Chapter 4I Married My Sister's Catfish

Lindsay strolled down the steps, her iced latte swirling in her hand. As she passed Hogan, she deliberately tilted her wrist, letting the cold, brown liquid splash all over his clean flannel shirt.

“Oh my goodness, I am so, so sorry!”

Her mouth formed an apology, but her eyes danced with absolute malice. “That shirt doesn’t look very expensive, does it? I’ll buy you a replacement. Is a hundred bucks enough?”

She pulled a crisp bill from her designer wallet and let it flutter carelessly to the dirt at Hogan’s feet.

Hogan’s face remained entirely blank as he brushed the wet fabric off his cuff. “No need.”

Lindsay shrugged. “Well, aren’t you gracious. Thank you for being so understanding.”

As she turned to walk away, she muttered under her breath, “Pathetic.”

The word was quiet, but in the morning air, Hogan and I heard it perfectly.

My chest tightened with sudden, white-hot anger. I stepped forward, blocking her path.

“Apologize.”

Lindsay blinked, clearly shocked that the quiet, compliant daughter who had tolerated her abuse for months was suddenly showing teeth.

But she had looked down on me—and on Hogan—for too long to back down.

She scoffed, “What did I say that wasn’t true? He is pathetic.”

My parents, hearing the commotion at the gates, hurried down the driveway. Before they even knew what was happening, my mother’s voice rang out in sharp accusation.

“Norah, what on earth are you throwing a tantrum for now?”

I was so used to their immediate, unquestioning blame that it didn’t even sting anymore. But Hogan’s face darkened instantly.

“Lindsay has repeatedly insulted and humiliated me,” Hogan said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, icy register. “And you, as her parents, don’t even care to ask who is in the wrong?”

It was a remarkably bold statement for a supposedly poor student to make to a wealthy patriarch.

My parents’ faces flushed red, then pale, before they turned their fury right back onto me.

“Look at the kind of man you’ve brought into this family! Just as petty and defensive as you are!”

I ignored them, reaching down to take Hogan’s hand, lacing my fingers firmly through his.

“Hogan is a good man,” I said, standing tall beside him. “You’re just too blind to see it.”

Hogan’s grip on my hand tightened, hard enough to bruise, but I didn’t care.

My parents practically vibrated with rage, but there was nothing they could do. I had already agreed to the match, and they couldn’t afford to lose the Lawrence connection Charles provided.

I didn’t want to waste another second on them. I pulled Hogan toward the Vespa, carefully inspecting the dark stain on his chest.

“Let’s go. I’ll wash it for you when we get back.”

Hogan shook his head, a soft look returning to his eyes. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about something so trivial.”

“It’s not trivial,” I said, looking straight into his eyes. “Anything that concerns you is important to me.”

Hogan stared at me, his chest rising and falling. He seemed to be absorbing the weight of my words, processing a feeling he had never experienced before.

Suddenly, he leaned in, his breath warm against my ear as a deep flush crept up his neck.

“Thank you, Norah. You’re the most wonderful girl I’ve ever met.”

The floating text, which had been silent for some time, suddenly flickered back to life with a few quiet lines.

[As much as I hate the sister... she and Hogan are actually kind of sweet.]

[Yeah, me too. Honestly, Lindsay was being a total brat just now, and the parents are incredibly toxic. I can’t imagine how miserable the sister must have been if she actually cared about them.]

[But Hogan is supposed to be Lindsay’s! She shouldn’t have stolen him...]

[Lindsay literally threw him away because she thought he was poor! Did you guys forget that? She catfished him, used her sister’s face, and then forced Norah to take her place. She thought she was being clever, and now she’s mad it backfired.]

The tide was slowly starting to turn.

The commenters were beginning to see through Lindsay’s fragile, victimized facade, starting to feel a shred of empathy for the “evil sister.”

I rested my cheek against Hogan’s warm back, listening to the rapid, steady thrumming of his heart. I let a small, private smile play on my lips.

I had taken him. And Lindsay was about to find out exactly what that meant.