Chapter 2

The underground garage of the penthouse was freezing. Allie trailed behind Curtis's wheelchair, her arms wrapped tightly around her thin, ill-fitting coat as they approached the armored Maybach.

Two massive bodyguards efficiently loaded Curtis and his wheelchair into the custom-built rear cabin via a hydraulic lift. Allie hurried to the other side, slipping into the back seat and pressing herself as hard as she could against the door panel.

The privacy partition rolled up with a soft hum. The cabin became an airtight, intimate box.

Curtis closed his eyes. He radiated a freezing, unapproachable aura that made Allie afraid to even breathe too loudly.

The Maybach merged onto the highway heading toward Long Island. Allie stared out the tinted window at the blurring trees, her mind racing. She needed to figure out how to please his sister. If she failed today, Richard would pull the plug.

Her phone buzzed sharply against her thigh. Her stomach clenched. She fumbled it out of her coat pocket, keeping it low and out of Curtis's sightline. The screen glowed with a message from Richard: "Hospital just called. Her stats crashed but they brought her back. They're giving us an extension-7:00 PM tonight. This is the final mercy. Fail, and they shut off the machines. Do not make me regret this."

Allie's breath hitched. Seven o'clock. Her eyes darted to the car's digital clock: 11:24 AM. Less than eight hours. She had spent so much of the morning in a haze of terror over the noon deadline that this reprieve, however small, sent a wave of nausea through her body. The clock was ticking louder than ever. She had to make every second inside that mansion count. She shoved the phone back into her pocket, her heart hammering against her ribs. She could not afford to be anything but perfect.

Suddenly, the driver took a sharp curve.

The physical force threw Allie sideways. She lost her grip on the door handle and tumbled toward the center of the seat. Her shoulder brushed against the fine wool of Curtis's suit jacket.

Curtis's eyes snapped open. His gaze sliced into her like a physical blade.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Allie gasped, scrambling back into her corner, her heart hammering against her ribs.

Curtis let out a harsh scoff.

"Save your cheap seduction tactics," he warned, his jaw ticking. "When we are in front of Seraphina, you will play the role of a quiet mute. Do not embarrass me."

Allie swallowed hard and nodded, digging her nails into her palms.

The car soon passed through towering wrought-iron gates, entering the sprawling Deleon estate. The sheer scale of the French-style manicured gardens made Allie acutely aware of the massive class divide between them.

Barnaby Kent, the head butler, stood waiting at the bottom of the main staircase. He bowed deeply to Curtis. When he looked at Allie, he offered nothing more than a stiff, dismissive nod.

Allie followed the wheelchair into the grand foyer. The light from the massive crystal chandelier above was so blinding she had to squint.

Seraphina Deleon sat on a velvet sofa in the main living room. She slowly lowered her porcelain teacup and dragged her highly critical eyes up and down Allie's frame.

"I have emails to attend to in the study," Curtis announced abruptly.

Without another word, he rolled away, ruthlessly abandoning Allie in the middle of the room to face his domineering sister alone.

Seraphina gestured lazily toward an armchair. "Sit."

Allie sat, keeping her back perfectly straight. Under the pretense of smoothing her skirt, she pressed her hand against the hard outline of the phone in her pocket. The weight of it was a burning reminder: 7:00 PM. Mom is still fighting. Keep it together.

"I must say, the Copeland family has a lot of nerve," Seraphina started, her tone dripping with venom. "Shoving whatever trash they can find into the Deleon house just for a quick payout."

Allie's hands clenched into fists on her lap. The humiliation burned in her chest, but she forced her breathing to remain steady.

"I understand my position, Ms. Deleon," Allie replied, her voice perfectly calm and polite. "I know exactly where the boundaries are."

Seraphina raised an eyebrow, clearly not expecting such a composed response. She leaned forward, deciding to test the waters. She began firing off obscure questions about Renaissance art history and classical dining etiquette, fully expecting this illegitimate daughter to make a fool of herself.

Allie didn't flinch. Drawing on her rigorous foundation from design school, she answered every question. Her insights were professional, sharp, and undeniably brilliant.

Seraphina paused. Her eyes narrowed, and then they drifted downward, landing on Allie's feet.

