Chapter 3

Julian burst into the room.

He saw Seraphina pinned, apparently terrified. He saw Ava, her face a mask of cold fury.

He didn't ask questions.

He lunged at Ava, shoving her with brutal force.

Ava's head slammed against the opposite wall. Stars exploded behind her eyes.

Pain, sharp and disorienting, shot through her skull.

Julian rushed to Seraphina, cradling her. "Are you alright, my love?"

He glared back at Ava, his face contorted with rage. "You crazy bitch."

He swept Seraphina out of the room, presumably to his private medical team.

Ava slid down the wall, her vision blurring.

When she woke, she wasn't in the penthouse.

She was in a guesthouse, remote and opulent, on Julian's sprawling Napa Valley estate. Her gilded cage.

Heavily secured. No phone, no internet access she could control.

Julian visited regularly. Not for reconciliation.

He came to torment her.

"You were always just a placeholder, Ava. A pale imitation."

"Did you really think I could love someone like you, after Seraphina?"

His words were like acid.

Ava's only hope now was her family, or Liam. If only she could reach them.

Seraphina, now openly living with Julian in the main mansion, also visited.

She flaunted her renewed relationship, her hand often resting possessively on her stomach.

"Julian is so happy," Seraphina purred. "We're thinking about the future. A family."

She hinted at a possible pregnancy, her eyes gleaming with triumph.

But Ava saw something else in Seraphina's gaze: a flicker of fear. Fear that Julian might still, somehow, care for Ava.

A sympathetic house staffer, a young woman named Maria, secretly slipped Ava a note one day.

Mr. Vance was furious with Ms. Reed for visiting you without his permission.

A small, cold comfort.

But the note contained more. Devastating news.

Your father and brother... there' s an investigation. Corruption. Treason. It' s all over the news, but it' s blocked here.

Fabricated evidence, Ava knew. Julian's work.

The room tilted. Ava collapsed, the weight of this new horror crushing her.