Chapter 2

Hope POV:

Amanda coughed, a violent, hacking sound that brought up a splash of wine onto her already stained silk dress. The men who had been circling her earlier, now bolder with Alden' s apparent disinterest, leered.

"Look at that, boys," one of them sneered, his eyes raking over her disheveled form. "Still got it, even when she' s a mess."

Alden' s jaw tightened. His eyes, fixed on Amanda, sharpened dangerously. The air around him suddenly dropped ten degrees. "Get out," he said, his voice flat, devoid of emotion, yet carrying an unmistakable edge of steel.

The men exchanged nervous glances. They knew that tone. Without another word, they scrambled out of the room, leaving just the three of us in the suffocating silence.

My instinct was to move towards Amanda, to offer her a hand, a comforting word, anything. But before I could even take a step, Alden' s voice, colder than I' d ever heard it, sliced through the air. "Hope, leave us."

The words hit me like a physical blow. A sharp, searing pain tore through my chest, twisting my insides. Leave us. As if my presence was an inconvenience, a dirty secret to be swept aside. My carefully constructed composure threatened to shatter. I felt a hot sting behind my eyes, but I refused to let the tears fall. Not here. Not now. I forced a brittle smile, a mask of indifference, and turned towards the door.

As I reached the threshold, Amanda' s voice, thick with emotion, echoed behind me. "Don' t touch me, Alden!" A crash followed, and I heard the unmistakable sound of a heavy body hitting the ground. I paused, my hand frozen on the doorknob.

"Amanda," Alden' s voice was a ragged whisper now, laced with a vulnerability I'd never heard. "Don' t leave me again."

I couldn't help but peek through the crack in the door. Amanda was on the floor, pushing Alden away. He was kneeling, his hands hovering over her, his entire body rigid with desperate restraint. Her eyes, filled with a raw, almost feral defiance, met his. "You think you can just buy me back, Alden? After everything?"

He faltered, his hands dropping. "I... I just want you to be safe." His voice was raspy, broken. "Please. Just let me hold you."

Slowly, hesitantly, he reached for her again. This time, Amanda didn' t resist. She let him pull her gently into his arms. His embrace was tender, almost fragile, as if she were made of glass. He buried his face in her hair, his shoulders shaking slightly.

"Will you promise not to leave?" he murmured, his voice so hoarse I could barely make it out.

I watched, frozen, as Amanda, in his arms, offered a ghost of a smile, a cruel, triumphant glint in her eyes that Alden couldn't see.

I had never seen Alden Maxwell like this. Never. Not the calculating billionaire, not the charming host, not even the demanding lover. This was a man utterly undone, stripped bare by a love that clearly consumed him. He was raw, vulnerable, completely at Amanda' s mercy. And in that moment, a cold, hard truth slammed into me: I was never, not even once, capable of eliciting this kind of raw, desperate emotion from him.

A deep ache settled in my chest. It wasn' t anger, not exactly. It was a profound, soul-crumbing sadness. I had harbored foolish hopes, whispered silent prayers that one day, he might look at me with even a fraction of that intensity. But seeing it now, laid bare for Amanda, I knew. My love for him, unspoken and unreciprocated, was a forbidden thing, a fantasy I needed to abandon.

I took a deep, shaky breath, pushing away the suffocating emotions. I was Alden Maxwell' s kept woman, his convenient distraction, his pretty little bird in a gilded cage. Nothing more. And a kept woman dared not fall in love with her keeper. That was the ultimate transgression, the quickest path to self-destruction.

I straightened my shoulders, the brittle smile back in place. I walked out of the club, past the curious glances and hushed whispers, my head held high. The crisp autumn night air hit me, chilling me to the bone, mirroring the emptiness that had settled in my heart.

I hailed a taxi, giving the driver Alden' s address. It was still the only place I truly called home, a temporary dwelling provided by the man who owned my time, if not my heart. There was an unspoken rule: after any event, I was to return to his primary residence, awaiting his return, ready to soothe whatever demons might plague him.

I let myself into the lavish penthouse, the silence echoing ominously. I didn' t turn on many lights, just a single lamp in the sprawling living room. I sank onto the plush sofa, exhaustion a heavy cloak. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the image of Alden' s desperate embrace, of Amanda' s triumphant smirk.

Sleep, when it finally came, was fitful, filled with fragmented memories. I was back in my tiny dorm room, the fluorescent lights humming, my phone clutched in my hand. My father' s medical bills spread across my desk like a cruel map of my impending doom. He had been diagnosed with a rare, aggressive disease, and the experimental treatments were astronomically expensive.

I worked tirelessly, taking every odd job I could find, but it was never enough. The desperation was a constant, suffocating companion. Then, Chloe, ever pragmatic, had suggested a world I didn' t even know existed. "There are ways, Hope. Wealthy men... they need companionship. Discretion. You' re smart, beautiful. You could solve everything."

I balked at first, the idea repulsive. But then I saw my father' s fading smile, his weakening body, and swallowed my pride. I remember the first time I met Alden. It was at a discreet, high-end club, much like the one tonight. He was impossibly handsome, radiating an aura of power and detachment. I, a nervous, desperate medical student, had stammered through my proposition, offering my youth and companionship in exchange for my father' s life.

Chloe had tried to intervene, pulling me aside, whispering, "Hope, are you sure about this? He' s... ruthless." But I was beyond caring. I was desperate.

Alden had regarded me with an unreadable gaze, then simply nodded. "Follow me." And that was it. Just like that, I became his property, his secret. His kept woman. I became the longest-running "arrangement" in his circle, a testament to my unwavering compliance, my ability to blend into the shadows of his life.

A loud click of the front door jolted me awake. Alden. He was back. The room was still dimly lit, casting his silhouette in deep shadows. He looked weary, lines of exhaustion etched around his eyes and mouth.

"Alden," I murmured, pushing myself up. Habit. Always greet him. Always be ready to listen, to soothe.

He didn' t answer. Instead, he simply walked over, his eyes glazed with a mixture of anger, frustration, and something else I couldn't quite decipher. He pushed me back down onto the sofa, his hands gripping my shoulders. Then his mouth was on mine, a brutal, demanding kiss, fueled by alcohol and raw emotion.

I gasped, the unexpected force making my head spin. He was rough, his teeth scraping my lip. I tasted blood. I tried to push him away, a raw instinct to protect myself from the onslaught.

He pulled back, his eyes blazing. "What? Are you going to refuse me now, too?" His voice was hoarse, laced with a terrifying edge of accusation.