e contracts bind

way the moment we en

ce. Sharp heels. Cold eyes. No tolerance for weakness. She wore power like p

dared

. Not because it was Lily-though I loathed her

t give me reason. But I knew my mother, she did not just say anything without a real reason. When I pres

protect me. And I would

e hated my father. He had humiliated her-publicly, privately, with a woman who was nothing. I'd wat

d she still did. Sometimes I caught her looking at him like she still m

and we stepped into

they called it. As if this w

eside him, flipping through documents with the i

he wal

en crying last night. Like she'd stared herself down i

outh dry. The white shirt and corset cinched her waist and lifted her breasts jus

ke sin. Her hair was tied back tigh

d in my chest. A

ated he

n my seat,

oice snappe

d his hand outstretched, wai

mother asked, eyes narr

iding Lily's gaze like it could betray

orture me. Her scent reached me-faint but distinct and I sudden

to see

ther said, grinning like the devil

t. Her lips parted. Her brow furrowed

e and bite it myself. J

for me, one for her. The terms of surrend

mouth. Her body. The way she looked when she walked in, and

pposed to happ

lf more for how

ly's

e anxiety in my chest

ooked at me like he wanted to destroy me, then kiss

the business. It meant protecting my father's

t losing myself

Chase gripped my wrist the night before-tight, angry, like he was owed something. I sta

ssed

set cinched tight around my ribs like a second spine. I didn't usually dress this way, but

immed. Guilt, maybe. Chase froze when he saw me-mask

e'd crushed

t

e sharp. I didn't wait fo

e in s

ld glass and steel slicing into the sky. It shimmered in t

he people moved like machines-precise, sharp, focused

ed me of

gh long, echoing corridors. My heels tapped a rhythm I didn't feel. Eve

utside the co

ide," she said with

rse th

oor for a moment, one han

ent I stepped into a cage mad

in a

ened t