Prologue

Violet

Istand on one foot then hop onto the other, as I try to give my feet a rest from the heels my mom made me wear today. It's her wedding day so I could hardly say no.

Mom makes it difficult for anyone to say no to her. That's why today is not only her wedding day, but also the day we move in with my new stepdad and I meet my two stepbrothers for the first time.

Well, that's if you count awkwardly standing across from them at the church altar without having said one word to each other, as meeting them.

I can feel the weight of their stares as we wait for Mom's grand entrance, but I'm too nervous to look their way.

As usual, she's making today even more of an event by being late. At least this time it's only been ten minutes. For her last wedding, she had everyone waiting almost an hour before she swanned in like she was right on time.

When I can't handle the feeling of being watched any longer, I look up and make eye contact with the two boys that I've been avoiding all day.

Now that I'm getting a good look at them, the first thing that pops into my head is how cute they are.

I really should look away, focus my attention back on the church doors rather than on them, but it's surprisingly difficult now that I'm trapped by their dark brown eyes.

They're both insanely tall. My heels give me a few extra inches, but it's nothing to get me on the same level as them.

What's their dad been feeding them?

According to Mom, they're just a couple months older than me. I wouldn't have guessed they were fifteen just by looking at them though.

Not only are they tall for their age, but they're both hiding muscles under their fancy black suits.

Again, what have they been eating? And why does it give them muscles and me rolls?

Other than the oddly similar blonde hair that I realize I share with them, they're basically the complete opposite to me. I'm sure Mom loves that we already look like a perfect family at surface level though.

We may not be the same, but they are.

Maddox and Max Ostaire are identical twins. Their looks make them stand out twice as much, thanks to there being double the amount of beauty on that side of the altar.

I hope Mom doesn't make me change my last name. Cassidy sounds way less pretentious than Ostaire.

Suddenly feeling self conscious, I adjust the thin spaghetti straps that keep cutting into my shoulders. Mom bought my bridesmaid dress two sizes smaller than what I am, because she wanted me to lose weight for her special day.

Is it really so special when it's your fifth go at it?

To her dismay, I didn't lose the weight. Honestly, I didn't even try, but I won't tell her that.

No matter how much she tells me I'd be so much prettier if I lost the baby fat, I kinda like the way I look. Most of the time anyway. Some days, self doubt creeps back in and her words get to me, but the majority of the time I'm able to drown her out. I've had plenty of practice at it.

I try to focus my eyes literally anywhere else, but when the boy on the right smiles at me, my stomach flips. He says something under his breath and his twin smirks.

Oh, jeez.

That smile is dangerous.

My stomach does a double back flip this time, as I look at the other brother.

I'm not sure who is who by name yet, but as I look closer I can already see the differences between them.

I wonder if anyone else sees them too?

The boy on the left stands with his feet apart and hands lazily in his pockets, whilst his twin keeps his back straight, but tilts his head every time he smiles.

They whisper something to each other again and this time they share a look. It goes on for way too long, like they're having an entire conversation in their heads.

After a while, I feel awkward staring, like I'm invading their privacy and I make myself look away.

Reginald, my soon to be stepdad, looks more and more frustrated with every minute that passes.

He looks over at me, like I'll be able to tell him where Mom is, but hell if I know.

She could be throwing a fit about some tiny detail of her makeup being wrong or off blowing some random guy.

I keep out of her business and she keeps out of mine. It's how it's always been with us and it's the only way we haven't killed each other, yet.

All I can do is offer him a small smile that hopefully gives him some reassurance. He seems like a nice enough guy so what he's doing with my mom, I have no idea.

When the doors finally open, all eyes are on Mom in her white fishtail gown, which looks like it cost more than a year's rent in our last home.

As she walks ridiculously slowly down the aisle, everyone's attention is glued to her, but I can still feel the heat of two sets of eyes on me.

I don't dare look back at the twins.

Since I have to live with them from now on, I want them to like me. The last thing I need is to get on their bad side.

I'm having to start over in another new town and school, so I already feel like such an outsider. I can't imagine being able to find a way in with them. They already have such a tight-knit, familial bond and I'm sure that won't ever include me.

"We wondered where you were hiding."

Two pairs of black, shiny shoes stop in front of me and my stomach knots as I know exactly who they belong to.

I'd managed to avoid socializing since arriving at my new home after the ceremony this morning. As soon as the car pulled up, I jumped out and found a quiet study far away from the drone of the fancy quartet Mom picked to play. The classics I like come from the pages of a book not from shiny brass instruments.

Seems my peaceful reading time is over.

When I look up from my book, the twins are staring down at me. They've lost their suit jackets and ties, making them look slightly less standoffish.

