Ripples and Hills

Elviira.

Wisteria Vine, Northern Finland

December 23rd, 1981.

It’s dark outside.

The winter air is brutally cold, the kind that bites straight through lace and silk. My thin dress offers no protection, only shame. The frozen trail crunches beneath my feet as I run—thudding, trembling—seeking solace in the jaws of death.

Yes, I’m running toward death. Because if I don’t, my life ends in another way. A slow, bitter death... inside that house.

My name is Elviira Laine. I’m the only daughter of Niko and Sini Laine, heirs to the once-glorious Wisteria Vine.

And today, I was married.

To Richmond Hills—a wealthy Scottish businessman, twenty-two years older than me. He is forty. I am eighteen.

To the world, it was a fairytale union. Wealth. Power. Status. Applause rang the moment we were declared man and wife. But none of them heard the silent scream in my chest. None of them saw the despair settle into my soul. None of them saw that I was forced to marry a man I didn't love. A man that has no passion in his eyes.

When he kissed me earlier at the altar, there was no magic. There was no spark. It was all a blur. It was all filled with a dimness that I never knew could occur in a kiss.

I don’t love him.

I can’t.

Because my heart already belongs to someone else—a man whose love was stolen from me the moment my father signed a business deal inked in betrayal.

A marriage agreement signed by my father a few days ago, which will allow my father and Richmond Hills to be business partners in steel production. A business partnership built on a two months old friendship. They were introduced barely two months ago at a party. Now, they’ve become family.

Who uses a child as a collateral to go into a business partnership. Surely no one in this day and age. It isn’t the 1800’s when people publicly embraced such marriage alliances. These days, men and women make their own choices, yet, I’ve been deprived of that opportunity to make my own marital choice.

I was told that my marriage to Richmond will enable my father to earn profits from the partnership, without him having to put in any feasible contribution of his own. Knowing that Wisteria Vine currently runs on its old glory, Richmond was kind enough to allow father to benefit from him as a family member and not as a business acquaintance. But at the expense of my freedom.

The day my father met Richmond, he saw not a man—but an opportunity. A way to restore his lost empire through a partnership in steel. And the price of entry? Me.

Who trades their daughter like livestock in the 20th century?

He didn’t ask if I was willing. He didn’t care. All he saw was profit. Richmond promised to treat me as family, not just as a business asset—and for that kindness, I was gifted like a trinket, offered up for marriage.

“You will marry Richmond Hills, Elviira!” My father’s booming words still ring in my ears as I run. “It is important that as my only child, you restore us to our former glory!”

“But father!” I objected and his eyes and voice silenced me.

“Enough, Elviira! You’re marrying Richmond!”

Cold tears me back to the present as I continue to run.

Since then, every glance from Richmond turns my stomach. Every touch is a silent invasion. The kiss we shared at the altar was nothing—void of spark, void of soul.

I was numb.

Now I stand at the edge of the cliff. Below, the rapids rage—a torrent of freezing water crashing against jagged rocks. Wind whips my hair and lashes my cheeks. The sound is deafening, like the roar of fate itself.

The sounds of music and happy cheers, filter into my ears as I gaze below the cliff. The gaiety that had surrounded me earlier in the wedding hall, was completely contrast to my despair. I looked at my dad and I know he saw my despair written on my face. But his business deals mattered more to him than my happiness.

One step.

That’s all it takes.

One step, and I’ll be free. No more expectations. No more deals. No more Richmond.

But just as I lean forward, I see something. In the chaos of the water, I see... us.

Me. Him. Together. Kissing. Holding children. Building something bigger than this pain. I see a future I never imagined—wealth, yes, but more than that. A legacy.

A dynasty.

I stumble back, breathless. My tears are hot now, not cold. That life… could it be real?

Can I return to Richmond? Could I ever embrace him? Could I become that woman?

Or is the water still the kinder option?

I stare into the rapid below, frozen between two fates.

Then—I slip.

Warning!! Adult Themes!!!

Alexa.

New York. Year 2023.

Friday, December 23rd...

My name is Alexa Hills. Eighteen. Invisible.

I've always had a talent for blending in. Not in the cute, wallflower way. I mean really blending in—watching the world move, while I disappear into it. I see what others miss. What they try to hide. Their secrets trail behind them like smoke—and I inhale it all. Silently. Carefully.

I don't speak. I observe. It's a habit I have imbibed over the years. A survival technique for me.

Like right now.

In the ballroom of Hills’ Mansion, under the glittering chandeliers and Christmas garlands, one of the maids smiles politely while pouring wine for my mother. But I know. I know. She’s pregnant—with the driver’s child. And he doesn’t want it. Says his wife would throw him out if she found out.

“Please Seville…” The