The massive oak doors of the Ashbourne estate swung open.

Conversations died instantly. The string quartet playing in the corner seemed to miss a note. Hundreds of eyes locked onto me.

I smoothed the silk of my emerald gown and walked straight into the ballroom.

"Is that Aurora?" a woman whispered to my left, her champagne flute pausing halfway to her mouth.

"She looks entirely different," a man muttered back, staring openly. "I thought she was exiled."

I ignored them, keeping my chin high. I scanned the crowded room for Grandpa Arthur, hoping to pay my respects and leave.

Instead, a figure in a fragile white dress stepped directly into my path.

Ivy.

"Sister," she whispered, her voice trembling violently.

Before I could even blink, thick tears spilled down her cheeks, ruining her perfect makeup. She shrank back, wrapping her arms around herself as if my mere presence terrified her.

Right on cue, my personal fan club of critics surrounded her.

"Are you proud of yourself, Rory?" Adrian barked, shoving his way past a passing waiter to stand in front of Ivy. "You haven't been here five minutes and you're already making her cry."

"I didn't say a single word to her, Adrian," I pointed out, my voice deadly calm.

Ryan shook his head, looking at me with pure disappointment. "Just stop causing trouble, Rory. You've been gone for three years. Don't ruin your grandfather's night with your bitterness."

Ethan stepped up next to Ivy, placing a highly visible, protective hand on her waist.

"Apologize to her. Right now," Ethan demanded.

I stared at the three men guarding a girl who was actively faking a breakdown.

"Apologize for what, Ethan?" I asked, freezing the air between us. "For breathing the same air as her? For wearing a nicer dress?"

Ivy sobbed louder, burying her face against Ethan's tailored suit. "I just missed you, Rory. I wanted to welcome you home. I planned this whole party hoping you would come."

"Save the performance," I told her, crossing my arms. "The press photographers are over by the buffet. You're wasting your tears on an empty corner."

Adrian's face turned completely red. He took a threatening step toward me.

"How dare you speak to her like that?" my brother yelled. "After everything she's done to keep this family together! She cried for weeks when you left!"

"She tore this family apart," I corrected him, refusing to back up. "And you were all too stupid to see it."

A collective gasp rippled through the nearby guests. People were openly staring now, waiting for the explosion.

Ethan glared at me, his jaw tight. "You used to have a heart, Aurora. Now you're just cruel."

"I used to be a doormat," I replied, meeting his gaze without flinching. "I used to beg for your approval. Now, I just don't care about your opinions."

Ryan stepped forward, holding his hands up like a referee. "You can't just walk back in here and act like you own the place. You owe everyone an explanation for what you did."

"I owe you absolutely nothing, Ryan," I said. "You made your choice three years ago. Live with it."

A waiter in a crisp black vest paused beside our tense circle. He held a silver tray with a single crystal glass.

"Red wine, miss?" he asked, extending the tray directly toward me.

My throat felt incredibly dry from the long flight and the shouting. I picked up the glass by the stem.

"Thank you," I said.

The waiter turned swiftly and vanished into the crowd.

"We aren't done talking," Ethan demanded, releasing Ivy to point a finger at my chest. "You are going to fix this."

I took a small sip of the wine. It tasted bitter, metallic.

I lowered the glass, frowning at the dark liquid.

A sudden wave of intense heat rushed up my neck.

"Are you even listening to me?" Ethan snapped.

The chandelier lights blurred into blinding streaks of yellow. The classical music warped into a low, buzzing static in my ears.

My fingers went entirely numb.

The heavy crystal glass slipped from my grip.

It shattered sharply against the marble floor. Dark red liquid splashed upward, completely soaking the front of Ivy's pristine white dress.

Ivy screamed, jumping back as the red stains spread like blood across the fabric.

"Rory!" Adrian yelled, grabbing my shoulder and shoving me backward.

I stumbled, my knees buckling. The room spun in violent, nauseating circles.

"I'm so sorry!" Ivy cried out, frantically wiping at the ruined dress. "It's okay, Adrian! Don't hurt her! I don't blame her. She's just angry with me. It was an accident."

