.
34:38On everyone except the person who'd actually set the whole thing in motion.
34:42I came back thinking I'd corrected it. I'd made it worse. I watched Ellie pull away from me inch by
34:48inch. No more dropping by to share something funny. No more mug of something hot appearing on my desk. No
34:54more of any of it.
34:57I heard her on the phone with Grant once, telling him that after they were married, she was going to
35:01watch him eat every meal to make sure he finished it.
35:04The jealousy that hit me was so irrational, I scared myself. I spent every day with Sienna. I thought about
35:09Ellie constantly.
35:10When Sienna went after Ellie in that break room, I had already decided. Whatever the footage showed, I was done
35:16with Sienna and I was going to Ellie's side. I was going to protect her.
35:20Then Grant walked in and stood next to her. And I understood that I had already lost the only thing
35:24I'd ever actually wanted.
35:26Ellie didn't ask me what the footage contained. She already knew, more or less. She'd always protected me from my
35:31own embarrassments. Even now, knowing everything I'd done.
35:35She left the company and cut off the last route Sienna had to get wah. Tea she wanted. Ellie thought
35:41the sacrifice was worth it. She was always worth more than I deserved.
35:45The night before her engagement, with the whiskey making me brave enough to be an idiot one last time, I
35:50held her and asked her to stay. She pushed me out the door.
35:53I went back to my apartment and put into motion the thing I'd been building for weeks. Sienna and her
35:58mother had been getting greedy. I'd laid the groundwork carefully. By morning, both of them were in a position they
36:03weren't getting out of easily.
36:04I hated them. But I was the one who'd let them in. That was on me. Ellie didn't blame me.
36:10My parents didn't blame me. That almost made it harder.
36:13Without her, this second life was going to be darker than the first. That was the cost I was paying.
36:18It was fair. I wasn't going to get married.
36:21I was going to build what my parents had built, make it bigger, and look at what I wanted. That
36:27was my penance. I'd chosen it, and I meant it.
36:29To be continued.
36:31To be continued...
36:33To be continued...
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