The doors opened as if by magic, letting the sound of revelry pour out into the night. Marley stood in the foyer for a long second, her eyes wide with the warm glow of the mansion's interior. She came back down to reality when she realized that Christian wasn't leading her by the elbow anymore.

He had helped her out of the car and then taken position behind her as they ascended the stairs. Whether it was to make sure she didn't trip on the train of her dress or to make sure that she did, in fact, enter the party, Marley wasn't sure.

Christian met her gaze with a questioning look that Marley responded with a nod. They couldn't have communicated with words if they had wanted to. Some remixed version of a classic Christmas song was pounding through the speakers, the bass drumming in the walls and pulsing in the floorboards.

Christian left her with one last concerned glance before he entered the fray, leaving Marley alone in the center of the foyer.

Before her extended a sea of velvet and silk, diamonds and gold, all shiny and glittering under the glow of the Christmas lights decorating every available surface, not to be outdone by the twelve-foot Christmas tree that stood guard in the far corner of what Marley had to guess was some sort of family room. It was hard to distinguish rooms as there were bodies everywhere.

But Christian didn't seem to notice. Marley watched his progression through the crush of bodies, his determination and confidence parting the crowd like the Red Sea before him.

Down the front steps, through the hallway, passing the crowded kitchen on the right and the dining room on the left, all the way to the wall of glass that distinguished the end of the house from the beginning of the back yard.

Marley saw immediately who his intended target had been. Winter's glare turned from the yard beyond and softened when she found who had tapped her on the shoulder, quickly to be replaced with shock.

Marley had yet to see Christian and Winter standing within ten feet of each other and her own shock was expressed upon Winter's face. Marley left them to their conversation as Christian leaned in to talk.

Her eyes started moving over the heads before her, unconsciously looking for that familiar pair of bright gray eyes. When Marley realized just who she was looking for, she admonished her subconscious and searched out her sisters instead.

She found Stella with a smile on her face, actually having a good time. She was deep in conversation with one of the servers and Marley let out a huffed laugh as she saw him leave Stella's side to deliver food and then immediately return when his tray was empty.

Gabbie was easy to spot as she was in the center of the big family room, chatting happily with anyone who would listen. And she had drawn herself quite a crowd. Someone broke through her circle of acquaintance to lean in close to her ear.

Marley's heart froze mid-leap into her throat as she found that oh-so-familiar pair of eyes looking each way as he leaned in to talk to Gabbie. Gabbie shrugged, looked around with him, and then pointed to Christian where he stood deep in a heated conversation with Winter.

Marley watched Felix's eyes follow Gabbie's finger, knowing that her spot was soon to be discovered.

Her feet were moving before she was even aware of the action, her fight or flight responses taking on a literal application.

Marley only noticed the two security guards that stood on either side of the front door, opening it for newcomers, once her heels were clicking against the tile of the staircase she had found hidden from plain sight to her left when looking frantically around for an escape route.

The staircase curved as it approached the second floor and Marley was met with a fork in the hallway, the path simultaneously leading forward to a hallway of rooms and to the left to yet another hallway of rooms.

Lights and noise seemed to follow her from behind but also appeared in straggling bursts coming from her right. Marley found a pair of thick red velvet curtains that hid from view a small balcony. Pushing them aside, Marley found herself high up above the party below. In short, the perfect hiding spot to spend the rest of the evening, so long as she stayed out of sight and out of Felix's notice.

She wasn't alone long. Marley felt the curtains shift just as a voice behind her spoke.

"I see my hiding spot has been compromised. I knew it was too good to be true. One of you had to stumble upon it eventually."

Marley immediately backed away from the rod iron railing that bordered the small balcony and stumbled back into the hall. She found a woman only a few years older than herself smirking at her, an amused look lighting up her dark eyes.

"I- I- I'm so sorry. I can leave. I didn't mean-"

The woman waved away Marley's poor attempts at an apology and explanation.

"No, don't worry, you're fine. A hostess should be ever accommodating to her guests, flexible to all their whims."

