Page 11 of About Love and Revenge

I mimic, both speaking and acting, what I think people expect of me.

Once, when I was still a teenager, as I was walking around the island, I observed a chameleon. Initially, it was on top of a rock, and its color had blended with it, but then it got down and started walking amid the foliage. Its skin changed from the grayish tone of the rocks to shades of green.

I followed it around for a while, fascinated by its ability to adapt to its surroundings. One of my father's employees saw me watching the animal and explained that, contrary to what most people think, thechameleon doesn't just camouflage to defend itself from predators but also to hunt insects.

So color changes are as much a way to defend oneself as a means by which one can attack someone else.

I kept this information.

I pay a lot of attention to what people tell me. This fact in particular interested me because I'd had to be like a chameleon my whole life and hadn't even realized it.

Ever since my father explained to me what kind of person I was, I realized that the more I pretended, the less others could hurt me. If no one really knows you, no one will know your weaknesses.

This has worked well so far.

Today, I can say with certainty that not even those who are closest to me can guess what I'm thinking. Maybe because they don't pay attention, maybe because I imitate so well that no one can see that I'm just pretending, like an actress in a play.

I don't care as long as they can't hurt me.

Rarely does a situation make me nervous, since I don't really care about anything. I don't allow emotions to take over me, but today I'm shaking inside. I don't like having to deal with unforeseen circumstances. New situations frighten me, and tonight, in particular, there is one that is making me very anxious: the party given by Odin Lykaios, Aristeu’s nephew.

His uncle was my father's head gardener. Odin left the island many years ago, and now he has returned as a billionaire.

I overheard my dad explaining to Mom that we couldn't miss Odin’s reception, but what really surprised me was finding out that the mansion built on our private land belongs to him. I had already been confused when I found out my father was giving up some of our land for a stranger to build his house, but now knowing who bought it, I’m even more baffled.

My father has never liked to mingle with servants, whether they’ve become rich or not. For him, employees are classless and don't even deserve a second look.

About three years ago, Aristeu left our island, but it wasn’t even a week later that I found out why. That was another conversation Ioverheard. My father told one of the security guards that Aristeu was dying of terminal cancer. I even thought that we would help him with the expenses, but back then I didn't know that Odin was rich and didn't need anyone to take care of his uncle. So I called Theo, my younger brother, telling him what I had found out.

I don't often think about my brother, given that my father has forbidden us from even saying his name since he left us. Leaving the island was just another affront to our father. Theo never fully obeyed him, starting with his friendship with Orien, Aristeu’s son, which my father found unacceptable.

Orien, like his entire family, is inferior to us, Dad said.

Theo, however, didn't give a damn. He continued to see Orien every day, and anyone walking around the island could find the two of them talking.

After Orien left, it wasn't long before Theo left us too. I haven't seen my brother in at least eight years. We rarely talk on the phone, and when we do, we always argue.

He lives in America. I’ve seen pictures of him in some magazines and heard my father saying that he is working with actors in order to embarrass him.

I don't know why Theo left, but he never came back and I haven’t forgiven him for that. Looks like he totally forgot about our family.

Theo and my father always had problems. He was the one who was beaten the most. I mean, I barely got beaten up compared to my sisters and Theo; my father used to say he didn't like to spoil my beauty. This made the girls hate me, and to this day they are not my friends. After they got married, the situation only got worse.

What they don’t know is that the aggression I suffered came through words, and those hurt as much or more than the beatings they took.

I look at the dress lying on the bed. I don't want to go to the party. I don't like that man, and I know he doesn't like us either.

The only time we ever spoke, when I was still very young, Odin treated me like I was a bug. Much worse than that—he touched a weak spot.

I really don't understand why my dad is insisting on us going to thisparty. Is it because Odin is now rich? That could be it. My father only relates to people with a lot of money and power. He repeats that all the time.

Despite the dismay of having to meet that rude man again, it'll be a chance to get out of the house a little. We haven't had a party here in a long time, and as my job in life is to organize them, I haven’t had anything to do.

I start filling the bathtub while trying to figure out whether my father will now want us to be friends with Odin.

“Elina, if you keep stalling getting ready, we're going to be late.”

I look at my mother, and it's like seeing myself in a mirror. Her blonde hair now has some white streaks, but her body is tall and thin and we have the same green eyes. We look nothing like the rest of the family. My sisters are dark and short. The only one whose appearance comes close to the maternal English blood, other than myself, is Theo, but his hair is black like Leandros's.

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