- 44 minutes ago
Rekindled Love in Error HD ASM
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Short filmTranscript
00:00My stepbrother Sebastian was drugged. I undid my own clothes and dedicated my
00:04first time for my stepbrother. I fantasized about this scene countless
00:08times. I really wanted him. His big manhood. When I got pregnant, parents
00:14pressured him to marry me. The same day Sebastian agreed, he got a car incident.
00:18He was an ice hockey star and billionaire. I didn't care that he'd never skate
00:23again. I still wanted to be his bride. I thought he'd be grateful. I thought we'd
00:28grow old together. Until our wedding night, the estate caught fire. I woke up
00:32choking and my first thought was to get him out. Instead, he smashed a vase
00:37over my head. It's you. You destroyed me. Don't think I don't know you
00:42orchestrated that night. Did you this thirsty? But I will never love you. I
00:47love Sienna forever. Now you can go to hell.
00:56I woke up to Sebastian's ragged breathing from the next room. I opened my eyes. Familiar
01:02walls. No wedding decorations. No smoke. I'd been reborn.
01:09Ellie, get me some water.
01:12I checked my watch. I'd come back to the night he was drugged.
01:19The memory hit me all at once. The blood blurring my vision. The fire eating through
01:24my skin. It felt like it was happening again. Every instinct I had said, run. Get as far
01:30from Sebastian Holt as possible. I hadn't even grabbed my shoes when he appeared in my doorway.
01:36Sarah, I already called Sienna. Go pick her up now. Quickly.
01:42I knew the drug tearing through him. He needed release. Was 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. Walking fast for the door.
01:57The address Sebastian gave me was near the arena district. An apartment building a few blocks from
02:02the practice facility. So Sebastian and Sienna had been living together this early. He said I destroyed
02:08his love life. He wasn't wrong. Sienna spotted my car and yanked the door open, dropping into the
02:13passenger seat. She looked panicked. I caught a flicker of satisfaction in her eyes.
02:19How is he? You'll see when you get there.
02:22I didn't want to talk to her. Not because I was jealous. Because neither my mom nor I had ever
02:28trusted her. Sienna Walsh had been a charity case my family sponsored through school. At first,
02:32my parents adored her. She was driven. Brilliant. Dad and mom personally flew her out to Chicago to
02:39start college. I always thought her eyes looked calculating. I told myself I was being paranoid.
02:45Then one night, she called dad crying. Some drunk guy had cornered her outside a bar.
02:51He rushed over and she threw herself against him. The second he arrived, arms around him,
02:56face buried in his chest. She was dressed very provocatively, rubbing her breasts against dad's
03:01chest. And her genitals were also rubbing wildly against dad's body. Dad froze with both hands in
03:07the air, looking like he'd touched a live wire. Mom pulled up 30 seconds later and saw the whole thing.
03:17Sienna cried and said she thought of dad like a father. She'd been so scared she hadn't thought.
03:23My parents said all the right things. But after that, she was never invited to the house again,
03:28and dad never dealt with her directly. Mom wasn't stingy. She had her assistant wire,
03:33Sienna, $50,000. The night before Sienna was supposed to fly out, she came to say goodbye.
03:39And she walked right into Sebastian. He'd just gotten back from his graduate program in Vancouver.
03:45Fresh off two seasons playing in the Western Hockey League. First round draft pick,
03:49already a name people said with a little extra weight. The next day, Sienna returned every dollar
03:55and told mom she'd thought it over. She was going to work first, save up, do things right.
04:00Sebastian was heading out the door when he heard her say it. He looked at her. Plain clothes,
04:05steady eyes, and something in his expression shifted. A month later, Sienna joined the Holt
04:10organization, personal executive assistant to Sebastian. I told him she wasn't what she looked
04:16like, that getting close to him was a strategy. Ellie, not everyone thinks about romance all day like
04:22you did. Less than a year later, she had a key to her apartment. I drove fast.
04:29Ellie, being upset doesn't mean the rest of us want to die.
04:32Sienna walked into the building. I stayed in the car and stared at the steering wheel.