She put on an air while speaking as if quoting someone else. A bitter smile morphed her rather pleasant one for a second and her eyes got dark. But before too long, her chill nature came back into play.

"At least, that's what my mom tells me. Stay. Hide. I insist. So long as you don't mind some company."

"No, no, not at all."

The woman nodded for Marley to return to the balcony first, following Marley but keeping further to the shadows of the curtains.

They stood in silence, letting the party fill the air with noise between them. Up there, Marley was grateful she didn't have to yell to be heard.

"So I'm guessing you're the host of this shin-dig."

The woman nodded.

"And I'm guessing you're not from around here."

Marley shook her head.

"What gave me away?" She asked.

"You called it a shin-dig. What gave me away?"

"You're not wearing a ballgown."

Her companion looked down at her tailored pants, neat velvet blouse, and then down at Marley's black ballgown, the skirt taking up more than its fair share of the balcony's floor space.

"Only a host could pull such a power move," Marley said.

"I've been discovered. And here I was hoping to spend the evening in complete anonymity."

"If you wanted to hide in plain sight, you should have worn a dress."

"I guess I'll have to resort to hiding away up here."

She moved further into the light and Marley could see her face for the first time. Not a dash of makeup dotted it. Maybe chapstick, if Marley had to guess. Yet another power move. Her new friend watched Marley's reaction and her brows were pulled together, a smile tugging at her lips in confused amusement.

"So where are you from?"

"Brooklyn," Marley answered. A real smile spread across her friend's face.

"Same here. What neighborhood?"

"Park Slope. I live with my family in this tiny apartment on Seventh Avenue."

"I was born down on the Fifth."

"Small world, huh?"

Her friend nodded.

"You've come a far way for a Brooklyn girl."

Marley gestured to the ceilings that vaulted high over their heads, the expanse that lay before them.

Her friend shrugged.

"I'll pass the compliment along to my mother. This is all her doing. This is her house."

"And yet you're the host?" Marley asked.

"Let's call it a family obligation."

Marley couldn't help the sigh. That term seemed to have been chasing her around all week. And she was tired of running. Christian's words came bounding back at her, rattling in her brain.

"You're not like them. You're not like me."

"How did you come to be this far from home?"

Marley felt a similar bitter smile pulled at her lips as she repeated her friend's previous answer as her own.

"Family obligation."

Her friend nodded slowly, an understanding falling between them. She stuck out her hand towards Marley, followed by a "Georgie. Nice to meet you."

"Marley. Ditto."

They fell to talking about normal life for a while as the party raged on without them. Georgie explained that she had moved from Brooklyn to Greenwich Village when she was little and lived there now when she was in town. She had heard of Marguerite's and promised to stop by and say hi the next time she was in town, explaining that she had a flight early the next morning headed for Japan.

Marley passed right over that fact as Georgie didn't look like she wanted to explain why and in turn talked about her sisters, their plan for their own bakery, school, her normal life. Georgie seemed fascinated and kept asking questions about what college life was like, a flash of envy crossing her eyes at the life Marley got to live.

Georgie cut her off by nudging Marley's shoulder, cutting her story about Stella quitting college, to nod down at the party below.

"I do believe that young man is staring at you. A friend of yours?"

Marley followed Georgie's gaze and froze when her eyes met Felix's. He started moving immediately while Marley felt her feet frozen to the ground.

As if in response to his desperation, Felix had to push through the crowd, squirm around groups, wrangle his way past couples. Marley was grateful for the mass of people below as they kept him from racing up to her.

"Um, thank you, but I have to go. Like, right now."

Marley barely gathered the skirt of her dress into her hand as she retreated from the balcony and started for the stairs. Thoughts of transportation or how she was to get back to her Grandmothers didn't even occur to her until Georgie called after her.

"Hey! You need a ride?"

"Yeah! I mean, do you mind?"

"Not at all. Andre. Take Marley home, will ya? And go the back way."

A mountain of a man appeared from the shadows as if he had just materialized and Marley jumped in surprise.

