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