Chapter 4

Sarah returned to her wing of the estate, the echoes of Eleanor' s words, Chloe' s triumph, Ethan' s abandonment, ringing in her ears.

Maria was waiting, her face grim.

As they neared Sarah's private study, a place that had once been her sanctuary, she heard them.

Moans, Chloe's laughter, Ethan's voice, low and urgent.

Maria tried to stop her, but Sarah pushed her wheelchair forward, her heart a cold, hard stone.

She saw them through the slightly ajar door, Ethan and Chloe, entangled on her desk, her papers, her plans, scattered beneath them.

A desecration.

Chloe looked up, saw Sarah, and a malicious smile spread across her face.

"Oh, look, Ethan," Chloe purred, running a hand down his chest, "your empress has returned, perhaps she wants to watch?"

Ethan froze, a flicker of something, shame perhaps, in his eyes, but it vanished as Chloe pulled him back.

Sarah backed away, the image burned into her mind, she felt a wave of nausea.

Maria wheeled her to the bathroom, Sarah leaned over the sink, splashing cold water on her face, trying to wash away the filth.

Suddenly, Chloe was there, standing in the doorway, a silk robe barely covering her.

"He's mine now, Sarah," Chloe said, her voice dripping with venom, "all of him, his company, his son, his bed."

She stepped closer, her eyes glittering.

"You know, that miscarriage I had before Jett? The one that made Ethan feel so sorry for me, so guilty towards you? It wasn't a miscarriage."

Chloe laughed, a harsh, ugly sound.

"It was an abortion, Sarah, the baby wasn't even Ethan's, it was from an old lover, but it served its purpose, didn't it? Made Ethan see me as a victim, made him despise you a little more for your coldness."

Every word was a deliberate twist of the knife.

"And your accident? Ethan planned it so well, he was so worried you might survive unscathed, he needed you out of the way, permanently."

Chloe leaned in, her voice a whisper.

"Your father and brother, their ruin? So satisfying to watch them crumble, knowing it was all for me, for Jett."

Sarah stared at her, the sheer depth of the conspiracy, the calculated cruelty, it was monstrous.

Rage, pure and unadulterated, surged through Sarah.

She grabbed the heaviest thing she could reach, a marble bookend from her shelf.

She threw it, not aiming to hit, but to vent, to make a sound, a protest.

Chloe shrieked, not in fear, but in theatricality.

She didn't dodge, instead, she threw herself sideways, crashing into a delicate glass side table, sending shards flying.

"Help! Ethan, help me! She's trying to kill me!" Chloe screamed, clutching her arm, though Sarah saw no blood.

Ethan burst into the room, his face a mask of fury.

He saw Chloe on the floor, the shattered glass, Sarah in her wheelchair, the bookend near her.

He didn't ask, he didn't hesitate.

He rushed to Chloe, "Are you hurt, my love?"

Then he turned to Sarah, his eyes blazing.

He strode towards her and slapped her, hard, across the face.

The sound echoed in the silent room.

"You vindictive cripple!" he snarled, his face contorted with rage, "How dare you! She's done nothing but be kind to you!"

Sarah's cheek stung, but the pain in her heart was far greater.

Chloe, behind Ethan, gave Sarah a triumphant smirk.