Chapter 2

Gracelyn POV:

The chill of the cell seeped into my bones, but it was nothing compared to the icy grip of devastation tightening around my heart. I sat hunched on the thin cot, the stale air heavy with the metallic scent of despair. My body ached from the rough handling, but my mind was a maelstrom of fractured images: Chace on the balcony, the sneering faces of the crowd, the officer's mocking words about Celina.

They released me with a warning and a hefty fine, my wallet feeling impossibly light. The first thing I did was hail a cab, giving the Bentley penthouse address out of habit. My limbs felt heavy, each movement a Herculean effort. I needed answers. I needed to look him in the eye, to hear him twist this latest betrayal into another one of his convoluted "protection plans."

The penthouse was eerily silent when I let myself in with my secret key. The one he' d given me years ago, a symbol of our hidden life. Now, it felt like a mocking relic. I found Chace in his study, a glass of amber liquid in his hand, his eyes fixed on the city lights below. He wasn' t smoking, but the faint scent of his expensive cigarettes still clung to the air.

He barely turned when I entered, his gaze lingering on the skyline for another beat before he finally looked at me. His expression was carefully neutral, a practiced detachment that sent a fresh wave of nausea through me.

"Gracelyn," he said, his voice flat, devoid of surprise or concern. "I heard you caused quite a scene tonight."

My jaw clenched. "A scene? Chace, I was arrested! Your security beat me! The whole world thinks I'm a lunatic stalker. And you just watched!" My voice cracked, raw with a mix of fury and pain. "They called Celina your fiancée. What the hell is going on?"

He sighed, a long, weary sound that made my blood boil. He set his glass down with a soft click. "It's business, Gracelyn. You know this. My father is pushing harder than ever for the merger with the McNeils. Celina plays her part. It's a facade."

"A facade?" I scoffed, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. "A façade where you're 'fiancés'? A façade where I'm dragged out in front of the press, humiliated, beaten, and you do nothing? Is that part of the 'plan' too?"

He ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair, his impatience evident. "You shouldn't have shown up, Gracelyn. You know the rules. It puts me in a difficult position. I'm busy. This takeover is delicate. Celina is... necessary for now." He spoke of her as if she were a commodity, an unfortunate but unavoidable requirement for his grand scheme. But his words felt hollow, like empty promises he' d made a thousand times before.

His indifference was a physical blow. He wasn' t even looking at my bruised arm, the faint red marks on my cheek where the guard had shoved me. He didn' t care about my pain, only the inconvenience I represented.

My eyes scanned the room, landing on a small, discreet wall safe hidden behind a painting. It was a new addition. My heart hammered against my ribs. He' d never had a wall safe before. A dreadful premonition settled over me.

"What's in there?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, pointing a trembling finger at the safe.

He stiffened, a flicker of something unreadable – annoyance? surprise? – crossing his face. "None of your business. It's just... documents."

"Documents?" I echoed, my voice rising. "Or your future with Celina?"

He glared at me, his eyes now cold and hard. "Don't be ridiculous, Gracelyn. You're being emotional. Go to bed."

But I couldn't. I marched to the painting, my hands shaking as I pulled it aside. The safe stared back at me, a dark, metallic portal to a truth I wasn't sure I wanted to face. "Open it," I demanded, my voice gaining strength. "Open it, Chace."

He hesitated, then with another exasperated sigh, punched in a code. The heavy door swung open, revealing a stack of neatly organized papers. My gaze immediately fell upon a legal document, its embossed title screaming betrayal: "PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT - CHACE BENTLEY & CELINA MCNEIL." My breath hitched.

Beneath it, another document. "TRUST FUND AGREEMENT - FUTURE CHILDREN OF CHACE BENTLEY & CELINA MCNEIL."

The room spun. The air left my lungs. My knees buckled. This wasn't a facade. This wasn't a temporary measure. This was a life. A life he was building with her. A life he had lied to me about for five years. His "plan" to take power wasn't just taking too long; it was a smokescreen for him to replace me, to rewrite our story without me in it.

I stumbled back, clutching my head, a raw sob tearing from my throat. "You... you bastard," I choked out, the words laced with unspeakable pain. "You lied to me. All this time. You were never going to choose me."

He remained silent, his face still a mask, but a muscle twitched in his jaw. For a brief second, I thought I saw a flicker of something, guilt maybe, before it was replaced by hardened resolve. "It was always for your protection, Gracelyn. You would never survive in my world. My father..."

