Chapter 2

Damian Thorne stared down at me, his expression unchanging.

"Get up, Eleanor," he said, his voice quiet but firm. "You're making a scene."

Cassandra simpered beside him. "Oh, Damian, she must be delirious from the birth."

Delirious? No. I was terrifyingly sane.

He didn't offer a hand. Bianca helped me to my feet, her face etched with worry.

"All new Aethel Corp mothers and their infants will be moved to our Serenity Pines wellness retreat for post-natal care," Damian announced, his voice carrying easily. "Standard procedure. For your comfort and recovery."

My blood ran cold. Serenity Pines.

That' s where it all went wrong last time.

"No," I whispered. "Please, Mr. Thorne. I can go home. Bianca can help me."

Damian' s eyes, cold and assessing, met mine. "It's not a request, Eleanor. It's for the well-being of all Aethel Corp families."

He believes I'm being manipulative, I realized with a jolt.

He remembers too.

But he sees my desperation as a trick, a ploy. Just like before.

The transfer to Serenity Pines was swift and impersonal.

The retreat was beautiful, nestled in lush hills, but to me, it was a gilded cage.

My assigned suite was small, basic. My twins' bassinets were plain.

Later, I saw Cassandra. She'd also "given birth," though I hadn't seen her in the maternity wing before Damian' s arrival.

Her suite was a luxurious spread, overflowing with flowers and expensive baby gear.

Damian was doting on her, fetching her water, adjusting her pillows.

He' d stripped me of any comfort, any privilege.

The nurses were polite but distant. My requests for extra blankets for the twins were met with slow compliance.

Bianca tried to run interference, but Aethel Corp staff controlled everything.

"He's doing it again, B," I whispered to her that night, the twins finally asleep between us in my narrow bed.

"Doing what, Ellie? He's an ass, sure, but..."

"He's isolating me. Punishing me. He thinks I'm trying to trick him by renouncing the Legacy."

Bianca frowned. "Why would he think that?"

"Because he remembers the last time. And he thinks I' m playing the same game."

The next morning, Damian made an announcement in the communal lounge.

"To celebrate the new arrivals, the Thorne Legacy scholarship selection will proceed as planned in three days," he said, his gaze sweeping over the assembled mothers.

His eyes lingered on me for a moment, a glint of something I couldn't decipher.

Then he smiled at Cassandra. "Aethel Corp is proud to support its families."

My stomach twisted.

The selection. The catalyst for disaster.

He was pushing forward, daring me.

He was convinced I wanted that scholarship, that my pleas were a lie.

His blindness, his obsession with Cassandra, it was all repeating.

I was trapped. Again.