04:37I knew exactly what was happening up there. I wasn't jealous. In my last life, my death had taken my
04:43parents down with me. That was what finally made it clear. What I felt for Sebastian was poison to him.
04:49Just being loved by me cost him something. Ellie, he's your brother. Whatever twisted thing you
04:57felt for him drove him to another country. He has me now. Let it go. Sebastian had known. He'd known
05:05all along that I had feelings for him. And he'd left for Vancouver to get away from me. If I'd
05:10known
05:10that sooner, I wouldn't have. Last time, watching him suffering and barely conscious, I wouldn't have
05:16reached for my own buttons. You're an adult now. It's time to find someone right for you.
05:21She was afraid I'd cling to Sebastian. I wouldn't. Not this time. Whatever I'd felt for him was gone.
05:32Sebastian came down in his sleeping clothes. Where were you last night?
05:36The marks on his neck were obvious. His voice was rough, lazy.
05:39I went to see my friend Jess.
05:41Jess was my best friend. Sebastian had met her. He still thought to check where I'd been.
05:46Maybe he'd made peace with things too. Maybe we could just be siblings again. Normal. I almost let
05:51myself feel hopeful. I know you look down on Sienna's background. Think she's not good enough. But she's
05:56the woman I'm going to marry. And you're gonna treat her with respect. When had I ever looked down
05:59on where she came from? I must have shown the confusion on my face. Drop the act. She put herself
06:04on the line fixing a mess you made. She paid for your mistakes with everything she had.
06:08What does that mean? You're gonna tell me the drug wasn't from you?
06:12Sienna is a decent person. She wanted to wait until our wedding night. You took that from her.
06:16I didn't. I said it loud and clear. Yes, I had feelings for Sebastian for years. But I would
06:22never have done something like that. We had dinner out. Came home. I drank the milk you left on my
06:26nightstand. If it wasn't you, who? Last 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. He thought it was
06:35me. That's why he hated me so much. Enough to want my parents to burn with him. Enough to make
06:40sure our six-month-old baby never saw the world. Something bitter sat in my chest. My eyes burned.
06:45Believe me or don't. But it wasn't me. Sebastian's bedroom door opened. Sienna stepped out wearing
06:51his dress shirt, looking like a startled rabbit. Sebastian, is Ellie angry at me? His eyes were a clear
06:57warning. Ellie's not angry. She's happy for us. Sebastian's right. Congratulations, you two.
07:06Sienna saved Sebastian. I'll talk to mom and dad. I'll make sure they agree to the wedding.
07:10A flicker of triumph crossed Sienna's face. Sebastian watched me like he was looking for
07:14the trap. Let him look. He was willing to die for her. Even knowing what she was, I wasn't going
07:19to let my parents carry any more risk because of me. Don't make things hard for his parents.
07:23I know I'm not what the family expected. I just want to be by his side. Sebastian pulled her close.
07:28Sienna showed me the look of someone who had already won. Ellie, your brother kind of wrecked
07:33my shirt. Can I borrow something? Last month you didn't wear the dress I gave you. You said you
07:37didn't like it. Why not give it to Sienna? He had given it to me for my birthday. I hadn't
07:41worn it
07:41because I was saving it. Giving away something he gave me. A small thing. And I knew it. I felt
07:46it
07:46anyway. Then I didn't. Sienna put on my dress and did a little spin, asking Sebastian if she looked
07:51beautiful. Ignoring me completely. None of it touched me. This time I just wanted my parents
07:55and me to be okay. Mom and dad got back from vacation after two weeks away. The day they
08:00returned, Sebastian told them he was marrying Sienna. When I got home, there were broken pieces
08:04of a teacup on the living room floor. Mom sat beside dad, rubbing slow circles on his back.
08:09Her face was stone. Sebastian sat across from them, expressionless. Mom. Dad. I went straight
08:15to them and wrapped my arms around them both, fighting my eyes. Their faces softened immediately,
08:20but he was already ruffling my hair. Mom pulled me onto the couch. You're grown and you're still
08:24doing this. Sebastian wants to marry his assistant. What do you think, Ellie?
08:33Sebastian's eyes came to me too. I think it's great. Sienna and Sebastian are good together.