"Follow Andre. He'll take care of you," Georgie said.

"Thank you. Thank you so much!"

Marley followed Andre down one of the hallways and down a back staircase that let out into a large basement kitchen. Through a swinging door that Andre held open for her, Marley found herself in an underground garage. Andre had the passenger side door of the nearest car open for her, the car already running.

They came out from underneath the side of the house and zipped past the hoard of town cars that currently filled the round-about in front of the house and were lined up down the street, pressed up against the tall hedge that blocked the house from view.

Only once out and able to breathe again did Marley give Andre her grandmother's address. She barely noticed the scenery fly by as she was focused on getting her heart to settle down. Andre was pulling up in front of Thea's house before she knew it.

With a quick 'thank you' as she closed the car door behind her, Marley raced up the front steps, her mind reeling at a million miles an hour, a list of things to do already compiling in her head. She faltered when one of her heels caught on the stones of the steps and she had to hurry back to retrieve it.

The ground was freezing beneath her tights and Marley's pace only increased so she could enter the warmth of the house.

The sound of the slamming door reverberated through the house as not a single other sound rose to challenge it. Soon followed was the soft slapping of Marley's bare feet hurrying up the stairs, her heels now in hand. She tossed them to the side as she entered what had been her room for the past week and went directly for her bag.

Tossing everything she owned on to the bed, Marley started to pack as if her life depended on it as if running from the law, as if running for her life.

She didn't stop to think about the fact that she wouldn't be able to drive away until the morning, that she couldn't just take her family's car and drive back into the city tonight on her own. All she knew was that she needed to pack, she needed to do something that told her this nightmare would soon be ending, that she had only a little while, and then she would be headed home.

She was almost smiling, her shoulders were just about to relax when a pounding came from down below. Marley hadn't heard the car pull up outside. But she heard it pull away and yet the pounding continued. It wasn't her parents or her grandmother. It wasn't her sisters. They all had keys. They all knew the security code.

Hoping it was a figment of her imagination, Marley froze. The pounding stopped then started again, this time joined by her name.

"Marley! Marley! I need to talk to you!"

Marley felt her blood start to boil. Of all the things Marley could think of, everything she would die rather than do, opening the door to Felix was at the top of her list.

"Marley! Please!"

Marley kept packing and the pounding eventually stopped. Only to be replaced by a tapping on her window. Marley raced to see what the heck he was doing now and found him throwing rocks at her window.

She opened her window without a second thought.

"Go home, Felix! I don't want to talk to you."

"Marley! Please! I can explain!"

"Sure you can!" Marley answered with a slam of her window.

The pounding returned. It returned at a rate and frequency that quickly got on Marley's nerves. She found herself pounding down the stairs before she knew it.

"Leave me alone!"

She yelled out into the freezing wind that rushed to meet her as she pulled open the front door. Felix recovered from the shock that had sent him a step back and quickly regained ground, too fast for Marley as his foot kept the door from shutting on his face.

"Marley, please, I can explain. I-"

"I don't want to hear it, Felix!"

"Marley! Please! Wait!"

Marley retreated, forgetting about his foot and spun round at the sensation of the cold beating at her back and the feeling of Felix approaching. He closed the door and crossed to her faster than Marley thought possible.

"I don't want to hear it! Whatever you have to say! Leave me alone, Felix!"

"Please. Marley. You don't understand-"

"Sure I don't! Of course I don't! I don't understand anything! How could I? I'm just the daughter of a broke idiot. You sat there! You just sat there, letting YOUR family tear MY family apart! And I'm suppose to hear you out?"

"I'm sorry. Gosh, Marley, I am so sorry-"

"NOW you're sorry?"

Marley was quite sure that her face was the color of a tomato and that soon she would be drawing blood from her palms from where her nails were digging in.

"Please, let me explain-"

"I don't want to hear it, Felix. I don't care anymore! How could I? How could I care about someone who lets their family just walk over them like that. You invited me, remember? And then you just sit there. You didn't even come after me."

