Chapter 3

Eloise Stephenson POV:

Five years ago, my world was a different place. My family' s media empire, Stephenson Media, was at its zenith. My parents, brilliant and charismatic, ran it with an iron fist, shaping public opinion with a smile. I, their volatile heiress, was carving my own path, a burgeoning career in investigative journalism. Jacob Finley, then a rising executive, was my fiancé, my rock, my future. We were unstoppable.

Then, the crash. A massive fraud scandal, whispered to be orchestrated by a rival, ripped through the empire. Overnight, our name became synonymous with disgrace. My parents, proud and unyielding, couldn't bear the shame. The night they were taken away for questioning, they sent Hal and me away, telling us they loved us. We never saw them alive again. The next morning, they were found in their study, a suicide pact. The world crumbled.

I was numb, adrift in a sea of grief and public scorn. Before I could even process their deaths, before the funeral hymns had faded, I was snatched. Fifteen days. Fifteen days of darkness, of fear, of uncertainty. I was held in a desolate cabin, my captors faceless, their motives unclear. Each passing hour chipped away at my sanity, leaving me raw and broken.

Then, Jacob. He crashed through the door, a whirlwind of muscle and fury, leading a specialized team. He was my knight in shining armor, pulling me from the clutches of despair. He held me, whispering promises of safety, of forever. But the trauma had taken its toll. I couldn't cry. The tears simply wouldn't come. I was a hollow shell, my emotions calcified by the horror.

The incident changed me. The vibrant, fiery Eloise was gone, replaced by a ghost. My family called it "madness." I called it survival. My outbursts were frequent, my moods unpredictable. I was a raw nerve, constantly flinching from the unseen terrors that still haunted me. Jacob, bless his heart, swore he would protect me.

His family, however, saw me as an embarrassment, a liability. They wanted me institutionalized, tucked away in some pristine sanatorium, out of sight, out of mind. Jacob fought them. He stood against his powerful, aristocratic family, declaring he would rather die than betray me. He threatened to disown himself, to give up his inheritance, everything, if they touched a hair on my head. He swore, with tears in his eyes, that he would be my shield, my protector, always. He even volunteered for a hazardous border assignment, just to prove his unwavering loyalty, just to distance himself from his family's demands. He said he would return for me, a hero worthy of my heart.

Now, lying bleeding on the cold floor of my bedroom, those promises felt like bitter ash in my mouth. My shield had become my sword, turned against me. My protector had become my tormentor. The man who swore to love me forever had just condemned our child to death.

I spent the night in a haze of pain and despair. The physical agony of the miscarriage was eclipsed only by the gaping wound in my soul. I cried until there were no more tears, until my throat was raw and my head pounded. I passed out from exhaustion, only to wake and cry again. Each sob was a lament for a life that never was, for a love that had died a slow, agonizing death.

But something shifted in the pre-dawn hours. The despair began to calcify, just like my emotions after the kidnapping. It hardened into something cold, sharp, and resolute. I was done crying. Done being a victim. Done letting Jacob, or anyone else, define my worth.

I dragged myself to the bathroom, my body aching, my heart a frozen block of ice. I looked in the mirror, at the pale, tear-streaked face, the haunted eyes. This wasn't me. Not anymore. I splashed cold water on my face, then slowly, meticulously, began to clean myself up. I straightened my clothes, combed through my tangled hair. By the time the sun began to peek through the curtains, a new Eloise stared back at me. A woman hollowed out by grief, yes, but also forged in fire.

I knew what I had to do. My brother, Hal, was my only ally left. And he was a genius. A ghost. A whisper. Just like I was about to become.

Weeks later, the pain had dulled, replaced by a simmering resentment. Jacob continued his ritualistic "punishments," nightly visits that stripped me of all dignity, but failed to touch the core of my resolve. I was a vessel now, empty and waiting.

I learned that Ema Acosta, after her supposed miscarriage, had been transferred to the military hospital for "recovery." Jacob visited her daily, showering her with attention, playing the devoted partner. It was all a farce, a cruel play in which I was forced to watch my own demise.