"Your father?" I screamed, the sound echoing off the high ceilings. "Your father isn't the one who signed a prenup with another woman! Your father isn't the one who set up a trust fund for her children! You did this, Chace! You!"

Tears streamed down my face, hot and furious. My hands clenched into fists, nails digging into my palms. The pain was a dull counterpoint to the sharp, agonizing realization blooming in my chest. I had been a fool. A naive, heartbroken fool.

"It's over," I whispered, the words barely audible, but firm. "I'm done. I want a divorce."

His head snapped up, his eyes finally showing a flicker of genuine emotion – surprise, then a cold steel. "Don't be ridiculous, Gracelyn," he scoffed, his voice dripping with condescension. "You're overwrought. You' re bruised. You' re not thinking straight. You don't mean that." He walked toward me, his hand reaching out. "You need to rest. You look terrible."

"Don't touch me!" I recoiled, my body screaming in protest at his touch, at his dismissal of my pain. "That's exactly what I mean! I want out. I can't do this anymore. This isn't protection, Chace. This is torture. You are torturing me."

"I am protecting you!" he roared, his voice finally losing its carefully cultivated calm. "You think this is easy for me? My father would destroy you if he knew. He would eliminate you. This is the only way!"

"No," I countered, shaking my head, my tears blurring his furious face. "This is your way. Your way to keep me a secret, to keep me convenient, while you build your future with someone else! I'm not some toy you can put away when you're done playing. I'm your wife!"

He scoffed again, a cruel, dismissive sound that drained the last vestiges of hope from my heart. "Wife? You think anyone would believe that? Look at you, Gracelyn. A foster kid. A nobody. You have nothing. Everything you own, the clothes on your back, the roof over your head, it's all because of me. My charity."

His words, brutal and cutting, sliced through me. My "charity." That's what I was to him. Over the years, I had held onto a few designer pieces he' d bought me, tangible reminders of a love I thought was real. A shimmering emerald dress, a sapphire necklace, a delicate silver bracelet. They were in my private closet, symbols of a life I' d dreamed of.

I felt a surge of defiant anger, hot and cleansing, replacing the crushing despair. "Charity?" I repeated, my voice rising with a dangerous tremor. "You think I want your charity? You think I want anything from you?"

I turned and stalked towards the master bedroom, Chace calling after me, "Gracelyn, stop! You're not making sense!" But I didn't listen. My hands fumbled with the closet door, my mind still reeling from his words. My charity.

I ripped off the emerald dress I' d been wearing, now torn and stained from the struggle with security. It landed in a heap on the floor, a shimmering symbol of a broken dream. I tore off the delicate sapphire earrings, the matching necklace, the diamond bracelet-everything he had ever given me. Each piece clattered to the polished wood floor, a symphony of shattered illusions.

"What are you doing?" Chace demanded, now standing in the doorway, his eyes wide with a mixture of confusion and anger.

I faced him, clad only in a silk slip, my body trembling from the cold seeping through the open window, but mostly from a fury I hadn't known I possessed. My eyes, red-rimmed and swollen, met his. "I'm giving you back your charity, Chace!" I screamed, my voice raw and broken. "I want nothing from you. Nothing!"

I grabbed the thick, luxurious designer coat he' d draped over a chair when he came in from the gala, a coat that had cost more than I could ever imagine. I ripped it from the hanger, threw it at his feet, then snatched a delicate silver locket from my neck, a locket he' d given me on our first anniversary, supposedly containing our vows, though I never saw them. I hurled it at him too. "Keep your charity! Keep your lies! Keep your fiancée! I'm leaving. And I'm never coming back."

I grabbed my worn leather bag-the only thing that was truly mine-and ran, barefoot and in just my slip, out of the penthouse, past the bewildered security guard, and into the freezing New York winter night. The cold was a shock, biting at my exposed skin, but it was a welcome sensation, a physical pain that dulled the agony in my heart.

I walked, stumbled, and ran, not caring where I was going, just needing to be as far away from him, from his lies, from his charity, as humanly possible. My lungs burned, my feet were numb, but I felt a strange sense of liberation. The cold was a reminder that I was alive, and I was finally, truly, free. The designer coat, the jewelry, the life he had fabricated for me-it was all gone. And I wanted nothing more than to erase him from my memory.