Chapter 5

After the guests left, I found my mother in the hallway.

"Are you satisfied?" I asked her, my voice dangerously calm. "Is this the 'opportunity' you wanted for me?"

She flinched. "Ava, they're just... they have high standards."

"I raised that boy," I said, my voice low. "I loved him. And he, and his family, see me as dirt. You helped put me here."

"I did what I thought was best!"

"You did what was best for you," I corrected. "My obligation to you, to this family, is over. I gave ten years of my life. I lost a child in this house. I'm done."

Marcus found me in the library, a glass of whiskey in his hand. He tried a different tactic.

"Ava, darling," he began, his voice soft, almost tender. "We've had good times, haven't we? Remember that trip to Italy? The vineyard?"

Flickers of memory, yes. Carefully curated moments where I was allowed to pretend we were a normal couple.

"Don't do this," he continued. "Stay. We can make things more... formal. After the merger. A real role for you."

He was misinterpreting my resolve as a demand for status.

"I don't want a 'formal role,' Marcus," I said. "I don't want your name, or your money, or your conditional promises. I want my life back. What's left of it."

I wanted dignity, not a title.

His face hardened. "You're rejecting my generosity? After everything?"

He gestured vaguely. "I've been more than patient. More than fair."

"Fair?" I laughed, a hollow sound. "You think any of this was fair?"

He slammed the whiskey glass down on the mahogany desk.

"Fine," he snarled. "You want to leave? Go. But don't think for a second you'll get a dime out of me. You came with nothing, you'll leave with nothing."

Then, the cruelty.

"And don't think you're irreplaceable." He pulled out his phone, casually swiping through photos. He stopped on one of a young, dazzlingly beautiful actress, someone he'd been photographed with at a recent gala.

"She's quite taken with me, you know. And she actually looks like Madeleine did in her youth. Before... well. Perhaps it's time for an upgrade."

My stomach churned. The casual cruelty, the way he dismissed me, my years of service, my very being.

It was as if a switch flipped. The hope I hadn't even realized I was still clinging to – that maybe, someday, he'd see me – shattered into a million pieces.

I felt a wave of nausea, a profound disgust.

He thought this would break me, make me beg to stay.

It only solidified my resolve.