le fortress of old money and even older secrets. Eleanor Bradford was waiting for me in the formal draw

en glass. "Your primary responsibility was to secure Liam

various scandals, smoothing over his indiscretions, always protecting the precio

mirking Sophia, who looked entirely too

t across the polished mahoga

id, her eyes cold. "To prevent any... unseemly s

aternal claims. I was to agree, legally and bindingly, never to have children with Liam. Sophia' s twins, she explained, ne

descending. "Think of it this way, you' ll be spared the rigors o

giggled

ising a child. My child. Our child. The

isposable asset, pressed down on me. They weren't just asking me to step aside for Sophia; they

I would absorb the fallout – it all coalesced into this single, dehumanizing demand. Eleanor ha

Sophia. Their faces were masks

irm. I pushed the document back ac

e dramatic, Ava. It's

" I said. "And i

alternative. You will leave. With nothing. No suppo

ttling over me. The fear was gone, replaced by a c

of something – annoyance? disbelief? – in his eyes. "S

d of Ava Bradford, the compliant fixtu