Chapter 2 Welcome To The Ashford Estate

Layla's pulse thundered in her ears as she stood motionless on the stairwell.

The sounds below were faint now, muffled by distance and her pulse, but she knew what she would hear.

Her name. Nova. Donor. Secrets.

She took another step down, the polished wood cold against her bare feet. The mansion was a labyrinth of silence and darkness, but the murmured conversation below was something she could not let go of. She approached, her ears strained.

Katherine's voice was distinct, sharp, and always tinted with honey and poison.

"She is already skeptical," Katherine said. "If you do not divert her, Ethan, she will figure it out."

Ethan.

Layla clutched the rails firmly.

He was with her.

"She won't," Ethan said, his voice quiet and confident. "She is too emotional. "She will succumb to her paranoia before she gets close."

There was a pause.

Then Katherine said something that made Layla's blood freeze.

"She can not realize the donor was never genuine."

Layla's knees almost collapsed.

No.

No. No, no.

Her breath rushed out in rapid, hard gasps. She took a step back and pressed her hand to her lips to suppress a shout.

Who was the donor?

Nova's donor is the one Ethan promised. The one designated to accomplish the miracle. The reason she gave up her life in the first place.

A lie?

She quickly backed away, trying not to make a sound, but her heel caught on the edge of a step.

Creak.

The conversations below got quieter.

Layla spun and raced down the hallway; her breath seized as she neared her bedroom. She slammed the door closed, locked it, and leaned against the wall.

Her body slid down the door, leaving her kneeling on the floor, arms wrapped about herself.

"Please," she whispered. "Let it not be true."

But she knew intuitively.

Ethan had never found a donor.

He had not intended to save Nova.

It never was about Nova.

It was all about control.

About her.

An hour has passed.

Two.

Layla sat in the corner, knees tucked against her chest, looking over the documents Damien had given her. She had previously scanned the pages, but now she flipped through them with unsteady fingers, reading the details she would have overlooked the first time.

Nova's test results were inconsistent.

The bloodwork dates did not correspond.

Medications were reported without administration times.

One document, dated two weeks before the wedding, mentioned an injection Nova never had.

Layla's hand rose to her lips.

They were emulating her sister's behavior.

Buying time.

Using her devotion to entice her.

Her head spun.

A light rap on the door startled her.

She rose in an instant, her hands clenched. "Who is it?"

No answer.

Then, a voice-quiet, manly, and recognizable. "It is me, Damien."

She rushed to unlock it.

He stepped inside quickly and shut the door behind him. His demeanor was rigid, his jaw clenched, and his eyes ran over her pale face and messy hair.

"What happens?"

Layla hurled the papers at him. "Nova's donor." She has never owned one. Ethan and Katherine are faking her treatment. "I overheard them downstairs."

Damien's eyes expanded as he browsed the contents. "Jesus..."

"I signed that deal for nothing," she said calmly. "I sacrificed everything for it and it was a game."

Damien looked up at her slowly. "I believe you."

Tears gradually flowed down her cheeks. "Then help me prove it."

"I will," he said in a firm voice. "But, Layla, if what you have heard is correct, they are not just manipulating you." They are committing medical fraud. That is prison time. Ethan will not let you go with this knowledge.

"I am not walking," she said. "I am battling."

Damien gave her a long glance before nodding. "You are stronger than he believes."

She scoffed. "I wish I had realized sooner."

Another rap on the door caused them both to freeze.

This time, it was not soft.

It was hard. Brutal.

"Layla." Ethan's voice was dark and husky. "Open the door."

Her breath caught.

Damien grabbed her hand and drew her away from the entrance. "I will distract him; hide the file."

She put the paper under the mattress just as Ethan pounded on the door again.

"I know you are in there!"

Damien opened it.

Ethan stood there, hands clasped at his sides and jaw compressed. His eyes moved between the two of them, Layla behind Damien, her face blotchy and moist from sobbing.

His voice seemed eerily calm.

"Doctor, is there a reason you are in my wife's bedroom?"

"Medical check-in," Damien said. "Layla seemed pale during breakfast."I was concerned.

Ethan's glare was as sharp as a razor. "You did not have authority."

"I do not need it."I am Nova's doctor, and Layla is her legal guardian.

Ethan's jaw muscles trembled.

"Leave," he said.

Damien did not move. "She is not secure with you."

Ethan laughed, but it was unfunny. "She is safer than she will ever be speaking her mind to someone like you."

Damien turned to Layla. "Are you OK?"

She nodded, but her throat was tight.

"Good," he said quietly. Recall what I said. "Call me."

And then he left.

Ethan gave him a long stare before returning his focus to her. "What did he tell you?"

"Nothing."

