"What swing?"
The slap left me stunned. My phone was still lit up, displaying a photo Daniel and I had taken that day.
Ethan's eyes fell on it, and his face grew even darker.

He snatched the phone and hurled it against the wall, shattering it.
"Do you think this is the time for games? Do you think waving some fake photo in my face will work?" he roared.
"Sophia, you're a fantastic actress. You think getting a fake boyfriend to play along will clear you of hurting Chloe? Dream on!"
He ignored my protests, dragging me out to the backyard.
The rope of the swing set had been cut.
Chloe had insisted I was the one who did it.

"Ethan, I can't stay in this house anymore," she'd sobbed.
"I know she's in love with you. I thought she'd given up, but she was just waiting for her chance! Does she think if I'm dead, she can be the one to marry you instead?"
"I lose, Ethan. I can't compete with a schemer like her. I'll give you up, okay? I'll move out as soon as I'm discharged…"
She played the victim perfectly.

Ethan was radiating pure rage.
"Move? I'll have someone move our things out now!" he snarled.
"Sophia, I gave you a chance, but you keep crossing the line! You will pay for what you've done!"
He gave a sharp nod, and a dozen bodyguards appeared, surrounding me. A sense of dread washed over me.
"What are you doing to me?" I cried. "I told you, I didn't cut the rope!"
"There are only two of you kids in this house," he sneered.
"Jake wouldn't do something like this. So if it wasn't you, are you suggesting Chloe cut the rope herself just to get hurt?"
My head snapped up. It was entirely possible.
"Ethan, I have no reason to do this…"
Chloe's tearful voice cut me off.
"She told me… she said if she couldn't marry you, she'd make sure I never did either. I thought she was just angry, but I never thought she'd try to kill me…"
Ethan's face was a thundercloud.
He had the guards seize me.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, his voice dangerously calm.
"But I want you to feel the same pain Chloe felt. She fell from the swing. So, you're going to have a fall of your own."
They dragged me upstairs to the second-floor balcony.
"There's no swing here, so this will have to do," Ethan said coldly.
"It's not high enough to kill you, and there are doctors on standby. Throw her."
At his command, they lifted me up as if I were a rag doll.
"Stop!"
"Stop!"
Two voices shouted at the same time. I twisted my head to see Daniel and my brother, Jake, storming into the yard.
Jake's face was livid. "Ethan, if you touch one hair on her head, you and I are done!"
Daniel's eyes were filled with pain when he looked at me, but his voice was calm and steady.
"Mr. Miller, whatever you think Sophia has done, this is not the way to handle it. What you are doing right now constitutes attempted murder."
"Sophia?" Ethan repeated the name, his gaze turning even colder.
"Mr. White, I wasn't aware you were invited. Sophia has misbehaved, and as her older brother figure, I'm teaching her a lesson. I suggest you stay out of it."