Chapter 2

The next day, Chloe called me.

I was in the penthouse suite Victoria had arranged, looking out over Central Park. The view was staggering, a testament to a level of wealth I was still getting used to.

"We need to talk," Chloe said, her voice stripped of the previous night's venom, replaced by a tone of strained reason. "In person."

"We said everything we needed to say."

"No, we didn't. This is a delicate situation, Liam. For my company. For my family."

"Your family," I repeated the words. They tasted like ash. "The one you started with Mark while I was rotting in a cell."

A pause. "That's not fair. I thought you were gone forever. What was I supposed to do, wait forever? My life couldn't just stop."

"It didn't stop, Chloe. It accelerated. With my money."

"That's a gross oversimplification," she snapped, her patience already wearing thin. "Look, my company's IPO is in three weeks. This is the culmination of six years of my hard work."

"Our hard work," I corrected her. "My sacrifice."

"Fine! Whatever! The point is, your reappearance right now is... inconvenient. We need a story. A neat, tidy story that doesn't blow everything up."

"I'm not interested in being your PR problem, Chloe. I just want what was taken from me."

"And what is that, exactly?" she asked, a dangerous edge to her voice. "You want to go back to being engaged? That ship has sailed, Liam. I have a husband. I have children."

"I don't want you," I said, the words coming out with a coldness that surprised even me. "I want a clean break. I want you to sign a document admitting what you did. Admitting you took my assets, that you abandoned me. I want a public retraction of every lie you've told about your 'tragic past'."

She laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "Are you insane? That would destroy me. That would destroy Aura. I will not let that happen. You will not undo everything I've built."

"You didn't build it. You stole it."

"Meet me," she said, her voice dropping to a command. "My office. One hour. We'll sort this out."

She hung up before I could refuse.

I knew it was a trap, but I went anyway. I needed to see the full extent of her depravity. Victoria's head of security, a stoic man named Elias, drove me. He didn't speak, but his presence was a silent promise of backup.

Chloe' s office was on the top floor of a skyscraper. It was exactly as I' d imagined: minimalist, expensive, and cold. Mark was there, standing behind her desk like a nervous guard dog.

"Liam," Chloe said, gesturing to a chair. "I'm glad you came."

"Let's get this over with," I said, remaining standing. "I told you what I want."

"And I'm telling you it's not going to happen," she said. "But I have a counter-offer."

She slid a document across the desk. An NDA. It offered me a sum of money-a pathetic, insulting amount-in exchange for my permanent silence.

I didn't even look at it. "No."

"Liam, be reasonable."

"Reasonable? You want reasonable?" I looked at Mark. "Your son, what is he, five? Almost six?"

Mark flinched. Chloe' s eyes narrowed.

"Don't you bring my children into this."

"You brought them into this the moment you decided to start a family on my back," I said. "I'm done talking."

I turned to leave.

"I don't think so," Chloe said.

Two large men in suits who had been standing by the door moved to block my exit. They weren't office security. They were professionals.

"What is this?" I asked, my body tensing.

"You're not going anywhere," Chloe said, her voice calm. "Not until we have an agreement. You're a wildcard, Liam. I can't have you running around, talking to reporters, a week before my IPO. It's too risky."

"You're holding me here?"

"I'm ensuring my company's future," she corrected. "It's just for a little while. Think of it as a... cooling-off period. In a few weeks, after the IPO, you'll sign the papers, take the money, and you can go start your new life."

Her smile was chilling. It was the same smile from the party, the one for the cameras. It was a lie.

"You'll stay in a comfortable hotel," she continued. "My people will look after you. Once the markets close on IPO day, you'll be free to go."

It was a cage, just a more luxurious one than my last.

They escorted me from the building, one on each side, their hands firmly on my arms. They put me in a black SUV and drove me to a high-end hotel downtown. They took my wallet and my personal phone.

They didn't know about the other phone. The one Victoria had given me. A slim, featureless device woven into the lining of my jacket.

Once they left me in the suite, locking the door from the outside, I pulled it out. There was only one number programmed in.

I pressed the button.

Victoria answered on the first ring. "Liam."

"She's holding me," I said, my voice low. "She's locked me in a hotel. She's trying to keep me quiet until her IPO goes through."

There was a moment of absolute silence on the other end of the line. It was more terrifying than any shouting could have been.

Then, Victoria spoke. Her voice was ice.

"She put her hands on you again. She put you in a cage."

"Yes."

"I was going to dismantle her life piece by piece," Victoria said, and I could hear the contained fury in her voice. "Now, I'm just going to burn it to the ground. Stay put. I'm coming myself."

The line went dead.

For the first time in six years, I felt a surge of something other than loss or hate. It was the feeling of having someone, someone powerful, in my corner. Chloe thought she had me trapped. She had no idea she had just trapped herself.