Ethan stepped forward. "Lies do not fit you, Layla."

"What does abuse do?" She fired back before she could stop herself.

He struck her.

Her head jolted to one side, and the sting spread over her face.

Layla did not cry.

Instead, she slowly turned back to face him, lifting her chin in defiance.

"I know about the donor," she explained.

Ethan's expression did not change.

But something in his eyes did.

"You are not sure what you believe you know."

"No," she said. "I know precisely what I have sacrificed-and exactly what you have taken."

He moved so quickly that she didn't see it coming.

One hand smacked into the wall behind her head, securing her in place. The other grasped her neck, not hard, but just enough to make her feel threatened.

"You want to play games, Layla?" he said gently. "Let us play."

That night, Layla retreated to her chamber.

She felt the walls closing in as she looked at the unopened file beneath the mattress.

She needed to get away.

But not alone.

She wanted evidence. Proof. Something she could provide to the authorities.

If she left now, Ethan would ruin Nova.

Unless...

Unless Nova never became sick.

A scary idea crossed her mind.

What if the whole scenario-Nova's illness, therapy, and hospital visits- had been staged?

Layla's hands shook as she texted Damien.

Layla: How can I get a DNA test without Ethan knowing?

He replied within minutes.

Damien: I will handle it. Bring me a blood sample from Nova.

Layla: Tonight.

Getting into Nova's hospital suite at Ashford Medical was easier than she expected.

When Layla entered, the night nurse knew her and hardly blinked.

Nova was sleeping, with pale skin under the antiseptic light. Layla bent down and gently brushed her sister's hair off her forehead.

"Please forgive me," she whispered before stabbing her sister's finger with a little lancet from the supply tray.

The blood was obtained on a sterile strip. She placed it in a plastic bag, tucked it inside her purse, and kissed Nova's cheek.

When she turned around, Katherine stood at the doorway.

Layla let out a gasp.

Katherine's gaze was intense and calculated.

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Layla said, trying to conceal her concern.

"I work here, remember? Head of Public Relations.

"Convenient."

Katherine smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. "You are becoming inquisitive, Layla."

"I am receiving answers."

"Well," Katherine said softly, coming closer. "Be cautious how deep you delve."

"Or, what?"

"Or you could discover something you can not handle."

Layla walked by her, chin up, pulse racing.

She did not look back.

Damien collected the sample the next day.

"We will hurry it," he said. "Give me 48 hours."

Layla nodded. "What if I am right?"

Damien's voice sounded harsh. "Then Nova is in more danger than we imagined."

That night, Ethan waited for her in the bedroom.

He sat in a leather chair, swirling a glass of scotch, his attention locked on her as she approached.

"I heard you visited Nova."

"I am her sister," she answered.

"She is doing better," he said softly, and she understood the test in his tone.

Layla feigned a smile. "That is what the reports say."

His lips twitched.

"You have changed," he stated. "At one time, you were soft. Gentle. Loyal."

"I was desperate," she mumbled. "Now I am awake."

He rose and approached her. "Then I will simply have to remind you how much loyalty costs."

Before he could touch her, the door swung open.

Grayson Ashford stood there, pallid and shivering, holding a paper.

"Ethan," he said anxiously. "We have an issue."

Layla looked between them.

"What kind of problem?"

Grayson's voice cracked.

"The girl and her donor..." There has never been one. Katherine falsified the documentation. "We have had a leak."

Ethan turned slowly, his countenance opaque.

"Where did you acquire this," he asked his father.

Grayson swallowed. This is an internal email. Someone sent it to me anonymously.

Layla's heart stopped.

It was unraveling.

But it moves too quickly. Too soon.

If Grayson had it, Ethan could rapidly learn everything.

She needed to move.

Tonight.

That night, Layla packed a bag.

Cash. Her ID. The file. The test strip.

She tucked them inside her coat and waited for the guards to change shifts.

She sneaked out the side door at 2:14 a.m.

The cold pierced her body as she rushed across the backyard to the property's border, where the wrought iron gate stood.

Her hand touched the gate just as headlights emerged behind her.

A black SUV glided into view.

She turned and fled.

But a second automobile cut her off.

Two men came, dressed in black suits.

One individual held a phone to his ear. "We got her."

Layla moved away, clutching the coat to her chest.

"Do not touch me!"

They did not speak.

They did not have to.

Somebody grabbed her arm.

The other individual reached for the bag.

Layla yelled.

And then-

A single gunshot rang out.

The person who was holding her had collapsed.

The second dropped her bags.

She turned and gasped.

And I saw Ryder Warren standing in the trees, pistol lifted and eyes burning with wrath.

"Layla," Ryder said quietly, approaching from the shadows. "Run immediately."