Chapter 5: My Ex Wants His Puppet Back
2158 Words
Elise recovered quickly.
She lowered her water glass and gave Maren a wounded look.
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”
Maren kept her attention on Elise’s hands.
A moment ago, those fingers had been clenched beneath the table. Now they rested delicately beside her plate, arranged for innocence.
“Doing what?”
“Turning my celebration into another accusation.”
“I asked to see security footage.”
“You looked at me when you said it.”
“Because the missing necklace belonged to you.”
Their mother exhaled sharply.
“That is enough.”
Maren turned toward her.
“No. What would be enough is evidence.”
“We are not digging through old family records because you refuse to take responsibility,” Theo said.
He had moved from irritation to open hostility. The change was almost reassuring. At least he had stopped pretending this lunch was about reconciliation.
Maren looked at him. “You forced me to apologize without checking whether I had done anything.”
“The necklace was in your bag.”
“And someone had access to my bag.”
“Elise would never do something like that.”
Elise lowered her gaze at precisely the right moment.
Maren almost admired the timing.
Their father placed his hand flat against the table.
“This conversation ends now.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is in this family.”
The Maren they remembered would have gone quiet.
She had spent every day after returning to the Beaumonts trying to earn a place they had never intended to give her. Each accusation had frightened her because she believed one wrong move might cost her the family she had spent years imagining.
Maren already knew how the story ended.
No amount of obedience would make these people choose her.
Their mother looked at her with visible disappointment.
“We brought you back into this family. We gave you our name, a home, and a marriage most women could only dream of.”
Maren’s expression cooled.
“You found your missing daughter because the Ravenscroft family refused to marry Elise.”
The room went still.
Theo pushed back his chair. “Watch your mouth.”
“Am I wrong?”
Their mother’s face paled.
Elise whispered, “Maren, please don’t say that.”
The plea sounded soft, but Maren saw relief behind it.
Elise wanted the conversation moved away from the cameras.
That alone told Maren enough.
Their father’s voice hardened. “You have become insufferable since marrying Lucian.”
“No. I’ve become less afraid of being sent away.”
“We never threatened to send you away.”
“You didn’t need to.”
Maren folded her napkin and placed it beside her plate.
“Keep celebrating. I’ve lost my appetite.”
Their mother stared at her.
“You are leaving in the middle of lunch?”
“Yes.”
“That is unbelievably rude.”
Maren rose.
“So was accusing your biological daughter of theft without checking the cameras.”
Theo stood as well.
“I arranged this lunch. Sit down and stop creating a scene.”
Maren reached for her bag.
“If you wanted a quiet celebration, you shouldn’t have invited the person you planned to insult.”
Elise’s eyes filled with tears.
“I never asked them to say anything.”
Maren looked at her.
“No. You never have to.”
The words landed harder than shouting would have.
She walked out before anyone could stop her.
A server waited in the corridor near a glass display filled with rare wines.
Maren slowed.
Inside the private room, Theo’s angry voice carried faintly through the door.
He had arranged the lunch.
His treat.
An immature thought entered her mind.
Maren considered it for exactly two seconds.
Then she smiled at the server.
“Does the host’s reservation cover wine service?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Wonderful. My sister is celebrating a new position.”
The server smiled politely. “Would you like to send something to the table?”
Maren studied the display.
She selected a rare vintage—not the most expensive bottle in the building, but expensive enough to make Theo remember this lunch for a long time.
“Send that one.”
The server checked the label and hesitated.
“Would you like me to confirm the price?”
“No. My brother said today was his treat.”
She left Skyline House in a significantly better mood.
By the time she reached Chloe Fairmont’s townhouse, the tightness in her chest had eased.
The front door opened before Maren could ring twice.
A young woman with glossy dark hair and bright, expressive eyes pulled her inside.
“You actually came.”
Chloe wrapped both arms around her.
The warmth of the embrace startled Maren.
The original memories reacted before she did.
Late-night calls.
Coffee after terrible workdays.
Chloe warning the original Maren that Dominic was using her.
Social media posts visible only to Maren, each one containing a new and increasingly absurd curse directed at Dominic Sinclair.
Chloe was not related to her.
She was still the first person in this world who had ever behaved like family.
Maren hugged her back.
“I brought wine.”
Chloe looked past her. “Where?”
“It’s being delivered to the people who paid for it.”
Chloe’s eyes widened.
Ten minutes later, they were sitting in her sunroom with ordinary wine from Chloe’s kitchen and a plate of pastries between them.
Maren explained the lunch.
Not the novel.
Not the life she had woken from.
Only the Beaumont family, Elise, the necklace, and the suddenly inconvenient existence of security cameras.
Chloe listened without interrupting.
When Maren finished, she put down her glass.
“I told you Elise set you up.”
“You did.”
“You defended her.”
“The old me had terrible judgment.”
Chloe narrowed her eyes.
“The old you?”
Maren reached for a pastry.
“The me from last week. Emotionally exhausted. Tragically devoted to people with no redeeming qualities.”
“That does sound like you.”
“Thank you for your compassion.”
“You’re welcome.”
Chloe studied her for another moment.
“You really are different.”
Maren’s hand paused.
“How?”
“You’re not trying to make excuses for them.”
“Maybe I finally ran out.”
“And Dominic?”
