Chapter 3

The main house was a world away from my cramped guest quarters. Sunlight streamed through vast windows, glinting off crystal and silver. Chloe' s friends, women with surgically perfected faces and bored eyes, chattered like exotic birds.

Chloe saw me enter. A small, cruel smile played on her lips.

"Sarah, darling, there you are. The canapés are running low."

She was wearing a white dress that probably cost more than my entire year's earnings as a lawyer. Ethan stood beside her, his arm around her waist. He looked at her with an expression of tenderness that twisted something inside me. He never looked at me like that anymore. Not for years.

"Of course, Chloe."

I moved towards the kitchen, my gray uniform feeling like a shroud.

Later, Chloe called me to her private suite.

"Ethan, darling, Sarah' s here for the... procedure," she said, her voice syrupy sweet.

Ethan looked uncomfortable for a split second, then his face hardened.

"Get it over with."

A private nurse, hired by Chloe, was setting up equipment. Needles, tubes.

"Mrs. Hamilton requires a plasma donation today," the nurse said, her tone brisk. "And some skin cells for her upcoming rejuvenation therapy."

Chloe pouted. "My skin is just so delicate, Sarah. And yours is so... resilient."

Resilient because I had a rare resistance to most local anesthetics. These procedures were agony. I' d told Ethan. I' d told the doctors Chloe hired. They dismissed it.

"It' s for Chloe' s health," Ethan said, his voice flat, avoiding my eyes. "She' s been feeling weak."

Weak. Chloe, who spent her days shopping and scheming.

The nurse approached with a large-gauge needle.

"This will only take a little while," she said, not unkindly, but without real concern.

I braced myself. The needle went in. Pain, sharp and deep, shot up my arm. I bit my lip to keep from crying out.

Chloe watched, a flicker of satisfaction in her eyes. Ethan turned away, staring out the window.

He knew this hurt me. He knew it was a violation.

But Chloe wanted it. And what Chloe wanted, Chloe got.

My blood, my plasma, my skin cells. All to maintain her flawless façade, all while Leo fought for his life.

The humiliation was a constant, burning fire.