Chapter 2

Sarah stood frozen. The ring gleamed dully on the floor.

Ethan' s words echoed. "A good offer. For you."

She felt nothing. A vast, cold emptiness.

She bent down, picked up the ring. It was heavy in her palm.

She didn' t put it back on. She slipped it into her pocket.

She walked out of the bedroom, out of the Hamptons house.

The anniversary dinner she' d meticulously planned, the caterers, the flowers...

Her phone buzzed. A message from her assistant.

"Mr. Davenport and Ms. Thorne said the dinner was exquisite. They particularly enjoyed the champagne."

Sarah' s stomach clenched.

She drove, not to their city apartment, but towards Pennsylvania. Towards her childhood home.

Hours later, she parked down the street from the old farmhouse. It looked smaller, sadder.

Lights were on. She walked closer, her heart aching for a comfort that probably didn' t exist anymore.

Voices drifted from the open kitchen window. Her father, Robert, and her stepmother, Brenda.

"She' s probably overreacting again," Brenda was saying, her voice sharp. "That girl always was too sensitive."

"Ethan' s a good man, a powerful man," Robert' s voice, gruff, familiar. "She needs to be smart. This deal with Ethan, for the new hardware franchise... it' s crucial, Brenda. If she messes this up..."

Sarah stopped. Her own father.

Prioritizing a business deal over her.

She remembered her mother, her warm hands, the smell of apples from the orchard. Gone. All gone.

Brenda' s son from a previous marriage, a boy Robert doted on, ran past the window, laughing. A happy family unit. She was the outsider.

She got back in her car, the emptiness inside her growing.

Her phone rang. Her father.

She answered.

"Sarah? What have you done? Ethan called. He' s... displeased."

His voice was cold, accusing.

"You need to fix this, Sarah. You know how much this business venture means to me. To us."

"He was with Jessica," Sarah said, her voice flat. "He wants an open marriage."

"An open marriage?" Robert scoffed. "Don' t be ridiculous. He' s a man, Sarah. Men like Ethan... they have needs. You need to be more understanding. More accommodating."

Then, his voice softened, a manipulative caress.

"Remember how you had that little crush on him, that summer you interned at his father' s company? I saw it. I knew he was the one for you. I helped arrange that 'chance' meeting, you know. For your own good. He' s a Davenport. You wouldn' t be where you are without him. Without me guiding you."

Betrayal, sharp and deep, cut through Sarah. Her crush. Her father had used it. Sold her.

"You used me," she whispered.

"Don' t be dramatic. I secured your future. Now, you secure mine. Don' t let that farm, your mother' s legacy, go to ruin because you' re being stubborn."

He hung up.

Sarah stared at the phone. Utterly alone. Utterly used.