08:39You really think that? Mom, Sebastian is 26. He gets to choose his own life. We should support him.
08:45Whether you like Sienna doesn't matter. What matters is Sebastian wants her. After the wedding,
08:49they can have their own space, and I'll live with you two forever. That softened their faces a little.
08:54I caught Sebastian's eye and gave him a small nod. Our whole lives. Mom, Dad. After we're married,
09:01Sienna and I will take care of you both. Please. Sebastian knelt on the floor in front of them. I
09:05pushed again from the other side. They looked at each other. Then they gave in. Sebastian got his
09:09wedding. This time, the tragedy didn't have to happen. I felt the tension drain out of my hands.
09:14After Mom and Dad went to bed, I went up to my room. I'd just opened my journal when the
09:18door swung open
09:19without a knock. Sebastian. He glanced at the journal. His face changed. I barely stood up
09:25before his hand closed around my throat. Ellie, write more of your disgusting thoughts about me.
09:32What are you talking about?
09:38Sebastian picked up the journal. You kept a whole diary full of this when you were in high school.
09:44He'd read my diary. I was furious and humiliated and I shoved his hand off me. I grabbed the journal
09:49and threw it at him. What do you want from me? I helped you get what you wanted and it's
09:53still
09:53not enough? I had feelings for you. That was my mistake. I don't anymore. What else do you want?
09:59You love looking at my private things? Go ahead. But the guy I'm writing about isn't you.
10:05You actually said yes to my brother? You want to be my sister-in-law? She was so loud. Two
10:10people at
10:10the next table looked over. I reached up and covered her mouth. I ran into him a few days ago.
10:16We just...
10:17My face was getting warm. Clicked. Okay, but tell me everything. He asked you out six months ago and you
10:23turned him down? How did you end up here? Her brother, Grant Walsh, had asked me out six months
10:28before my rebirth. At the time, my whole heart was Sebastian's. I said no. Coming back and fixing
10:33what I'd gotten wrong didn't change Sienna's behavior. She was in my house every day, marking
10:39her territory, making sure I knew my place. Even after I stepped back completely, she didn't stop.
10:44I needed to get out of the house. I went to a bar and had a few too many, and
10:48when I was dizzy and
10:49trying to find the bathroom, some guy cornered me in the hallway. I was about to cry from panic when
10:55Grant appeared out of nowhere and dropped the guy with one punch. When Grant pulled out a
11:01handkerchief to wipe my face, I laughed out loud before I could stop myself. Grant! Who carries a
11:08handkerchief in this century? What are you, 80? Do you have any idea what this cost? It doesn't
11:14matter. A napkin would have worked better. He thought about it, nodded, and threw the expensive
11:18handkerchief in the trash. Ellie says it, Ellie gets it. One handkerchief, and suddenly we were
11:25talking every day. Whenever I was low, I'd message him, and he always had some ridiculous thing that
11:30landed exactly right. After my rebirth, the only time I felt like I could breathe was when I was
11:35talking to Grant. Don't billionaires have better things to do than text all day? Because it's you,
11:39I don't want you waiting even a minute. I've basically had my phone in my hand for three weeks
11:44straight. So this was what being loved felt like. Sebastian had never given me anything close.
11:49This time around, I wanted to know what it felt like for real. I told Grant, yes. I kept a
11:54journal.
11:55Lately, the man in it was Grant. I didn't know if Sebastian had read it this time. When I got
11:58home,
11:59the notebook was sitting neatly on my desk. Sebastian was gone for days. Good timing. I used the space to
12:05tell mom and dad about Grant, the heir to the Walsh family. I held their hands and made them promise
12:10to
12:10stay with me. Always. They patted my head and said yes like I was being adorable. I didn't care.
12:15They'd agreed, and I was holding them to it. That evening, Sebastian brought Sienna home for dinner.
12:19She was wearing something expensive enough to somehow look elegant. Mom and dad were polite.
12:23Nobody caused a scene. After dinner, we all settled in the living room. Sebastian, Sienna,
12:29we're not standing in the way away of your wedding, but there are things we need to say first.
12:33Sebastian's gaze kept drifting towards me throughout the evening. It made my skin crawl.
