Chapter 2

Three days later.

Alysia pushed open the heavy oak doors of the Kent family estate in Long Island.

The warm, joyful chatter of the family dinner died the second she stepped into the dining room.

Sitting at the head of the long mahogany table, her father, Gladstone Kent, slammed his crystal wine glass down.

The red liquid sloshed over the rim, staining the white tablecloth.

Kaden shot up from his chair.

A white gauze pad was taped to his forehead, and his right arm was in a heavy cast.

"You ungrateful bitch!" Kaden roared, pointing his good hand at her.

Crystal sat next to him in her wheelchair.

She immediately started coughing, a harsh, wet sound.

Her fingers dug into Kaden's sleeve, pulling at the fabric.

"Don't fight with her, Kaden," Crystal whimpered, tears spilling over her cheeks. "It's not worth tearing the family apart for me."

An older aunt at the end of the table shook her head in disgust.

"You have no heart, Alysia. You don't deserve the Kent name."

Alysia ignored the noise.

She walked past them, her posture perfectly aligned, and pulled out an empty chair near the center of the table.

She sat down, crossing her legs, looking more like the master of the house than anyone else in the room.

Gladstone slammed his fist on the table.

"Get on your knees and apologize to Crystal right now!" he ordered. "I will call the hospital and reschedule the surgery for tomorrow morning."

Alysia picked up a glass of sparkling water from the table.

She swirled the ice cubes slowly.

"Are you aware, Father, of the felony charges associated with forced organ harvesting in the state of New York?"

Gladstone's face turned purple.

He choked on his words, his chest heaving.

"This is family sacrifice! This has nothing to do with the law!"

Kaden sneered and walked toward her.

He pulled a folded document from his jacket pocket and threw it onto the table in front of her.

"Sign the consent form, or I freeze every single credit card in your name tonight."

Alysia didn't even glance at the paper.

She reached into her purse and pulled out a handful of black titanium credit cards.

They were all cut cleanly in half.

She tossed them into the air.

The heavy plastic and metal pieces rained down, hitting Kaden in the face and chest.

Kaden flinched, his jaw twitching violently.

He raised his left fist, stepping into her space.

Alysia looked up at him.

Her gaze was so hollow, so devoid of fear, that Kaden's fist froze in mid-air.

"The money I've generated for this family's shell companies over the last three years far exceeds the limits on those cards," Alysia said flatly. "You owe me."

Crystal sobbed louder, shifting the attention back to herself.

"I have three months to live without that kidney! How can you watch me die?"

Alysia leaned forward.

She rested her elbows on the table and locked eyes with Crystal.

"Private yacht. Miami. Last month," Alysia whispered, her voice carrying just enough for Crystal to hear.

Crystal stopped crying instantly.

Her breathing hitched, and her fingers spasmed against her chest.

Alysia sat back up and looked at her father.

"Crystal's kidney failure isn't genetic. It's the result of chronic, severe abuse of illicit narcotics."

The dining room erupted in gasps.

Gladstone stared at Crystal, his eyes wide. "Explain this."

Kaden stepped in front of Crystal, shielding her.

"She's lying! She's making it up to save her own skin!"

Alysia reached into her bag one last time.

She pulled out a thick stack of papers bearing the official watermark of Johns Hopkins Hospital. "This isn't a new document. I secured this digital backup during one of my previous loops, long before she could scrub her medical history."

She slapped the printed toxicology report onto the center of the dining table.

The uncle sitting closest to the papers picked them up.

His eyes scanned the highlighted lines, and his face dropped.

He slid the report down the table to Gladstone.

Gladstone read the numbers.

His hands started to shake.

He looked up, glaring at the woman he had been ready to sacrifice his own daughter for.

Crystal slipped out of her wheelchair, collapsing onto the hardwood floor.

She wrapped her arms around Kaden's legs.

"It's fake! Kaden, you have to believe me, she forged it!"

Kaden looked down at Crystal, doubt flashing in his eyes.

But the Holloway family merger depended on this marriage.

He gritted his teeth and glared at Alysia.

"It's a forgery. And if you walk out that door today, you forfeit the Manhattan penthouse in mother's trust fund."

The temperature in Alysia's blood dropped to absolute zero.

She stood up.

Her chair scraped loudly against the floor.

"If you touch one brick of my mother's apartment," Alysia said, her voice a deadly hum, "I will burn this Long Island estate to the ground while you sleep in it."

Gladstone stood up, trying to reclaim his authority.

"Guards! Lock her in the guest room upstairs until she agrees to the surgery!"

Two massive bodyguards stepped out from the shadows of the hallway, moving toward Alysia.

Alysia didn't run.

She reached up and pulled the sharp metal hairpin from her updo.

Her hair tumbled down her back.

Before the first bodyguard could grab her arm, she lunged. She didn't aim for a kill shot, but jabbed the hairpin into the nerve cluster behind his ear. The man's arm went numb and dropped, his face a mask of shocked pain. The second guard paused, stunned by the unexpected, vicious attack.

The room gasped in horror.

Alysia pushed the massive man aside with her free hand.

She didn't look back as she walked out the front door, leaving the Kent family choking on their own ruin.