Chapter 2

My father stared at Emily, his carefully composed face showing a crack of confusion.

"Liam?" he asked, his voice losing its authoritative boom for a moment. "The man is in a coma, Emily. Alex has a future, a viable, if struggling, enterprise. This is about legacy."

"Liam is a genius, Father," Emily said smoothly, her confidence unwavering. "His mind is his legacy. Even in this state, his name carries weight. It' s a project. A challenge. Imagine the glory when I find a way to bring him back, to restore his empire."

She knew exactly what to say to appeal to his obsession. Glory. Legacy. A grand narrative.

He looked at her, his favored child. He had always adored her fire, her ambition. My quiet nature had always been a disappointment to him. He saw it as weakness. Now, he saw her choice not as foolish, but as daring.

"Very well," he said, his approval returning. He glanced at me with dismissive pity. "Then Sarah will have Alex. Perhaps that is for the best. A simple man for a simple girl."

The words didn't hurt this time. They were just words, echoes of a past I was determined to escape.

Emily walked over to me, her eyes glittering with victory. She leaned in close, her voice a triumphant whisper only I could hear.

"I know what you did, Sarah," she hissed. "I know how you built your empire. You used him. You used that comatose shell to become something. This time, all of that will be mine. I won' t make the same mistake of choosing a life of boring parties and reproductive duty. I' ll have the real power."

My blood ran cold. It was true. She remembered everything.

She wasn' t just making a different choice; she was actively pursuing the life she thought I had. A life she envied so much it had driven her to her death. The irony was a bitter pill. She saw the wealth and the headlines, but she never saw the truth of my existence with Liam.

I didn't answer her. I just held her gaze, my smile never wavering. Let her think she had won. Let her walk willingly into that prison.

As she turned away, basking in our father' s renewed admiration, I let my mind drift back. I remembered the reality of my life with Liam.

It wasn' t just business meetings and stock portfolios. It was the cold dread that settled in my stomach every time he' d open his eyes when we were alone. His voice, a dry rustle after hours of silence, giving me complex, often illegal, instructions.

"Buy this shell corporation."

"Ruin this man' s reputation."

"Transfer these funds through these untraceable accounts."

I remembered the fear. The constant, gnawing fear that one day he would have no more use for me. The isolation. I couldn' t tell anyone. To the world, I was a grieving, devoted wife. In reality, I was a hostage, an accomplice. The immense wealth was a cage, its bars made of secrets and moral compromises.

I remembered the nights I spent staring at his still face while he "slept," wondering if he was watching me through his closed eyelids. He was a spider, and I was the fly caught in his web, forced to dance to his tune or be consumed. The success was his, the trauma was mine.

Emily saw the glittering web. She had no idea about the spider at its center.

Now, she was walking right into it, her eyes wide with greed.

My gaze shifted across the room to Alex. He stood awkwardly by the window, looking uncomfortable with the whole situation. He caught my eye and gave me a small, sympathetic smile. It was the first truly genuine expression I had seen all day.

A fierce resolve settled in my heart. This wasn't just about my own survival anymore. Emily had made her choice. She would face the consequences of her own ambition.

My future was with Alex. A quiet, normal life. That' s all I had ever wanted. A life free from manipulation, free from fear. A life where I could finally just be Sarah.

And I would fight for it. This time, I knew the rules of the game. And this time, I was going to win.