12:40Sebastian's getting married. Ellie has a boyfriend. To make sure there are no arguments
12:44down the road, I want to be clear now. Married or moved out, you each get half of what we
12:48leave
12:48behind. That doesn't seem fair. Ellie's a daughter. She'll marry out of the family. Splitting it evenly
12:52is just handing assets to strangers. You're not even part of this family yet, and you're already
12:56telling us how to run it. Isn'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. I'd actually say the split is unfair, too.
13:11Ellie's adopted. I don't mind supporting her forever. She can marry whoever she wants and
13:15stay in the house. That's generous enough. Mom and dad's expressions went somewhere dangerous.
13:20Who told you Ellie was adopted? That's impossible. Ellie is the one who...
13:27Elissa is our biological daughter. You're the one who were adopted.
13:33Mom and dad were among the first people from their small town to go to college. They graduated,
13:37moved to the city, built something. When it started to go well, they came back for the
13:41people they'd grown up with, brought a few of the younger ones to Chicago to give them
13:45a start. Sebastian's father was one of them.
13:48The town was poor back then. Your mother ran out on you and your dad when you were small.
13:53Your father was a good driver and a good son. He didn't want to leave your grandmother.
14:00Your grandmother didn't want to be the thing holding him back, so she made the choice herself.
14:06Sebastian's face was blank with shock. Even I was hearing this for the first time.
14:12Your grandmother's last wish was for us to bring your father and you to the city.
14:15We said yes. You just started walking. Things didn't go the way anyone planned.
14:19Your father was killed in an accident within six months. He was barely 25.
14:23He left you behind at not even two years old.
14:26Mom's voice was steady, but her eyes weren't.
14:28I was pregnant. I looked at this tiny little boy alone in the world and we talked it over
14:33and we said yes to taking you in.
14:35Sebastian's expression kept shifting.
14:37You're making this up. You want to cut me out of the inheritance so you're inventing a story.
14:42More disappointment settled into dad's face. He looked at Sebastian without the warmth
14:46that 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
15:15when 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,
15:35patient, 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,
15:45every 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.
16:04This 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.
16:28Father, all 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.
16:41The 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.
17:05And 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, his future in-laws, he called them,
17:40completely straight-faced.
17:42I 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.
18:19I'm not escaping.
18:20I want you and dad to come with me.
18:22Give this house to Sebastian.
18:24Part of it was the distance from Sebastian.
18:26Part of it was that last time.
18:27This house was where we all died.
18:29The 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.
18:42Sebastian's eyes came to rest on me again, like they'd been doing lately.
18:45Dad, Ellie just graduated.
18:48She 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?
18:56Before 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.
19:04I 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, and 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.
20:03I don't have them anymore.
20:04What 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.
20:16You 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 Grant.
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.
21:10I'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.
21:50And made an entire boardroom nervous.
21:52Ellie, just stay close to me.
21:53I'll look after you.
21:55Like 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.
22:04I 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.
22:30He folded me against his side and I thought of something Jess had said once.
22:33She said her brother spent his early 20s being exactly what everyone expected.
22:38Reckless.
22:38Loud.
22:39Careless with money and people.
22:41Then their grandfather handed him the company and put him through two years of the most intensive
22:45reshaping of his entire personality.
22:47The result was someone almost unrecognizable.
22:50Steady.
22:50Calculated.
22:51Kind of man who made a room fall quiet when he walked in.
22:54She'd said it like a complaint.
22:55I'd 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.
23:04And stood in the doorway looking completely at a loss.
23:07I looked at him now.
23:08Sideways.
23:09Grant.
23:10Have you been doing all this?
23:11The markets.
23:12The shows.
23:13The driving around at midnight.
23:15Because 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
23:30girl he was drawn to.
23:31He said quiet, steady.
23:33For 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.
23:51Like someone who'd never been told 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
24:13help 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
24:22like.
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
24:40the 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.
24:53Dad was supportive.
24:54He thought starting at the bottom built real judgment.
24:56Sienna treated my arrival like an occupation.
24:58Three separate attempts to make things difficult in the first two weeks, and I ignored all
25:03of them.
