A Scandal By Any Other Name

TWENTY YEARS AGO...

Following the terrible carriage accident that claimed her parents’ lives, seven-year-old Delaney was brought to live with her uncle Cole and his wife, Eunice.

The shock and the sheer, bloody horror of the accident had stolen Delaney’s voice completely. She became entirely mute, retreating into a dark, silent shell, unable to speak a single word of her grief.

Eunice Kingsley viewed the silent, grieving orphan not as a tragedy to be pitied, but as a heavy, unwanted burden to be punished.

Almost immediately, the harsh realities of her new life began. Eunice dismissed several servants and forced their duties onto Delaney’s small, fragile shoulders. She was made to scrub the cold floors, polish the heavy silver, and carry heavy buckets of water from the well.

When Delaney inevitably made mistakes—dropping an iron pan or failing to dust a high shelf she could not reach—Eunice’s punishments were swift and incredibly cruel.

"You clumsy, worthless girl!" Eunice would shriek, her face twisting with spite. "If you cannot work, you shall not eat!"

Eunice would lock Delaney in the cold, drafty attic storage room and starve her for days.

Delaney could not complain to her uncle Cole. He simply turned a blind eye, ignoring her silent tears, entirely focused on counting his newly stolen fortune. Delaney suffered alone in the dark.

But in those early, terrible days, there was one person who seemed to offer a small, fragile ray of light in the house of monsters.

Then came Lucas Kingsley.

Cole and Eunice’s first child, Lucas was two years older than Delaney. He was a handsome boy with dark hair and his mother’s sharp features.

When Delaney was first brought to the house, Lucas was always there for her. When she struggled with the heavy iron buckets, Lucas would suddenly appear in the hallway.

"Here, let me help you with that," young Lucas would say, his voice soft and seemingly kind. He would take the heavy bucket from her small hands, helping her lessen the massive workload his mother had placed on her.

When Eunice starved her, locking her in the attic for dropping a teacup, the wooden door would slowly creak open in the dead of night.

"Delaney?" Lucas would whisper into the dark room. He would sneak in carrying a small, warm piece of bread and a slice of cheese wrapped in a napkin. "I saved this from dinner for you. Eat it quickly before Mother wakes up."

Delaney, terrified and starving, would eat the food, looking at her cousin with wide, grateful hazel eyes. She saw him as her only protector, a true ray of hope.

Eunice was incredibly cruel in her grief for her brother in law, Arthur. Or rather, she used the grief as an excuse and a weapon. She stripped Delaney of her fine, colorful silk dresses.

"You will wear these," Eunice ordered, throwing a pile of rough, dark gray woolen clothes onto Delaney’s small bed. "You are the reason your parents died in that carriage! You made them protect you! You must wear these dark gray clothes and mourn them until they are finally at peace. You do not deserve to wear bright colors."

Delaney wore the itchy, dark gray clothes every single day, looking like a tiny, silent ghost haunting the grand manor.

But Lucas, ever the seemingly kind cousin, would try to cheer her up. He would sneak into his younger sister Anne’s room and steal one of her bright, colorful dresses—a sunny yellow cotton or a soft pink muslin.

"Wear this, Delaney," Lucas would urge her, pushing the bright dress into her hands with a bright, encouraging smile. "Just for a little while in your room. It will make you feel better. It will cheer you up."

Delaney, desperate for any shred of her old, happy life, would put the bright dress on. She would twirl quietly in front of her small mirror, a tiny smile touching her lips.

But the happiness never lasted.

Eunice and Anne would always, inevitably, find out. The door would burst open, and Eunice’s face would turn purple with rage.

"You wicked little thief!" Eunice would scream, grabbing Delaney roughly by the arm. "You stole your cousin’s dress! You have absolutely no shame!"

Eunice would punish her severely, locking her in the dark cellar for days, while Anne cried over her "stolen" dress.

It took a very long, very painful time for Delaney to finally understand the truth. As time went on, the protective fog lifted, and Delaney saw Lucas for exactly who he really was.

He was not a ray of hope. He was a psychopath.

He was a deeply disturbed, cruel child who derived immense, twisted pleasure from playing games with her sanity. He would pretend to be her savior, only to deliberately set her up for a much harder fall.

He would pretend to help Delaney with her house chores.

"I will wash the floor in the dining room for you," Lucas would offer kindly.

Delaney would nod gratefully and move to clean the drawing room. But when she returned, she would find the dining room floor covered in muddy footprints and spilled dirty water. He had deliberately made it much more dirty. Eunice would find the mess and beat Delaney for her laziness.

It was Lucas who took Anne’s bright dresses and gave them to Delaney. And it was Lucas who immediately ran downstairs to report to his mother.

"Mother," Lucas would say, his face a mask of perfect, innocent concern. "I saw Delaney sneaking into Anne’s room. I believe she stole one of Anne’s yellow dresses."

Most of Delaney and Anne’s squabbles were instigated by Lucas then he would appear to act as the peacemaker.

It was also Lucas who took food from the kitchen pantries, eating the sweet tarts himself. Then, he would find his mother in the sitting room.

"Mother, I saw Delaney sneaking into the kitchen again," Lucas would lie flawlessly. "She was eating the fresh pastries without your permission."

Lucas enjoyed the game. He absolutely loved seeing the brief flash of relief and happiness on Delaney’s face when he offered help, and he loved even more the terrible, crushing look of despair when that happiness was violently destroyed. Because she was completely mute, she could not defend herself. She could not tell Eunice that Lucas had given her the dress or the food.

It gave him immense, sickening pleasure to play the dual role of being a friend and a completely invisible foe.

But his cruel games had an unintended consequence. Delaney did not break. She hardened.

Delaney eventually became much stronger emotionally. She realized that the only way to survive the house of monsters was to feel absolutely nothing. She built a massive, impenetrable wall around her heart. She emotionally detached herself from every single person in the manor. When Lucas offered her a piece of stolen food, she would simply stare at him with cold, dead hazel eyes and refuse to take it. When he tried to speak kindly to her, she walked away.

Lucas realized he could not hurt her emotionally anymore. His psychological games no longer worked. The fun was completely gone.

And then, when they became teenagers, Lucas accidentally overheard his father speaking to Lord Hawksley in the study. Lucas found out the terrible truth. He learned that the quiet, gray-clad orphan was actually the sole, rightful heiress to Arthur Kingsley’s massive fortune, and that his own father had stolen it all.

This revelation did not make Lucas feel guilty; it made him hate her even more. He hated that she was naturally superior to him in wealth and status.

With his emotional manipulation useless, Lucas started to hurt her physically.