Chapter 2

Aliana POV

The Crawford estate was a monument to new money and old sins.

I stepped through the front door, barefoot, my feet blackened from the city streets. The marble floor was ice against my skin.

Martha, the head housekeeper, looked up from her dusting. Her eyes widened when she saw my naked feet, then softened into a look of profound pity that made my stomach churn.

She knew. Everyone knew. I was the punchline of the Crawford family joke.

I walked past her, moving straight toward the living room. I could hear laughter.

Damien's laugh. It used to be the sound of my universe. Now, it sounded like a car engine sputtering before it died-a mechanical, hollow rasp.

I stepped into the archway.

They were sprawled on the Italian leather sofa. Hadley was straddling Damien's lap, her fingers tangled in his hair. Cecil, his mother, sat in the armchair across from them, sipping tea and smiling like a shark that had just smelled blood.

They stopped the moment they saw me.

Hadley didn't scramble off. She just turned her head, smoothing her skirt-the same skirt from the photo.

"Oh, Aliana," Hadley said, her voice dripping with saccharine poison. "You're back early. My car broke down, and Damien was kind enough to come get me. We lost track of time."

"Your car is brand new, Hadley," I said. My voice was flat. Dead.

Cecil set her teacup down. The china clinked sharply against the saucer, ringing in the sudden silence.

"Don't take that tone with a guest, Aliana. You look like a vagrant. Where are your shoes?"

"I left them," I said. "They didn't fit."

"Ungrateful," Cecil sneered. She reached into her purse and pulled out a velvet box. "Since you're here, you can make yourself useful. Fetch us some champagne. We have news."

She snapped the box open. Inside lay the Crawford Emerald. A bracelet worth more than my father's life insurance policy. It was the heirloom promised to the future bride of the Crawford heir.

Damien had promised it to me three months ago.

Cecil took Hadley's wrist and clasped the emeralds around it. The green stones glittered obscenely against Hadley's pale skin.

"Perfect," Cecil purred. "A jewel for a queen. Not for the help."

Damien finally looked at me. His eyes were dark, challenging. He was waiting for me to cry. He was waiting for me to beg. He wanted the satisfaction of my devastation.

I walked over to them.

Hadley smirked, holding up her wrist to catch the light. "It's a bit heavy, isn't it? Do you think it suits me, Ali?"

I looked at the bracelet. Then I looked at Damien.

"It suits you perfectly," I said. "It's cold, hard, and bought with laundered money."

The room went deathly silent.

I turned on my heel and walked toward the hallway.

"Aliana!" Damien's voice roared.

I heard him shove Hadley off his lap. Heavy footsteps pounded on the marble behind me. He caught me in the foyer, his hand clamping around my upper arm. He spun me around and slammed me against the wall.

His face was inches from mine. He was handsome in a way that used to make my knees weak. Now, I just saw the pores. The sweat. The weakness.

"Who do you think you are?" he hissed. "Walking away from me? You exist because I allow it. My father took your pathetic dad in. We gave you a roof. We gave you clothes."

"You gave me scraps," I said, looking him dead in the eye. "I gave you my life."

"You gave me nothing!" he shouted, spit flying onto my cheek. "Hadley saved me from that fire! Hadley was there when I couldn't walk! You were just the nurse who emptied my piss jars!"

He was rewriting history to protect his ego. He couldn't handle the truth-that the girl he treated like a dog was the only reason he was standing on two legs.

He leaned in, his body pressing heavily against mine. He was trying to intimidate me. He was trying to use his size, his scent, and his power to remind me of my place. He grabbed my chin, forcing my head up.

"You love me," he whispered, a twisted smile forming. "You're obsessed with me. Admit it."

He leaned in to kiss me. It wasn't romantic. It was a branding. An assertion of ownership.

I didn't struggle. I didn't push him away.

I just stared into his eyes and whispered one word.

"Filthy."

Damien froze. He recoiled as if I had slapped him. His hand dropped from my chin.

"What did you say?"

"You are filthy, Damien," I said, my voice steady. "Your hands. Your mouth. Your soul. I don't want you anymore. You can keep the whore. You deserve each other."

I pushed past him. He was too stunned to grab me again.

I walked up the grand staircase, leaving him standing in the foyer, looking at his own hands as if trying to see the dirt I saw.