25:04Mostly, I kept to my desk and avoided the executive floor entirely.
25:07It held up for two weeks.
25:08Then the day came when Grant was scheduled to walk into the building for a deal meeting.
25:12I 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.
25:39All I could think about was the look on Grant's face when he realized I was already here.
25:43Then 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, her voice carried.
25:59People were filing in from every direction.
26:01I know you hate me, but scolding 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 weight.
26:13So 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.
26:21The noise closed in like walls.
26:23My 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?
26:37I slapped her.
26:42It 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 fiancée 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.
27:02He 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.
27:31Grant'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.
27:51Mouth pulled into something cold.
27:53This is the woman you chose.
27:56For her, you were willing to...
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.
28:05Sebastian, 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.
28:47I said, I'd been wrong.
28:49I noticed the unit standing just outside the break room door.
28:51It blinked its camera eyes at the crowd and offered 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.
29:04Permanent record.
29:05You can pull anything, going back as far as you want.
29:08The color drained out of Sienna's face.
29:11Something close to panic.
29:12My stomach tightened.
29:15Jake, pull it.
29:16Sebastian said.
29:17No 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.
29:24I stepped in right behind him.
29:26All of it.
29:27Everything that unit has ever recorded near her.
29:30You think money gives you the right to invade my privacy?
29:33Sebastian, your sister is humiliating me.
29:36Sebastian's face was working through something complicated.
29:39This 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.
29:47The absolute deadpan delivery made me bite down on a laugh.
29:50He pressed my hand quietly.
29:51The fallout from Sienna spreading what she'd spread about me
29:54meant I handed in my notice that same afternoon.
29:57When I went up to Sebastian's office to leave my resignation,
30:00he watched me with an expression I couldn't name.
30:03So...
30:04Grant Walsh is actually Grant Walsh.
30:06Yes.
30:07So you can relax.
30:08I'm not chasing you.
30:09I'm not fighting you for the inheritance.
30:11And if you want to marry Sienna, I'm not stopping you.
30:13My voice was polite, distant.
30:15I'd never talked to him like that before.
30:17Sebastian,
30:18I 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
30:34toward, and 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,
30:43they were finishing each other's sentences.
30:44After Grant left, Mom pulled me into her room.
30:47Since Sebastian and Sienna got together, I've been worried about you.
30:50My chest tightened.
30:51Did Mom remember too?
30:53She 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.
31:01But you handled it so well.
31:03And now look at you.
31:04I exhaled slowly.
31:06She didn't know.
31:07Neither of them knew.
31:08That was good.
31:09Sebastian wouldn't make the same mistakes twice, and our family would be okay.
31:13The night before Grant's and my engagement party, Sebastian came home late.
31:18I thought it was Mom when he knocked.
31:19I didn't lock the door.
31:21He came in and pulled me against him, and the smell of whiskey hit me immediately.
31:24Ellie, I was wrong.
31:27Don't get engaged to someone else.
31:29Be with me.
31:30I pushed against him as hard as I could and kept my voice low.
31:32You've lost your mind.
31:34Marry me.
31:35We stay a family.
31:36All four of us.
31:38Isn't that what you always wanted?
31:42You don't love me.
31:44So what is this?
31:46I couldn't get free.
31:47I do.
31:48I 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.
31:59Years don't just disappear.
32:00Sebastian, I told you.
32:03Whatever I felt for you was incinerated in that fire.
32:05In our last life, both his hands were trembling.
32:08His eyes were wet.
32:10I was wrong.
32:11I'll say it to anyone.
32:12I'll get on my knees in front of Mom and Dad.
32:14I'll spend the rest of my life making it right.
32:16Just come back.
32:17Standing there watching him, I felt something almost like grief.
32:21Not for him, but for the version of me who would have fallen apart at the sight of this.
32:24I'll sign everything over to you.
32:26Every asset, every share.
32:28I'll spend what's left of my life earning it back from zero.
32:31I couldn't tell if he was drunk or broken or both.
32:33I put everything I had into shoving him back.
32:37Sebastian, Mom and Dad don't know anything about our last life.
32:40Don't blow that up.
