Christ, Cassandra thought, I thought it would be easier than this. She toyed with a few blades of grass, deep in thought. In all those prison moves, when someone wants to be put into solitary, they have to cause trouble. So far, that hasn’t worked. Now what?

She stretched out on the grass. Come on, now! she urged herself. I may be crazy, but I ain’t stupid. Cassandra closed her eyes, feeling the sun’s warmth on her skin. This is nice, she thought. For a loony bin, I mean. Nice garden, decent rooms… if this were a vacation spot, this would be something like a moderate-range hotel or something.

A bee buzzed near her, and she shooed it away. “Go away,” she muttered. “Lot of other flowers over there.” The bee zipped away, and Cassandra stared up at the clouds. Wonder what S is up to, she thought.


“Charise, you look great!” Tacita gushed. “Come sit down with us. Want me to get you anything? Coffee? Tea? Cocoa? Water?”

“I’m not sure,” Charise said flatly. “How about if you come with me while I look over the options?”

“Sure!” Tacita exclaimed cheerily. She rose, and, with an affection peck to S’s cheek, said to him, “We’ll be back soon.”

S watched the women walk away and mused to himself, Charise has been acting weird. And I can’t blame it on the whole Cassandra thing. It seems like ever since that night Tacita got drunk and slept over, Charise has had something against Tacita.

He strained to hear their conversation or read their lips, but his efforts were futile.

“Why are you on a date with him?” Charise hissed.

Tacita gave Charise a calm, level look. What’s her problem? she thought. Like she’ll tell me. Best way to do that is just to tick her off enough to where she blurts it out. That’s how I’ve always gotten her to admit everything she’s ever tried to hide from me. Time to roll with the punches. “Well, I figured he’d do well to actually go out and do stuff, rather than waste his time wanting you and not getting you. You know, like he’s been doing most of his life.”

“What?” Charise replied, shocked by Tacita’s words.

“What, did you expect S to just spend the rest of his life mindlessly worshipping you, no matter how stupid or mindless your actions were?” Tacita responded, smirking. Nice, she mentally congratulated herself. “Oh, you did! I can tell. And I bet it f*cking kills you to think he might actually move on!”

“Tacita,” Charise said sharply, “he deserves better than an alcoholic party animal slut.”

“Oh, so a stuck-up, self-centered b*tch like you is a better choice?”

“Damn right!”

S hurried over to get between the two women. It was clear to him that Charise was ready to attack Tacita at any moment, although he wasn’t sure why.

“Ladies, ladies!” S exclaimed. “What’s the problem?”

“Apparently, you are,” Tacita replied.

“What did I do?” S asked.

“Never mind,” Charise snapped at S. “You’ve made your bed and now have to lie in it!” She stormed out of the building.

“Charise!” S cried out, running to follow her.


“I see how it is,” Tacita murmured. She chuckled softly, frighteningly. S turned to her, startled.

“I…” S began, frightened.

“You don’t really want to get over her,” Tacita said slowly, working out everything in her mind. “You like her as much as before. You’re just obsessing over Charise in a different way. Instead of obsessing over how to attract her, now you’re obsessed with how to get over her. You’re still focused on her.”

“I… no… I’m…” S stammered, worried that Tacita was angry at him.

“Do you know what we were arguing about?”

S shook his head.

Tacita smiled a little. “She’s ticked that I’m on a date with you. She’s jealous! Sh’s acting just like Cassandra did whenever she saw you and Charise together!”

“Well, given that they are half-sisters, that--” S stopped himself, mid-sentence. The full impact of the situation hit him. Everything suddenly made sense.

“Why’d you stop talking?” Tacita asked. He figured it out? Good for him, she thought.

“Oh my God,” S muttered, dropping into the nearest vacant seat.

“What? What?"

S stared up at Tacita, eyes wide. “I think… I think she likes me. I think Charise likes me.”


“I can’t wait to get my hands on whoever did this!” Julianna ranted.

Mr. Gaines hung up the telephone and turned to his client. “Well, then, you’re in luck. I have good news and bad news.”

“Good news first, please.”

“Fine,” Mr. Gaines said slowly. “I called around to those magazines, and apparently, the same person was the source for all the pictures and information. They told me who.”

“Who?”

“That,” Mr. Gaines replied, “is the bad news. It is one of your servants.”

“Oh no!” Julianna exclaimed, sinking into a chair nearby. “Who?”

“Marianne Talbot, your maid.”


Eyes narrowed to slits, Julianna roared, “Marianne, get your a** in here!”

“Y-yes, ma’am,” Marianne gasped, rushing in.

Julianna rose slowly and strode over to her maid. “Weddings, illegitimate children, and pseudo-incest,” Julianna intoned. “I’m sure those sounded like good money-makers to you.”

“Excuse me?”

“You gave the press those pictures of my daughter and her friend, told them about Cassandra, and made it look like Charise and S were married and kind of related.”

“I have no idea what you mean, madam.”

Julianna clenched her hands into fists. “In one fell swoop, you hurt me, my daughters, and their friends and family. I want you out of my damn house. And don’t expect one red cent of severance pay unless you contact all those newspapers and magazines and have them retract those stories. They can print the truth about the situation, if they like. The truth, and only the truth.”

Marianne froze. She knew she had been caught, and there was no getting out of trouble now. “Yes, Ms. Delorice,” she replied resignedly.


S stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom, mulling over the situation.

Charise likes me, I think. But does she really? he wondered.

His ruminations were interrupted when his cell phone began to ring. He rolled over and flipped the phone open.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, this is Grant.”

“What’s up?” S asked.

“Valo and I visited Cassie the other day. And she said to tell you she’s sorry. Any idea what that’s about?”

S sighed. “Yeah… she and I had a fight the day before the will was read…”


“Why the hell do you like Charise so much?” Cassandra cried out.

“She has a lot of great qualities,” S snapped.

“Like what? Money?” Cassandra said mockingly.

“That’s not how it is at all, and you know it. Why can’t you just like her, or at least try to get along with her?”

“I’ll never like Charise. Not if she and I dealt with each other till we were old ladies, or if you married her, or if she saved my life, or even if she was my own sister! I’ll never like her, and I’ll keep thinking you’re an idiot for liking her!”

S bowed his head, feeling the tears form in his eyes. “She felt bad about what she said. It ended up happening… she didn’t expect Charise to actually be her sister, which is why she said it. And…” He took a deep breath. “I can’t really explain it,” he said to Grant slowly. “Just believe me when I say I know what she’s talking about. And if you see her anytime soon, before I go to visit… tell her I said that I understand, and accept her apology.”