Chapter 2

The pain in my shin was nothing compared to the agony that ripped through my memory.

Lying on the cold bathroom floor, blood pooling around me. The world fading to black.

I had woken up in the hospital. The first person I saw was Eleanor. She wasn't concerned. She was angry.

"How could you be so careless?" she had hissed at me. "Losing the only Miller heir."

She never knew I was pregnant. I had wanted to surprise Michael. She thought the miscarriage was a result of some female weakness, an inconvenience.

While I was losing our child, he was probably celebrating his new freedom with Chloe, maybe even conceiving the two brats now standing in my living room.

My gaze snapped back to the little boy, Jasper.

Without a second thought, I slapped him.

Not hard enough to injure, but hard enough to shock. The sound echoed in the cavernous hall.

Jasper' s face crumpled, and he let out a piercing shriek.

"How dare you!" Chloe screamed, rushing to her son. "You monster! You hit my child!"

Eleanor stepped between us, her face a mask of fury. "Ava! Have you lost your mind? He' s just a child!"

She grabbed my arm. "You will apologize to Chloe and the boy right now. This is Michael' s house, and I am the matriarch of this family. You will do as I say."

She was trying to re-establish the old order, where her word was law.

"I' m going to be generous," Eleanor said, her voice dripping with false magnanimity. "We' ll let you stay. You can have the guest cottage out back. It' s separate, so you won' t have to see the children if it upsets you."

She thought she was solving a problem. She thought she was being kind.

I looked at her hand on my arm, then back at her face. I felt nothing but a cold, empty void where my respect for her used to be.

Chloe was now weeping theatrically into Michael' s shoulder, while Ruby joined her brother in a chorus of wails. The noise was unbearable.

"I don' t know what' s happened to you, Ava," Michael said, shaking his head in disappointment. "You used to be so gentle, so kind."

"That woman died," I said, my voice flat. "She died three years ago, trying to clean up your mess."

Sarah, the law student, stepped forward. "Ava, legally, this is still community property. Michael is the primary heir. You need to be careful. You don' t want to make things ugly."

Ben, ever the opportunist, chimed in. "She' s right. A messy divorce would be bad for the company' s image. Just accept the situation. It' s what' s best for everyone."

Best for everyone. They meant best for them.

Michael played his final card. "If you can' t accept this, Ava, then we' ll get a divorce. You' ll get your share, but I will be in control of Miller Corp. I built it, and I' m taking it back."

He was so sure of himself. So utterly, stupidly sure.

I started to laugh. It wasn't a happy sound. It was sharp and brittle.

"A divorce?" I repeated, savoring the word. "You think you can threaten me with a divorce?"

I looked at all of them, these parasites who thought they could just waltz back in and reclaim a life they had abandoned.

"You' re right about one thing, Michael," I said. "I am not the woman I used to be."

My eyes landed back on Eleanor. Her grip on my arm was still tight.

With a swift, clean motion, I twisted my arm free and slapped her across the face.

The crack of the slap was even louder than the one I' d given the boy.

Eleanor stumbled back, her hand flying to her cheek, her eyes wide with disbelief. For the first time in her life, someone had dared to defy her.

The entire hall fell silent. Even the children stopped crying, their mouths hanging open.

Michael, Ben, and Sarah just stood there, frozen, unable to process what they had just seen.

The queen had been struck. The matriarch had been humbled.

And I was just getting started.