Chapter 2 2

The light was an assault. It sliced through the gap in the curtains, stabbing Vanessa directly in the eyes.

She groaned, rolling over, and every muscle in her body screamed in protest. Her head throbbed with a rhythm that matched her heartbeat. Thump. Thump. Thump.

She reached out, expecting the cold, empty side of her twin bed at the Sterling estate. Instead, her hand brushed against sheets that felt like spun silk, possessing a thread count higher than her tuition.

Memory crashed into her. The restaurant. The rain. The elevator. The man.

Vanessa sat up, gasping. The room was massive, a suite of gray and silver, overlooking Central Park. She was alone in the king-sized bed.

She looked down. She was naked.

Panic, cold and sharp, pierced through the hangover. She scrambled out of bed, dragging the sheet with her. Her clothes-the ruined silk dress, her underwear-were gone.

On the nightstand, next to a crystal carafe of water, lay a black metal card. It was heavy, cool to the touch. A Centurion card.

Underneath it was a receipt from the St. Jude's Neurological Institute. It was a payment confirmation for one year of advanced life support care for her mother. Paid in full.

Vanessa picked it up, her fingers shaking. The amount listed was astronomical. This wasn't payment for services rendered; this was a fortress built around the only thing she had left.

He hadn't treated her like a whore. He had treated her like an investment.

She stared at the card. Her uncle Richard had cut off her allowance last week. Her mother's care facility had called twice about the overdue bill. This man knew. He knew everything.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. She should be offended. She should be terrified. Instead, she felt a strange, cold sense of relief.

She slipped the black card and the receipt into her purse, her hand brushing against the leather.

She found a plush bathrobe hanging on the bathroom door. Inside the bathroom, her clothes were neatly folded on the counter. They had been laundered and pressed.

She dressed quickly, avoiding her reflection in the mirror. She could see the faint purple mark on her neck. She scrubbed at it with water, but it stayed-a brand.

She fled the hotel like a thief.

The first stop was a CVS on 3rd Avenue. She kept her sunglasses on, though the fluorescent lights still hurt. She bought a bottle of water and a box of Plan B.

Standing on the sidewalk, amidst the morning commuters, she dry-swallowed the pill. Levonorgestrel. A high dose of synthetic progestin. As the chalky tablet dissolved, her mind automatically tracked its metabolic pathway-absorption in the GI tract, the first-pass effect in the liver, the impending hormonal crash. It tasted like chemical intervention and regret.

The ride back to the Sterling estate took an hour. The iron gates loomed, a symbol of her imprisonment. She slipped in through the servants' entrance, moving silently across the tiled floor.

"Vanessa!"

Mr. Henderson, the butler, was waiting by the pantry door. He didn't look surprised; he looked like he had been monitoring the perimeter sensors. His face was impassive.

"Mr. Sterling requires your presence in the study. Immediately."

Vanessa gripped the banister. She could hear shouting from the direction of the study. It sounded like Richard.

She took a breath, trying to summon the numbness that usually protected her. She walked down the hall. The door to the study was open.

Richard Sterling was pacing behind his desk. His face was red. Aunt Eleanor sat on the chesterfield sofa, holding a handkerchief, though her eyes were dry.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Richard bellowed when he saw her.

"I..."

"Caleb called," Richard interrupted, slamming his hand on the desk. "He was worried sick. He said you stood him up last night. He waited at the restaurant for two hours!"

Vanessa blinked. "That's a lie," she said, her voice steady despite her racing heart. "I was at his apartment at nine-thirty. I have the Uber receipt. I saw him with Beatrice Blackwood."

"Don't invoke the Blackwood name in this house!" Richard roared. "Caleb said he was at the restaurant until eleven. Are you calling the heir to the Montgomery fortune a liar?"

Eleanor sighed, a loud, theatrical sound. "Oh, Vanessa. Not this again."

"It's the truth!"

"You're having another episode," Eleanor said, her voice dripping with fake sympathy. She reached into her purse and pulled out a file folder. "Dr. Aris sent over his latest report. He says your paranoia is escalating. Accusing Caleb of infidelity... it's a classic symptom of your condition."

Vanessa felt the walls closing in. She looked at the report on the desk. "Dr. Aris is prescribing Haloperidol for anxiety? That's an antipsychotic. The dosage he suggests would cause extrapyramidal symptoms within days. It's medically negligent, if not criminal. This report is a fabrication."

"Enough of your pseudo-medical nonsense!" Richard said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low pitch. "I will have no choice but to cut funding for your mother's facility. The state run homes are... unpleasant, Vanessa."

The threat hit her like a physical blow. Even with the receipt in her purse, Richard held the legal power of attorney over her mother's care until Vanessa turned twenty-five. He could move her mother despite the payment.

"No," Vanessa said quickly. "Don't. Please."

"Then fix this," Richard snarled. "Caleb is in the Hamptons for the weekend. He's hosting a party at the Sapphire Club. You will go there. You will apologize for your behavior. And you will make sure that engagement ring stays on your finger."

He threw an envelope at her. It slid across the polished floor and stopped at her feet.

"The driver will drop you at the highway exit. You can walk the rest of the way. Maybe the fresh air will clear your head. Go pack."

Vanessa stared at the envelope. Go to the Hamptons. Apologize to the man who cheated on her.

She bent down and picked it up. She had no choice. She touched her purse, feeling the outline of the black card and the empty box of pills through the leather.

"Yes, Uncle Richard," she said softly.

She turned and walked out, leaving the door open behind her.