"That wasn't an accident," Ethan snarled, glaring at me with pure disgust. "She threw it right at you."

"I didn't," I mumbled, trying to steady myself against a tall cocktail table. My tongue felt thick and useless.

"We all saw you drop it on purpose!" Ryan shouted, drawing even more attention from the horrified partygoers.

Camera flashes began to go off in the distance. The press had finally noticed the commotion.

"The wine," I forced the words out, pressing a trembling hand to my forehead. "Someone put something in it. I feel dizzy."

Adrian scoffed loudly, his voice dripping with contempt. "Are you actually trying to play the victim right now? After you just assaulted your sister in front of hundreds of people?"

"I'm telling the truth," I insisted, my vision narrowing to a dark tunnel.

"You wouldn't know the truth if it slapped you in the face," Ethan said, pulling out a handkerchief to hand to Ivy. "You're a liar, Aurora. You always have been."

Ivy leaned heavily against Ethan, crying softly into his shoulder. "Please, don't yell at her anymore. I'll just go upstairs and change. It's fine."

"It's not fine," Adrian snapped, waving a hand at a passing guard. "Security needs to escort her out. She's clearly unstable and dangerous."

I tried to stand up straight, to defend myself, but my legs flatly refused to hold my weight.

The floor tilted sharply beneath my feet.

Someone had drugged me. Right in the middle of the ballroom.

And not a single person in my family was going to help me. They were just going to watch me fall.

My vision went completely black.

I braced for the hard impact of the marble floor, but it never came.

A pair of strong, unfamiliar arms caught me firmly around the waist, pulling me flush against a solid chest.

"I've got you, Mrs. Draven," a deep, dangerous voice murmured directly into my ear.

"Get her out of sight. Put her in the east wing guest room before she ruins the whole night."

Richard's voice echoed through the fog in my brain.

I blinked against the spinning ceiling of a dimly lit bedroom. The drug still pulsed through my veins, turning my limbs to lead.

The door clicked shut. Then, the lock turned with a sharp, final snap.

"You always have to make a scene, don't you?"

Ethan stood at the foot of the bed, loosening his silk tie.

"Get out," I slurred, fighting to sit up. My elbows gave way, dropping me back against the mattress.

"Stop fighting, Aurora." He walked around the edge of the mattress, stopping right beside me. "I talked to your father. We can fix this."

"There is nothing to fix."

"Yes, there is." He leaned over, trapping me between his arms. "Drop this fake European fantasy. Come back to the city. Move back into our apartment."

I let out a dry, rasping laugh. "You're delusional."

"I'm offering you a way back in," he snapped, his fingers digging into my shoulders. "All you have to do is go downstairs and apologize to Ivy."

"For something she did to herself?"

"For tearing our family apart!" Ethan shouted, his face inches from mine. "Tell the press you were jealous. Take the blame. Then, we can finally get married."

"I would rather swallow glass."

His jaw tightened, a muscle jumping beneath his skin. "You're just being stubborn. You still love me. You always have."

"I despise you."

"Liar."

"You stood by while she ruined my life," I reminded him, my voice gaining a fraction of strength. "You chose her."

"I chose peace!" he shot back. "And now I'm choosing you. Why do you have to make everything so difficult?"

"Because I don't belong to you anymore."

"You will always belong to me."

He crushed his mouth against mine.

Panic spiked through my chest. I shoved my hands against his chest, but the drug stripped away my strength.

"Stop!" I wrenched my face to the side.

"You belong to me, Rory," he growled, grabbing my chin to force my head back. "You just need to remember how good we were."

His weight pinned me down. I kicked out, my heel striking his shin.

He cursed, his grip turning brutal. "Stop fighting me!"

Wood splintered with a deafening crack.

The heavy oak door flew off its hinges, slamming against the far wall.

Ethan froze, his head snapping toward the noise.

A towering figure stood in the doorway, radiating absolute violence.

Lucien.

Before Ethan could even stand, Lucien crossed the room in two massive strides. He grabbed Ethan by the collar of his suit jacket and hurled him backward.