Marley stopped talking when she heard her voice break. She took a step back as Felix tried to approach, holding one hand in front of her, the other covering her mouth as if that was going to keep the tears threatening to spill forth from coming.

"I'm so sorry, Marley. I am. Truly. This life, my family, you don't-"

"I don't understand. Yeah, so I've been told. But you don't understand either, Felix. You wouldn't be asking me to forgive you if you did. How could I love someone who lets their family treat others like that? Who lets their family treat them like that?"

"My family is-"

"Crazy?" Marley completed for him.

"I was going to say overbearing, maybe even complicated."

It was silent as they both tried to catch their breath, Marley because she was still trying to keep her voice steady.

"I get family obligations, Felix. I'm not an idiot. I also know that letting someone else run your life for you is never going to make you happy. I don't care what you do, I really don't. I would be fine if I never saw you again."

Felix took another step back, the hurt in his eyes deepening.

"But I hope, I pray to God, that you do something, that you change something. Or else you're just going to end up like your dad. And I hope that's the last thing you would want."

Her words hung heavy over them. Her arms were now crossed in front of her, her posture straight and rigid.

"I really am sorry," Felix finally said through a sigh.
"I know."

"I really do care-"

"I know that, too." Marley couldn't hear any pronouncements of love or longing or even affection. Not now. Not when she had to make sure things ended for good.

"Did you care..."

Marley took a deep breath, summoning whatever she had left in her to tell the truth. He deserved that much if nothing else.

"Of course I did."

Her reply was soft but as their yelling had stopped and the house remained empty, the words seemed to bounce off the walls, coming back to them in waves.

"I guess this is goodbye, then."

Marley sighed, letting some of the tension keeping her body upright as she exhaled.

"Yes. It is. Goodbye, Felix."

Felix nodded and started for the front door.

He paused, letting the cold in as he looked back over his shoulder.

"Goodbye, Marley. It was really nice getting to know you."

And as he closed the door, Marley could feel her self-control crumble to the floor. Somewhere in the distance, the church bells tolled the hour.

"Happy New Year," Marley said softly for no one to hear.

*

Goodbyes with Thea went much better than her goodbye with Felix had gone. No one screamed at each other and Marley considered that a win.

They were stilted, awkward, and weirdly emotional. There were promises of a return trip and Thea was already talking about stopping by the next time she was in the city.

Thea held onto Marley extra tight when it was her time to say goodbye and Marley let herself sink into the embrace. The sleepless night and the raw cluster of emotions that had taken up residency in her chest had left her exhausted. The hug was nice.

"And I'll be stopping by Marguerite's as well. I've heard they have excellent service."

Thea's eyes twinkled as she winked at Marley. She stood on the front porch, waving goodbye as Marley's dad drove their Subaru down the drive. Marley watched her shrink and only turned forward when her dad slowed to a stop just past the front gates.

Marley's head turned right, in the direction of Felix's house, as if maybe he had come to see her off too. But the road was empty and Marley turned away as her dad turned left.

Familiar chatter started up as soon as they were past the borders of Thea's property. Gabbie was telling them all about the internship Thea had planned for her for that spring as a way to earn college credits and to start learning more about the family business.

Stella talked about the server she had met the night before and their plans to meet up in the city.

Marley let the familiar sounds and cadences of her family wash over her as she leaned her head against the window. She felt like she could breathe for the first time in a week and an ache was settling into her chest because of it. Or maybe the ache was there for a different reason.

Marley fought the urge to look back down the road one more time. She had somehow found herself mixed up in a war that had been raging in the Reigns household for decades now and it was time for Marley to leave the battlefield. She was going home.

A/N:

Wow. The emotions. They're too much.

Anyone else recognize Georgie?? No? Just me and that's because she's a reoccurring character in a majority of my writing?

Okay then. Just me.

So. Is this the end? Is this how I'm leaving you?

Don't stress. I'm not THAT mean. Keep scrolling to see whether or not Marley gets a happy ending.