“Then they won’t care.” And she yanked.

Chapter 3 — The Robe Slipped

The knot came loose.

The robe slipped from my shoulders and pooled on the marble.

I will not linger on this moment, because my sister engineered it precisely so that people would linger on it, and I refuse, even now, to give it to her.

It is enough to say that the scars I had covered for twelve years were suddenly visible to a room full of strangers, pale uneven lines twisting across skin, disappearing beneath the edges of my swimsuit; that some guests looked away, and some stared; and that a ripple of gasps moved through the ballroom exactly as Jessica had hoped it would.

Her smile widened.