"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it, I just—"

     Chloe stammered her words and backed up against the mirror.

     Elizabeth approached with her perfectly white teeth viciously clenched and her words hissed through them. "Get out."

     "—I just wondered why I couldn't go in any of the rooms, I wasn't going to touch anything, I promise!" Chloe explained shakily.

     Elizabeth yanked a magazine from off the book shelf and flung it in Chloe's direction. Chloe dodged the throw, but barely. The look in her step-mother's eyes scared her. She had seen that expression in movies; that look where the character loses all sense of conscience and self and is driven to the unthinkable.

     "I SAID GET OUT!" Elizabeth shrieked.

     Chloe didn't have to be warned a third time, she fumbled desperately to leave the room. She ran from the office and past the other doorways until she made it into her bedroom. Her hands shook, her nerves were shot.

     She wanted to lock her door, but knew it'd be pointless. She had to do something else.

     Her eyes spied the room until they settled on the chair at the sitting desk. That would have to work. Quickly, Chloe braced the chair against the door and started to stack anything else she thought would add more weight to keep a grown adult out.

     Not even three minutes passed before the knob her door knob twisted violently.

     Elizabeth was trying to get in.

     "OPEN THIS DOOR!" She snarled.

     Chloe curled up on the bed with her hands held against her ears to drown out Elizabeth's shouts and repeated over and over, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Chloe's eyes flew opened. It was night time. She didn't remember falling asleep. She looked over to the nightstand to study the alarm-clock. It read: 11 pm. 

     There was a gentle knock against her door. At first she worried that it might be Elizabeth trying a new tactic.

     "Chloe, it's me, Henry. Let me in, we need to talk."

     Relief swelled into her. She'd never felt so happy to hear her father's voice in all her life. Chloe took down the blockade that had protected her so well and opened the door to let Henry step in.

     He looked tired and disappointed. "Have a seat, we need to talk."

     Yes, they definitely needed to talk. He'd probably seen Elizabeth's room full of crazy and the writing on the mirror. They needed to get that woman professional help.

     Chloe sat down on the corner of her bed.

     "Okay, so talk."

     Henry remained on his feet, he seemed to collect his thoughts better when he was in motion. "I loved your mother. She wasn't just an affair for me, she really was the love of my life. My first wife, I was fortunate enough to meet while I was a scholarship student at boarding school. It was a great opportunity for me to climb the ranks and socialize. We married too young and fast, not because we were in love, but because I wanted to move ahead and she wanted to rebel against her parents—"

     Chloe listened carefully, but felt distinctly uncomfortable. Why did he bring up her mother? Why weren't they discussing Elizabeth?

     "—Seventeen years ago, I met Elena, your mother. She was free-spirited, strong and unimaginably beautiful. She had the courage to do everything I didn't. I kept my marriage a secret from her, I just wanted to make the relationship last as long as it could. One day Elena told me she was pregnant, I panicked and told her to get rid of you—that is something I deeply regret now—and she told me she wouldn't punish you simply because I wasn't ready to love you. That's when I told her that I was married." Henry's eyes had taken a sad turn now. He lowered himself slowly to sit on the opposite corner of the bed.

     Tears formed at the corners of Chloe's eyes. "So you just wanted nothing to do with us?"

     "No, it's not like that. Your mother could have told my ex-wife, or demanded something from me, but she didn't. She kept my secret and told me that she would raise you surrounded with love. She told me that until I could and would be capable of showing you love too, that I needed to stay out of your life. She sent me pictures of you in emails; I got to see you grow. You've become just like her; fiery, independent and untamed. I know it seems like it's too late, but I'm here now and I'm ready to do the right thing for you." Henry reached out his hand to place it atop Chloe's in a comforting manner.

     It was the first genuine contact she'd received from her father. It felt strange, like something Tom would have done or said. As Chloe's eyes fixed to Henry she had the overwhelming realization that this person really was a father to her.

     "I know you are angry with me and I know you don't like Elizabeth, but breaking into her office and destroying everything isn't the answer," He calmly scolded.

     Wait, what? What did he mean by that? Chloe hadn't destroyed anything, she barely even touched the magazines!

     Her voice became unsteady. "Henry, what are you talking about?"

     Henry sighed, like an adult weary of a child's game. "You know what you did. You destroyed her sewing room."

     No, no, no. This wasn't happening.

     "It—it wasn't a sewing room! It was a shrine! She had it filled with pictures of herself! There was a giant mirror and she wrote on it with a knife or something!"

      "Chloe, I know Elizabeth very well and I saw the room. Her sewing machine, threads and bolts of cloth were all over the place. You broke really costly equipment that was precious to her."

     "I promise you—Henry, I promise you—that I did not do that, it was Elizabeth. She is framing me!"

     "You don't have to lie. It's my fault. I have been ignoring your trauma, I haven't been present in your life. I'm going to do right by you. I'm going to do for you, what was done for me. Elizabeth has been really understanding and kind about your situation. She suggested that you go to school with Prince. Try it out for a year and see how you like it. They have programs for troubled youth that will help you get focused and stabilize your life—"

     Chloe couldn't listen to anymore, she pushed Henry away and tried to leave her room. She wanted to find Elizabeth, she wanted to look the woman in the eye and make her tell Henry the truth.

     Dominic was right, oh God, he was so right. Henry didn't trust Chloe, and why would he? She might have been his daughter, but they didn't know each other.

     She turned down the small hallway and found the door to Elizabeth's office wide-open this time. No locks. She stepped in and witnessed firsthand exactly what Henry meant.

     There was no trace of the posters, award or news snippets. It looked like a seamstress room, but one that was in horrible disarray. In the corner of the room, stood Elizabeth, who pretended that she was fixing the damage done to a sewing mannequin.

     A lump formed in Chloe's throat, she couldn't stop her tears now. "Why are you doing this to me?"

     "You'd have told Henry what you saw and he might have questioned his decision to marry me," Elizabeth answered truthfully. She turned her head and smiled wickedly. Her hour-glass figure swayed in an emerald-green dress and heels. Her wine-colored hair pooled over her shoulders and the simply devious look on her face made her look like an evil queen.

     "You see, pretty girl. It all became clear to me when I saw you look into my mirror. If you stay here, Henry will become attached to you and little-by-little your pretty smile would have more sway with him. Your curiosity is like a disease, you'd go digging deeper and deeper into things you shouldn't. I decided though to find a kind punishment for you. We're sending you to Darkwood. It's an elitist school, you'll learn subjects most couldn't even dream of and you might even meet a wealthy boy to marry when you turn eighteen. See how kind I am?"

     Chloe's lips trembled, her knees lost strength and she knelt onto the floor. "Don't do this. Don't send me away, I'm just starting to get to know my father. He is the only family I have left!"

     Elizabeth folded her arms and stepped past Chloe. She stopped her satin heels just close enough to Chloe's leg to be a threat. "Foolish girl, that's exactly the point, to keep you from getting to know him. When you graduate, you will automatically either be forced into furthering your education, or be on your own. Henry won't have any financial responsibility towards you when you become an adult and in two years I should have a firm grip on his bank accounts. So make sure you make the most of your time there."

     And with her hips shifting from side-to-side, Elizabeth left Chloe in the ruins of the former-office.