One of them has his shirt fully untucked, with the top three buttons loose and his previously neatly coifed hair is now a ruffled mess. His brother remains tightly buttoned up, but his sleeves are rolled up to the elbows.

I place my book down on my lap and unbuttoned guy bends down to pick it up.

"You're reading at a party?" He snorts.

"It's a wedding, full of old rich people, it's not a party," I bite back, reaching up for my book, but he holds it out of reach.

"Want to make it one?" He raises an eyebrow at me.

"Mad, don't," the other twin says sternly.

Mad?

"Maddox?" As I get to my feet, I look up at the twin with one hand in his pocket as he reads a page of my book.

"Romeo and Juliet, weren't they cousins? Kinky," he mocks and I try to snatch it back, but his stupidly long limbs keep it out of reach.

"No, that's not true. Hey, what the hell?"

Maddox slips it into his back pocket and smirks. "You can have it back later, it's party time first."

"What my brother means is we're going to hang out upstairs, if you want to join us?" There's a softness to Max's voice that I wasn't expecting.

He smiles at me and I stand there dumbly staring back at him, my mouth hanging open like a damn fish.

He's being nice to me.

Why is he being nice?

The last stepbrother I had was a complete jerk. He stole my stuff all the time and made me the butt of every joke at school. Lucky for me, Mom messed that relationship up somehow and we moved here.

"Um, sure, not like I have anything else to do now," I say pointedly to Maddox.

Shrugging his shoulders, he starts walking away. "I'll get the booze and ice cream."

"Mad, you're not getting our new sister drunk. Dad will kill us."

Sister.

That word sends my brain to a screeching halt.

I've been ogling the pair of them, when they're so far out of reach they may as well be in a different universe.

They're my new brothers and my brain would do well to remember that.

Maddox spins on his heel and walks backwards as he talks to us. "Correction. He'll kill me. You can do no wrong, brother. What about you? Will Charity kill you, if you have a little bit to drink with us?"

I cringe as he uses my mom's first name. She really likes to live up to its meaning, making sure everyone sees both her and I as a charity case.

"I doubt my mom has even noticed I'm not there."

Maddox raises an eyebrow at me, but doesn't say anything more. I expected another snarky remark, but he gives me a small smile as if he understands exactly what I mean.

We start heading through the ballroom, because of course this house has a freaking ballroom.

Mom really landed on her feet this time, marrying a big shot lawyer. Hopefully she doesn't mess it up, like she did with all the others.

My life has been a constant revolving door of different stepdads and houses to live in, ever since my real dad left when I was six.

Rather than get a job and make a home for the pair of us, my mom decided that men owed her something and has been using them to keep a roof over our heads instead.

I'd say, yay for feminism, if she wasn't just the worst.

As we pass through the crowd of people in suits and fancy cocktail dresses, there's a sudden chorus of people counting down. When they reach one, I look up and realize Mom's thrown her bouquet and it's coming straight towards my face.

Before I can even blink, it comes to a stop just an inch from my nose as Max catches it mid flight. He passes it to me and there's an eruption of cheers as everyone smiles at us.

Max soaks up the applause like he's used to it, but I on the other hand want to curl up into the tiniest ball and roll right out of here.

I can feel how red my cheeks are and I know that if I looked down, I'd see it spreading down to my chest. I hate that my body does that when I'm flustered.

I give Max's arm a tug. "Please can we get out of here, before Mom drags me up there and starts giving a speech about how it was fate or some crap that you caught that."

With a laugh, Max leans in and says, "Maybe it was."

Oh God.

Is he flirting with me?

My heart is beating so hard it's going to burst out of my chest in a minute.

I must be crazy to think that he was.

He's just being friendly.

Even if we weren't stepsiblings, there's absolutely no way this boy would have any interest in me.

Right?

This is just my luck.

The first cute boy, that may or may not be flirting with me, is my stepbrother.

What sort of cruel fairytale is my life turning into?

Taking my hand, Max pulls me through the crowd and out of my thoughts.

We meet Maddox at the bottom of the stairs. He's got a massive tub of ice cream in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other.

When he spots the bouquet in my hand, he raises an eyebrow. Then he sees me holding his brother's hand and the corner of his mouth tugs up, just the slightest bit. "What did I miss?"

I'm going to leave Max to answer that one. I quickly pull my hand out of his, then rush upstairs ahead of them both. "You know what? I've not actually seen my new room yet, I'll meet you guys up there," I call down, as I bound up the last few stairs.

As nervous as I feel right now, I'm also excited. Like there's a chance that I might actually get a happily ever after this time.