Chapter 3

The dining room was a tomb. The long mahogany table stretched out like a battlefield, bare except for four crystal glasses filled with ice water. The chandelier above was blazing, casting harsh, unforgiving light over the room. There was no food. No flowers. Just cold, hard surfaces and the smell of lemon polish.

Killian took the seat at the head of the table. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat down, his posture rigid. He didn't offer Arlie a chair. He didn't look at her at all. He simply waited.

Harrison and Meredith filed in behind her, taking their usual seats near the far end. Arlie walked to the middle of the table. She pulled out a chair and sat down, the wood hard and cold against her spine.

Killian tapped his index finger against the tabletop. Once. Twice. It was a sound she knew well. It meant his patience was already thin.

"Arlie," he said, his voice flat. "Welcome home."

She stared at him. She searched his face, looking for some crack in the armor. A flicker of the man she had married. The man who had once laughed at her jokes. But there was nothing. Just ice.

"Killian," she said, her voice hoarse.

Harrison cleared his throat. "Arlie, Killian has been incredibly generous. He has kept your position in this family intact despite the... embarrassment you caused. You need to show some gratitude."

Meredith nodded vigorously. "Any other man would have divorced you the moment the doctors diagnosed you. You're lucky he didn't leave you in that place permanently."

Arlie let out a bitter laugh. It sounded foreign, even to her own ears. "Gratitude? You want me to be grateful? You locked me up. You stole my son. You let Kaelynn take my life, and you want me to say thank you?"

Killian's finger stopped tapping. He leaned forward, his blue eyes pinning her to the chair. "Emotional outbursts won't change the situation. We are here to discuss a proposal."

He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a thick stack of paper. He slid it across the polished wood. It stopped right in front of her.

Supplemental Agreement to the Marital Relationship.

Arlie didn't look at the pages. She kept her eyes locked on his face. "What is it?"

"I need you to fulfill your marital obligations," Killian said, his tone as clinical as if he were discussing a stock buyout. "Specifically, your reproductive obligations."

Arlie felt the room tilt. She gripped the edge of the table to steady herself. "What?"

"I need a child," he continued, not blinking. "In return, McCormick Capital will inject fifty million dollars into Stuart Enterprises. Furthermore, I will unfreeze your personal trust fund and provide you with a monthly stipend of half a million dollars for the duration of the pregnancy."

The words hung in the air, obscene and transactional. He was buying her. He was putting a price tag on her womb.

Harrison leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with greed. "Fifty million? Killian, that is extremely generous. Arlie, this is the answer to our prayers. This saves the company."

"You have to do this," Meredith urged, her voice sharp. "It's the least you can do after what you put this family through."

Arlie ignored them. She only had eyes for the man at the end of the table. The man she had loved. The man she had thought loved her, even if he could never say it.

She remembered their wedding day. The way he had looked at her when he slid the ring on her finger. She had thought it was love. She had been a fool.

She remembered the facility. The orderlies holding her down. The needle piercing her skin. The fog that stole her mind. She had survived it all by thinking of Julian. But now, even that memory felt slippery, hard to hold onto. The medication they had pumped into her for two years had left her thoughts feeling like they were wrapped in gauze. Sometimes she would reach for a word and find nothing. Sometimes she would try to think three steps ahead and lose herself after one. The old Arlie-the one who could read a contract and spot the trap in thirty seconds-was buried somewhere under a chemical haze. She didn't know if she was still in there.

She had survived it all by thinking of Julian.

And now, this man wanted her to do it again. He wanted her to breed.

"Why?" she whispered, the word scraping her throat. "Why me? Why not Kaelynn?"

Killian leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "Because you are Julian's biological mother. The genetic compatibility is highest with you. We need the healthiest possible embryo. And besides, I have no intention of allowing another woman to carry a McCormick heir."

The healthiest possible embryo. Not a baby. Not a child. An embryo. A product.

"We will use IVF," he added, his voice leaving no room for argument. "I have already assembled the best medical team in the country. You just need to comply."

The coldness of it washed over her. It wasn't a marriage. It was a surrogacy contract. She was a vessel.

Slowly, Arlie reached out and picked up the document. The paper was heavy, expensive. She held it up, looking at the dense legal text. Her vision blurred. The words swam. She blinked hard, fighting the fog. She couldn't read it. Not like she used to. But she didn't need to. The numbers alone-fifty million, half a million monthly-told her everything. She was being bought.

Her hands were shaking as she brought the pages together. She didn't plan it. She didn't strategize. The motion came from somewhere deeper than thought-a primal, desperate refusal that bypassed her drugged, exhausted brain entirely. She tore.

She tore it.

The sound was loud in the quiet room. She tore it again. And again. She didn't rush. She took her time, ripping the pages into long, thin strips, letting them fall from her fingers like confetti onto the polished table.

Silence. Heavy, shocked silence.

Harrison shot to his feet, his face purple with rage. "Are you insane? Do you know what you've done?"

Killian's face didn't change, but his eyes darkened. A muscle ticked in his jaw. He looked at the pile of shredded paper, then back up at her.

Arlie didn't stand. She stayed in her chair, her hands still trembling, staring at the mess she had made. She didn't look at Killian. She couldn't. Her voice came out as a whisper, thin and frayed. "My answer is no."

She pushed her chair back and walked toward the door. Her legs were shaking, but her back was straight. She had said no. It wasn't strategy. It wasn't strength. It was the only thing left in her that hadn't been killed yet.