Ethan crashed into a glass coffee table. Shards rained down onto the carpet.

"What the hell is your problem?" Ethan shouted, scrambling away from the shattered glass.

Lucien ignored him. He knelt beside the bed, his silver eyes scanning my face. "Did he hurt you?"

"Just dizzy," I whispered, wrapping my trembling fingers in his lapel. "Get me out of here."

"I'll do more than that." Lucien scooped me into his arms, lifting me effortlessly against his chest.

He turned his lethal gaze back to Ethan, who was now clutching a bleeding wrist.

"Who do you think you are?" Ethan demanded, his voice shaking. "Put her down! She's my fiancée!"

"Touch her again," Lucien said, his tone dropping to a deadly, icy register, "and I will sever both of your hands."

Ethan scrambled backward, his face draining of color. "Security! I'm calling security!"

"Call them," Lucien challenged. "Tell them exactly what you were trying to do to an incapacitated woman."

Ethan's mouth snapped shut.

Lucien didn't wait for another word. He carried me out into the hallway.

The music in the grand ballroom swelled, hiding the chaos upstairs.

Lucien kicked the double doors open.

The heavy thud silenced the string quartet instantly.

Hundreds of guests turned their heads. The clinking of glasses stopped.

I rested my head against Lucien's shoulder, watching my family's faces cycle through confusion, outrage, and finally, panic.

"What is the meaning of this?" Richard marched forward, his face purple with rage. "Who let you in here? Put my daughter down instantly!"

"Your daughter?" Lucien mocked, stepping further into the light of the chandelier. "You lost the right to call her that three years ago."

Adrian stepped up beside Richard, cracking his knuckles. "Put her down, man. You're trespassing on Ashbourne property."

Ivy peeked out from behind Adrian, her new pink dress swishing around her ankles. "Rory, who is this man? Are you paying him to ruin the party?"

"She doesn't pay me," Lucien answered, his voice echoing across the silent room. "I pay for everything she desires."

Victoria stepped forward, clutching her pearl necklace. "Aurora, tell this man to put you down. You are making a spectacle of yourself!"

"You made a spectacle of me when you let them drug my wine," I shot back, my voice carrying over the silent room.

Victoria paled. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"We will be running a toxicology report," Lucien informed her, his stare pinning my mother in place. "And when I find out who slipped the sedative into her glass, I will ruin them."

Ryan pushed his way to the front of the crowd, pointing a finger at Lucien. "Who are you?"

Lucien adjusted his grip on my waist, keeping me perfectly secure against him.

"I am Lucien Draven."

A collective gasp ripped through the ballroom. The whispers started immediately, buzzing like a hornet's nest.

"Draven?"

"The European conglomerate?"

"He owns half the banks in this city!"

Richard's arrogant posture crumbled. He took a hesitant step back. "Mr. Draven? I... we didn't expect you tonight. But why are you holding Aurora?"

"Because she is my wife," Lucien declared.

Dead silence fell over the room once more.

Ivy's mouth fell open, her eyes darting frantically between me and Lucien. "Wife? No. That's impossible. She was engaged to Ethan!"

"Ethan is a memory she erased three years ago," Lucien stated coldly. "Meet Aurora Draven. The matriarch of the Draven Group."

The press photographers broke the quiet, their cameras flashing violently, capturing every second of my family's humiliation.

Richard opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"If any of you disrespect my wife again," Lucien warned, addressing the entire room, "I will dismantle this family piece by piece. Starting with your bank accounts."

I looked down at them all from the safety of Lucien's arms. The tables hadn't just turned. They were completely broken.

Then, a slow clapping echoed from the top of the grand staircase.

An old, frail man leaned heavily on a wooden cane, staring down at all of us with a sharp, knowing smile.

"Well," Grandpa Arthur rasped, his eyes locking onto mine. "It's about time you brought the husband home, Aurora."

I stiffened. Grandpa Arthur wasn't supposed to know about Lucien yet.

And judging by the dark look suddenly crossing Lucien's face, neither of them were strangers.