Chapter 5

Jillian Chapman POV:

Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air. The room was vast, opulent, filled with antique furniture and plush rugs. I blinked, disoriented, then realized I was lying in a king-sized bed, the silk sheets cool against my skin. It was a stark contrast to the threadbare mattress and flickering fluorescent lights of my usual existence.

"Mommy, you' re awake!" Ida' s joyous cry cut through my confusion. She bounced on the bed, dressed in a ridiculously ruffled pink gown, her hair tied with a satin ribbon. She looked like a miniature princess.

The door opened again, and Grayson walked in, holding Adam' s hand. Adam, too, was impeccably dressed in a tiny suit, his hair neatly combed. He avoided my gaze, his eyes fixed on the floor. The boy was wary of me, constantly torn between my presence and the years of indoctrination.

I sat up, the silk slipping from my shoulders. My clothes, my familiar, worn clothes, were nowhere in sight. My stomach clenched. I needed to leave. Now. I swung my legs out of bed, looking for something, anything, to cover myself with.

Just then, the door swung open again. Kiera Lara stood there, a silver tray laden with breakfast in her hands. She wore a silk robe, her hair artfully disheveled, a picture of domestic bliss. Her eyes, however, were narrowed, a triumphant glint in their depths.

"Well, look who decided to grace us with her presence," Kiera purred, her voice dripping with fake concern. She placed the tray on a nearby table with a clatter, then turned to me, her arms crossed. "Feeling better, Jillian? You gave us quite a scare. Fainting in a greasy kitchen. Really, darling, you must take better care of yourself."

My knuckles whitened as I gripped the edge of the bed. Her words were laced with acid, a thinly veiled insult.

"Perhaps you' d like some of this delicious oatmeal?" Kiera continued, her smile widening maliciously. She held out a spoonful of the steaming cereal. "It' s wonderfully hot. Just the way Grayson likes it."

Before I could react, she tilted the spoon. A dollop of scalding oatmeal splashed onto the pristine white sheet, just inches from Ida' s foot. It was no accident. Her eyes flicked to mine, a silent challenge.

My blood ran cold. The primal instinct to protect Ida surged through me. I instinctively reached out, pulling Ida behind me, shielding her small body with my own.

A blur of motion. Grayson, who had been standing silently by the door, was suddenly between Kiera and me. His hand shot out, knocking the tray from Kiera' s hands. It clattered to the floor, oatmeal and shattered china scattering everywhere. A splash of hot liquid hit Grayson' s forearm. He winced, but his eyes, blazing with a terrifying fury, were fixed on Kiera.

"What the hell do you think you' re doing, Kiera?!" he roared, his voice shaking the room.

Kiera recoiled, feigning shock. "Grayson! I... I just tripped! It was an accident! I was only trying to help Jillian!" Her voice was shrill, laced with false innocence.

"Get out," Grayson commanded, his voice deadly calm, a stark contrast to his earlier outburst. "Get out, Kiera. Now. And don' t let me see your face again today."

Kiera' s face crumpled. She shot me a venomous glare, a silent promise of future retribution, then turned and scurried out of the room.

Adam, who had been silently observing the entire exchange, looked up at his father, then at me. His eyes, usually filled with a stony indifference towards me, now held a flicker of something new: confusion, perhaps even a dawning realization that Kiera' s sweetness was a facade. He looked down at the shattered china, then back at me, a silent question in his gaze. He seemed to understand, in that moment, that Kiera was not as kind as she pretended to be. His small face twisted in a silent battle of conflicting loyalties.

My attention, however, was solely on Ida. I checked her over, fussing, making sure no stray pieces of china or hot oatmeal had touched her. She clung to me, shaken but unharmed.

"Are you alright?" Grayson asked, his voice strained. I looked up. His forearm was red, already blistering where the hot oatmeal had hit him. He was wincing, still holding the journal his sister had written.

Later that evening, after the children were asleep, I found a tube of burn cream in the bathroom cabinet. I hesitated for a moment, then walked to Grayson' s study. His door was ajar.

He was sitting at his desk, the room dimly lit by a single lamp. The leather-bound journal lay open before him. My heart gave a little lurch. He was reading it. He had read it. The truth, finally, was sinking in.

He looked up as I entered, his eyes red-rimmed. He quickly, almost guiltily, closed the journal, shoving it beneath a stack of papers. A flicker of something-shame? regret?-crossed his face.

"Ida asked me to bring this to you," I said, holding out the tube of cream. It was a flimsy excuse, but a necessary one. "For your burn."

He stared at the cream, then at my face. His eyes were still swollen from crying. "Thank you," he said, his voice hoarse. He took the tube, his fingers brushing mine. A spark, a faint echo of the past, crackled between us. I quickly pulled my hand away.

"Are you... are you really leaving us again?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. He stood, walking around the desk to stand before me.

I looked away, my gaze drifting to the framed photos on his desk: a younger Kiera, smiling; Adam as a baby, nestled in Grayson' s arms. The life he built, the lie he lived. "I have my own life, Grayson."

"Please, Jillian." He reached out, taking my hands in his. His touch was hesitant, almost pleading. "Don' t go. Stay. Stay here, with me. With both our children."

I looked at him then, truly looked at him. His eyes, once so cold and calculating, were now filled with a raw vulnerability. "I can offer you a job," he said, his voice desperate. "Anything you want. High salary. A position of power. Just... stay."

His grip tightened. "I know I don' t deserve it. I know I hurt you beyond repair. But please, Jillian. Give me a chance to make amends. To be a family. To... to be what we were supposed to be." He looked at me, his gaze intense, filled with an agonizing mixture of love and remorse.

Love. The word tasted like ash in my mouth. There was a time, long ago, when that word had defined us. When his love was my universe, his touch my sanctuary.

He once called me his anchor, his north star. He said I was the light that pulled him from the darkness of his past, the poverty, the pain. We were each other' s everything.

But that love had been brutally murdered, strangled by his ambition, poisoned by Kiera' s jealousy. It had curdled into a bitter, burning hatred that fueled my every breath.

Yes, Grayson. You love me. You always did, in your own twisted way. And now that love, mixed with your guilt, will be your undoing. It will be the fuel for my revenge.

"Tell me your deepest desire, Jillian," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "And I will give it to you. Anything." My eyes met his. A cold, calculating smile touched my lips. This was it. The door was open. I was in.