“Blocked.”
Chloe stared.
“Completely?”
“Phone. Messages. Everything.”
Chloe grabbed Maren’s shoulders.
“Who are you, and what have you done with my best friend?”
Maren laughed.
“This version has standards.”
“This version might be my favorite person.”
Her phone rang.
Theo Beaumont.
Maren answered and placed it on speaker.
His voice exploded through the room.
“Maren, what the hell did you order?”
Chloe immediately covered her mouth.
Maren leaned back against the sofa.
“A congratulatory gift for Elise.”
“Do you know what that bottle cost?”
“You said lunch was your treat.”
“I meant lunch, not a collector’s vintage!”
Maren examined her nails.
“Then you should have been more specific.”
Theo inhaled sharply.
“You did this on purpose.”
“Of course not. I simply wanted Elise to feel celebrated.”
Chloe’s shoulders shook with silent laughter.
Theo lowered his voice, as if that could make him more threatening.
“Do you even consider me your brother?”
Maren thought about it.
“A temporary financial inconvenience?”
Chloe dropped her head onto the table.
“Maren!”
Theo went silent.
For one beautiful second, there was nothing on the line but pure disbelief.
Then he snapped, “You have become a spoiled, reckless brat.”
Maren’s smile faded.
“Elise spends your money, and you call her precious. I order one bottle, and suddenly I’m spoiled.”
“That is different.”
“It always is.”
“You owe me an apology.”
“No.”
“Maren—”
“If you genuinely wanted to celebrate Elise, the price shouldn’t matter.”
“That is not the point.”
“Then perhaps you didn’t want to celebrate her enough.”
She ended the call.
Chloe stared at her.
“That was evil.”
“Thank you.”
“I meant it as a compliment.”
They raised their glasses.
“To standards,” Chloe said.
“To expensive lessons.”
For the first time since waking in this world, Maren felt almost normal.
She spent the next hour talking with Chloe about work, design, and every piece of gossip the original Maren had been too distracted by Dominic to enjoy.
Chloe eventually brought up Lucian.
“You married Lucian Ravenscroft.”
“I noticed.”
“You say that like you accidentally ordered him online.”
“The delivery process was more complicated.”
Chloe leaned forward.
“What is he like?”
“Quiet. Controlled. Terrifyingly reasonable.”
“Is he cruel?”
“No.”
“Does he ignore you?”
“Mostly.”
“Does he have mistresses?”
“I have no idea, and I’m not investigating.”
Chloe studied her. “You really don’t care?”
“This marriage is an arrangement. He gives me respect, privacy, and financial security. I perform the duties expected of his wife. It’s refreshingly uncomplicated.”
“You used to talk about Dominic like he was the center of the universe.”
“The universe has issued a correction.”
Chloe laughed.
By evening, the wine had warmed Maren’s face, but she was far from drunk.
She refused Chloe’s offer to have a driver take her home and ordered a car through the household transportation app Arthur had installed on her phone.
The air outside was cool.
Maren stood near the curb, checking the approaching vehicle’s location.
A black car slowed across the street.
She paid it no attention until a hand closed around her upper arm.
Maren spun around.
Dominic Sinclair stood behind her.
The scent of alcohol and expensive cologne followed him.
His expression was dark, his mouth set in a line that suggested he believed he had been wronged.
Maren looked down at his hand.
“Let go.”
Dominic ignored her.
“Why did you block me?”
She almost laughed.
“You tracked me down to ask that?”
“You ignored my messages. You humiliated me in front of everyone.”
“No. You put my call on speaker. You humiliated yourself.”
His grip tightened.
The body reacted before her mind did.
A flash of anxiety.
A remembered instinct to apologize.
Maren crushed it.
“I said let go.”
Dominic searched her face as if trying to locate the obedient woman he remembered.
“You’ve had your fun. Stop acting like this.”
“Like what?”
“Like you don’t care.”
“I don’t.”
His eyes hardened.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“You married Ravenscroft because your family forced you. You told me you would never love him.”
“That was before I discovered you were a liar.”
“I never lied about how I felt.”
“You pretended to be poor.”
“That was complicated.”
“You took my salary.”
“I was testing whether you loved me for myself.”
Maren stared at him.
“That may be the most embarrassing sentence a grown man has ever said.”
Dominic’s jaw flexed.
“You used to understand me.”
“The Maren you remember tolerated you.”
“You are the old Maren.”
“No.”
The answer came quietly.
His expression shifted.
Maren pulled against his hold.
“I am married. You are pursuing Arabella. Whatever existed between us is over.”
“You’re jealous of Arabella.”
“I’m embarrassed that I ever competed with her.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I blocked you.”
“You wanted a reaction.”
“I wanted silence.”
Dominic stepped closer.
His confidence had begun to c***k, revealing anger beneath it.
“You don’t get to decide we’re finished because you spent a few nights in Ravenscroft’s house.”
Maren’s voice turned cold.
“You decided we were finished when you treated me like a substitute.”
For a second, he had no answer.
Then his gaze dropped.
The sleeve of Maren’s dress had shifted during the struggle.
The edge of the bandage showed beneath it.
Dominic went still.
He caught her wrist before she could pull the fabric back into place.
His eyes fixed on the healing injury.
“You did this because of me.”
- Writer