I found her in one of the private rooms, looking pale and fragile, surrounded by an array of flowers and sympathetic nurses. She looked up, startled, when I entered. Her eyes, usually so innocent, held a flicker of something else now. Fear? Or triumph?

"Ema," I said, my voice soft, almost gentle. It was a dangerous sound. "How are you feeling, darling? Recovering well from your... trauma?"

She tried to speak, but only a small, choked sound escaped her lips. She pointed to a note on her bedside table, a hurried scrawl that read: "I can' t speak yet. Too weak. So sorry."

I smiled, a thin, humorless curve of my lips. "Oh, right. The poor, delicate flower act. I almost forgot." I walked closer, my shadow falling over her bed. "You' re good at it, I' ll give you that. The trembling hands, the wide, scared eyes. Very convincing."

She looked away, her lower lip trembling.

"But not to me," I said, my voice dropping. "I' ve seen enough of it. More than you could ever imagine." I bent down, my face inches from hers. "Tell me, Ema, do you really think I' m that easily fooled? Do you truly believe that sweet, innocent little intern act holds up under scrutiny?"

Her eyes, despite her efforts, darted nervously.

I straightened up, pulling a stack of photographs from my purse. I fanned them out on her pristine white bedspread. Images of her, and Jacob. Kissing. Touching. Laughing. Intimate moments stolen from my life, now laid bare.

"This is you, isn' t it?" I asked, my voice still dangerously calm. "And this... this is Jacob. My husband." I pointed to a particularly incriminating photo, one of them embracing in the company elevator. "Looks rather... un-traumatized, wouldn' t you say? For a man whose wife was supposedly 'unhinged' and driving him to seek solace."

Ema' s face blanched. The carefully constructed facade cracked, a network of tiny fissures appearing in her composure.

"You' re a clever girl, Ema," I conceded, picking up a small, silver letter opener from her bedside table. It was sharp, gleaming. "But you' re playing in a league far beyond your understanding."

I traced the blade lightly across my palm, not breaking the skin, but sending a shiver down her spine. "Let me make this clear. Get out. Resign from the company. Disappear from Jacob' s life. Or I will make sure you disappear from this world. And I don't leave survivors." My eyes were cold, dead. I meant every word.

She shook her head weakly, her eyes wide with what I hoped was genuine terror now. She started making soft, pleading noises, still pointing to her throat, to her note. "I was forced," the note said. "He made me."

I scoffed. "Forced? You' re a terrible liar, Ema. Truly awful." I leaned over her again. "Jacob Finley doesn' t force anyone. He seduces. He charms. He convinces. And you, my dear, were more than willing to be convinced."

My hand shot out, a stinging slap across her cheek. The sound echoed in the quiet room. Her head snapped to the side, a crimson mark blossoming on her delicate skin.

"That," I said, my voice low and menacing, "was for my child. The one you lied about losing. The one you used to justify his cruelty."

She whimpered, tears finally spilling from her eyes.

"Now, listen very carefully," I continued, ignoring her sobs. "You have twenty-four hours to pack your bags and vanish. If I see your face again, if I hear your name, if you so much as breathe the same air as my husband... you will regret it. Every agonizing moment of it."

She shook her head again, more vehemently this time, still making those pathetic, choked sounds. Her eyes were defiant, even through the fear. She wouldn' t back down. Not yet.

"Stubborn little thing, aren' t you?" I sighed, a chilling calm in my voice. I pressed the call button for the nurse. When the young woman appeared, looking bewildered, I simply pointed a dismissive finger at Ema.

"Nurse," I said, my voice dripping with authority, "please arrange for this... patient to be discharged immediately. Issue her a full medical discharge and have her escorted off the premises. And make sure she gets a one-way ticket back to wherever she crawled out from."

I turned and walked out, leaving Ema' s desperate, silent cries behind me. I didn' t look back. The game was escalating. And I was ready to play.