She noticed the cheap leather shoes Allie was wearing. The edges were scuffed and worn down, clearly having been worn for years.

A flicker of genuine surprise crossed Seraphina's eyes. She had expected a gold-digger dripping in designer logos bought with Deleon money. Instead, she found a highly educated girl living in obvious poverty.

When the afternoon tea arrived, Seraphina's tone had noticeably thawed.

"Bring her a glass of warm milk," Seraphina instructed the maid, waving away the cold tea that had originally been poured for Allie.

Allie murmured a thank you. As the warm glass touched her fingers, she glanced at the ornate clock on the mantle. 3:45 PM. Three hours left. A cold sweat broke out along her spine. Is this working? Is she buying it? Or am I just wasting the last hours of my mother's life on pleasantries?

Curtis rolled back into the living room twenty minutes later. He stopped near the doorway, his sharp eyes scanning the space. He immediately sensed that the hostile, suffocating tension from earlier was completely gone.

Seraphina took a sip of her tea and looked at her brother.

"She knows the rules," Seraphina commented lightly, right in front of Allie. "She isn't as nauseating as the rest of the Copelands."

Curtis shot Allie a highly suspicious glare. He couldn't fathom what kind of manipulative trick this weak-looking woman had pulled to win over his notoriously impossible sister.

As evening approached, Allie excused herself to the restroom. The moment she was out of sight, she pulled out her phone. No messages. She typed a quick text to the head nurse's direct line-a number she'd bribed a janitor for months ago. "Status?"

The reply was immediate: "Stable for now. But she's so tired, honey. Don't be late." Allie bit her lip so hard she tasted copper. She deleted the message and straightened her spine.

Walking down the long corridor, she heard a sharp crash. She turned the corner and saw a young maid kneeling on the floor, violently shaking as she stared at the shattered remains of an antique Ming vase.

Allie didn't think. She dropped to her knees beside the girl.

"Hey, it's okay. Don't touch the glass, you'll cut yourself," Allie whispered softly, gently pulling the maid's trembling hands away and starting to gather the larger shards herself.

Hidden in the blind spot of the hallway corner, Curtis sat in his wheelchair, watching. His brow furrowed. He couldn't understand her pointless empathy for the hired help.

Dinner was served in the grand dining room.

The table was impossibly long. The clock in the corner showed 6:52 PM. Allie's throat was so tight she could barely swallow the water in front of her. She was running out of time. This is it. I just have to survive this meal and get him to sign off on me.

Curtis sat at the head, cutting into a thick piece of steak. Suddenly, a profound, unresponsive deadness seized his forearm. He tried to press down and cut into the meat, but the muscles completely failed to obey his command. After a moment of pathetic, powerless trembling, his numb fingers gave out. The heavy silver knife and fork slipped from his grip, clattering loudly against the fine china plate.

The entire dining room plunged into a dead, horrifying silence.

Curtis's face turned a violent shade of ashen gray. His chest heaved. His pride, already shattered by his paralysis, was bleeding out on the table. He was seconds away from an explosive outburst.

Allie reacted in a fraction of a second.

She violently bumped her elbow against her own crystal water glass. It tipped over, sending ice water cascading across the pristine white tablecloth and directly onto her own lap.

"Oh my god, I am so clumsy! I'm so sorry!" Allie gasped loudly, jumping up from her chair and frantically dabbing at the mess.

Every eye in the room instantly snapped to her.

"Mr. Kent, I'm so sorry, could I get a towel?" she babbled, completely covering Curtis's moment of physical failure.

Curtis stared at her. He slowly clenched his trembling hand into a tight fist on his lap, his dark eyes boring holes into the side of her face.

An hour later, they were back in the Maybach, heading to Manhattan.

The cabin was dark. Allie's hands were trembling uncontrollably in her lap. The moment dinner ended, she had checked her phone. 7:02 PM. She was two minutes past the deadline. She'd nearly thrown up on the front steps. But then the message from the nurse came through: "He called. He's giving you more time. He saw you with the Deleons on the news-someone posted about the dinner. He's waiting to see the outcome. Keep going."

She was still in the fight. But barely.

Curtis didn't throw his usual insults. Instead, his low, gravelly voice broke the silence.

"Why did you interfere at the table?"