Chapter 4

Callie Fry POV:

The next morning, my father burst into the tiny apartment, waving a letter in the air. He was laughing, a wild, incredulous sound that bordered on hysteria.

"It's gone! Callie, it's all gone!"

My mother rushed to his side, her face pale with confusion. "What's gone, Robert?"

"The debt!" he crowed. "Every penny! It's been paid off! And he's arranged a new place for us to live. A proper house!"

He explained that a lawyer had shown up, representing an anonymous benefactor. But we all knew who it was.

"Oh, Kane!" my mother cried, tears of joy streaming down her face. "I knew it! I knew he still loved you, Callie! He's a good man, a wonderful man! You must never let him go!"

I stood by the window, silent, watching the morning traffic crawl by. My family was saved. The weight of their desperation was lifted. All it had cost was my soul.

A sleek black car purred to a stop at the curb below. The driver, a man I didn't recognize, got out and opened the back door. It was time.

My parents hugged me, their faces alight with joy, completely oblivious. They thought I was going back to my life of luxury, to be cherished and adored by a husband who secretly loved me. They had no idea I was walking into a gilded cage to serve my sentence as a kept woman.

The car drove me back across the bridge, back into the glittering heart of Manhattan. It pulled up in front of the familiar, imposing entrance of my old building. The penthouse. My home.

The doorman, who used to greet me with a deferential smile, now looked at me with a mixture of pity and curiosity. The elevator ride up felt like a descent into hell.

When the doors opened directly into the foyer, I saw her.

She was standing by the large windows overlooking the park, bathed in morning light. She was tall, slender, with hair the color of spun gold and eyes the color of a summer sky. She was, in a word, perfect. This had to be the "true love."

She turned and smiled at me, a warm, genuine smile that was completely at odds with the situation.

"You must be Callie," she said, her voice soft and melodious. "I'm Astrid Rivas. It's so nice to finally meet you."

Her friendliness was more disorienting than open hostility would have been. She wasn't jealous? She wasn't angry that her boyfriend was bringing his ex-wife home to be his mistress?

A maid I didn't recognize showed me to my room. My old room. Everything was just as I had left it. My clothes were still in the closet, my perfumes on the vanity. It was a cruel, calculated mockery.

I sank onto the bed, the familiar silk of the duvet cool against my skin. It was all gone, yet here it was. I was home, yet I was a prisoner. But my family was safe. That had to be enough.

Later, a maid gently woke me. "Miss Fry? Mr. Chandler requests your presence for dinner."

I walked into the dining room. Kane was at the head of the table, Astrid at his right hand. They looked like a king and queen. I hesitated, unsure of where I was supposed to sit. The third place setting felt like a branding iron.

I sat down, my hands clasped in my lap. A servant placed a plate in front of me. Out of habit, the habit of a lifetime of being served, I waited. I waited for someone to pour my wine, to offer me bread.

I felt their eyes on me. I looked up and saw Kane's cold, mocking gaze, and Astrid's look of polite confusion. The heat rose in my cheeks. I was no longer the lady of the house. I was the help.

"I'm not very hungry," I mumbled, pushing my chair back. "I think I'll just eat in the kitchen."

"Stay," Kane commanded, his voice sharp.

I froze.

He gestured with his chin towards Astrid's glass. "Astrid would like some water."

My jaw tightened. I stood up, walked to the sideboard, and filled a crystal glass with water, my movements stiff and jerky. I placed it beside her, avoiding her eyes.

"Thank you, Callie," she said softly.

I sat back down, my own plate untouched.

Kane took a bite of his steak, chewed slowly, then looked at Astrid. "Darling, you love shrimp. Callie, peel some for Astrid."

The words hung in the air, thick with malice. He knew I hated peeling shrimp. He knew my fingers were clumsy, that I always made a mess. He used to do it for me, patiently separating the delicate meat from the shell, placing it on my plate with a small, secret smile.

My eyes started to burn. I blinked back the tears, refusing to let him see me cry. I moved my chair beside Astrid's, took the small silver fork, and began the humiliating task. My hands trembled as I worked, the ghost of his past kindness a tormenting echo.

I tried to focus on something else. On a plan. I had to make Astrid like me. If the queen was on my side, maybe the king's reign of terror would be less severe. How long would this last? A month? A year? Surely, at some point, his need for revenge would be sated. Surely, he would get bored of me and let me go.

Kane suddenly threw his napkin on the table. "I've lost my appetite."

He stood up and stalked out of the room without another word.

I looked at Astrid, bewildered. "Did I do something wrong?"

She looked back at me, her perfect face unreadable. A small, enigmatic smile played on her lips. "Don't you know?"

I shook my head. "I've never understood him."

That night, he came to my room.

The door opened without a knock. I was already in bed, pretending to be asleep. I heard him move around the room, the sound of his clothes dropping to the floor.

"You can have the bed," I said, my voice muffled by the pillow. "I'll take the floor."

It was a stupid, reflexive thing to say. For three years, he'd slept on a cot on the floor.

I felt the bed dip beside me. A low, dark chuckle rumbled in his chest. "I think you're confusing our old arrangement with our new one, Callie."

He rolled me onto my back, his body caging mine. The weight of him was overwhelming.

"Kane, don't," I pleaded, my voice thin. "Please."

"You don't get to say no," he growled, his lips brushing against my ear. "This is what you signed up for."

"Go to Astrid," I whispered, turning my face away. "She's your girlfriend. This is wrong."

His grip on my wrists tightened, his eyes turning hard and cold. He leaned down, his voice a harsh whisper. "Do you want me to go to her? Is that what you want, Callie? For me to be with her?"

"Yes," I sobbed, the lie tearing at my throat. Anything to make this stop. Anything to get him away from me.

His response was a brutal kiss that tasted of anger and possession. He was punishing me, and I didn't understand why. He was a master of passive aggression, a man who had honed his resentment into a razor-sharp edge over three long years. The gentle, awkward scholar was a lie, a carefully crafted fiction. This, I realized with a sickening lurch, was the real Kane Chandler.

He moved against me, his actions rough and devoid of any tenderness. It was a violation, a claiming. I closed my eyes and endured it.

Much later, as I drifted in the exhausted space between sleep and waking, I heard him whisper. It was a low, pained sound, like a man talking in a fever dream.

"Why, Callie? Why did it have to be him?"