A Dangerous Kind of Purity

I had been confused about that line, until the day I caught her in front of the bathroom mirror, counting the steel beads in her own tongue.

That was when I figured out what her method was.

Old me, decent person that she was, had actually warned her. "Doing that long-term isn't good for your health. And this is a marriage alliance–you can't just back out. You should take better care of yourself."

She thought about it, misunderstood what I meant, and that very night, she gave herself to Marcus.

What I had not seen coming was that, when Marcus's first love came home from overseas, he would walk away from Nina without a backward glance.

And in the end, she blamed everything on me.

The thought of it made my cheek throb where the knife had gone in.

I forced myself to stay calm and asked, as if surprised, "But you've heard the rumors, right? About Marcus and the woman he can't forget?"

She nudged me, completely confident. "So what? The thing men love most in this life is the thing they can't have."

"As long as I keep doing what I'm doing with my mouth, he keeps fantasizing. No first love, no nothing, can pull him out of that."

Seeing how confident she was, I felt a flicker of satisfaction.

In my previous life, I had been able to move on from this arranged marriage so quickly for a reason–I had someone investigate Marcus.

It didn't take long to find out what kind of person he was.

A regular at private rooms in clubs. Seven nights a week, surrounded by women.

What kind of problems he might be carrying–no one could say. He had to be a walking petri dish.

And Nina, knowing that, was sitting on cloud nine because she'd figured out how to please him with her mouth.

I made a show of glancing at my phone. "Look, don't take this the wrong way. Since I'm the PR director at Sterling Group, after the merger was announced, I had someone keep an eye on Marcus."

She frowned. "Stop bringing up your PR job. Just say what you want."

I handed her the phone. "I'm just concerned about the family's reputation."

She snatched it from me. The moment she saw it, her expression changed.

The screen showed Marcus going in and out of clubs, a different woman in his arms each time.

She tossed the phone back to me, quickly fixing her lipstick.

"I'm heading out. Cover for me with Mom and Dad. Tell them I went to bed early."

My dad was not a prude, but he had a thing about clubs. He thought decent young women did not belong in places like that.

Especially not Sterling daughters. The family name was on the line.

I nodded. "Alright. Just make sure you keep Marcus under control."

She bristled. "Don't think I don't see what you're doing. Pitting him and me against each other so you can slide back in. Not happening."

She stalked out in her heels.

She did not come back that night.

The next morning, she showed up at breakfast wearing a mask.

My dad gave her a look. "What's going on, sweetheart? Take that off and eat."

She avoided his gaze, her voice slightly off. "I think I caught a cold. I'll skip breakfast–I don't want to pass it to you."

I almost laughed out loud. She had been with Marcus all night, and her mouth was wrecked.

Vivian hurried over and helped her sit down. "Did you get cold last night? I had ginger tea sent up to you."

Nina looked across the table at me. "I gave it to Penny. She wanted some."

Vivian whipped her head around. "Penny, what's wrong with you? You know your sister isn't in good health. I made that tea specially for her, and you still took it?"

She caught the way my dad's eyebrows lowered, and softened her voice. "I'm just saying, if you wanted some, I would have made you your own. There's no need to take hers."

"Besides, she's marrying into the Mercer family in a month. She can't afford to get sick."

Nina, of all people, jumped to my defense. "Mom. Penny didn't mean any harm. Stop, please."

Then she turned to me, her tone gentle again. "Penny, you're in PR. Come look at these wedding dresses with me. Tell me which one suits me best."