32:41I'm asking you to let this go.
32:43He moved toward me again.
32:44I said it, steady and quiet.
32:46Do you want to lose the last thing we have?
32:49Because that's what this does.
32:50He stopped.
32:51The pain on his face was real.
32:53I didn't look away from him.
32:55Sebastian, I love Grant the way I used to love you.
32:58And he loves me back.
33:00Be happy for me.
33:01I'll be happy for you too when you find someone who's actually right for you.
33:05I said each word slowly.
33:06Sebastian's face went white by degrees.
33:08Then he left.
33:09Sebastian was one of the proudest people I'd ever known.
33:12That retreat, that night, he would never put himself through it again.
33:16I was sure of that.
33:17What was done was done.
33:19Last time's pain was last time's.
33:21Holding on to it meant letting it keep costing me things.
33:24I chose to let the light in.
33:26And I believed, standing there in the quiet after he left, that we would both find our
33:30way to something good.
33:34I was going to lose Ellie completely, even if she still called me her brother.
33:38Coming back the second time, I fought to hold on to what I'd thrown away.
33:41In the end, I was just a joke.
33:42The footage Jake pulled told me everything about why my parents could never warm to Sienna.
33:46She'd been using the office landline to call her mother, talking about my dad being old,
33:50talking about my mom watching too closely, talking about me like I was a lock she'd already
33:55figured out how to open.
33:56She was disgusting.
33:58She'd gone after my father first, then pivoted to me, and I fell for every bit of it.
34:02How did I ever convince myself Ellie had drugged me?
34:04Ellie was the most straightforward person I'd ever known.
34:07The drug came from Sienna.
34:08She'd slipped it to me over dinner.
34:10Then she'd fixed herself up and fed me a story about saving herself for our wedding
34:14night.
34:14And I believed her because I needed to believe something.
34:17She needed 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.
34:24I still had some part of my brain left.
34:26I knew what I was doing, but she was so disarming and I was so weak, and I did something
34:31I've
34:31never forgiven myself for.
34:32Then I buried the guilt under outrage and called it her fault, and blamed it on her.
34:37On 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.
34:44I'd made it worse.
34:46I watched Ellie pull away from me inch by inch.
34:49No more dropping by to share something funny.
34:51No more mug of something hot appearing on my desk.
34:53No more of any of it.
34:58I heard her on the phone with Grant once, telling him that after they were married, she
35:01was going to watch him eat every meal to make sure he finished it.
35:04The jealousy that hit me was so irrational, I scared myself.
35:07I spent every day with Sienna.
35:09I thought about Ellie constantly.
35:10When Sienna went after Ellie in that break room, I had already decided.
35:14Whatever the footage showed, I was done with Sienna, and I was going to Ellie's side.
35:18I was going to protect her.
35:19Then Grant walked in and stood next to her, and I understood that I had already lost the
35:24only thing I'd ever actually wanted.
35:26Ellie didn't ask me what the footage contained.
35:28She already knew, more or less.
35:30She'd always protected me from my own embarrassments.
35:33Even now, knowing everything I'd done.
35:35She left the company and cut off the last route Sienna had to get.
35:38Wah.
35:39Tea she wanted.
35:40Ellie thought the sacrifice was worth it.
35:43She was always worth more than I deserved.
35:44The night before her engagement, with the whiskey making me brave enough to be an idiot one last
35:49time, I held her and asked her to stay.
35:52She pushed me out the door.
35:53I went back to my apartment and put into motion the thing I'd been building for weeks.
35:57Sienna and her mother had been getting greedy.
35:59I'd laid the groundwork carefully.
36:01By morning, both of them were in a position they weren't getting out of easily.
36:04I hated them, but I was the one who'd let them in.
36:07That was on me.
36:09Ellie didn't blame me.
36:10My parents didn't blame me.
36:11That almost made it harder.
36:13Without her, this second life was going to be darker than the first.
36:16That was the cost I was paying.
36:18It was fair.
36:19I wasn't going to get married.
36:21I was going to build what my parents had built.
36:23Make it bigger and look at me.
36:26That was my penance.
36:28I'd chosen it, and I meant it.
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