Elease reached up and grabbed the massive check. Her hands didn't shake anymore.

She tore the thick paper down the middle. Then she tore it again, and again, until the check was nothing but confetti. She let the pieces fall, watching them scatter like snow over the expensive Persian rug.

The smart lock on the front door beeped.

Nolan, Brogan's personal assistant, walked in right on time, carrying a sleek leather briefcase.

Nolan stepped into the foyer and his eyes instantly locked onto the shredded paper on the floor. A flash of genuine shock broke through his usually rigid, professional expression.

Elease ignored him. She dragged a battered, black suitcase out of the master bedroom. The plastic wheels ground against the hardwood floor, making a harsh, scraping sound.

Nolan quickly recovered his composure. He opened his briefcase and pulled out a trust fund transfer agreement, stepping into the hallway to block her path.

"Mr. Walton instructed me to ensure this is finalized. This trust is enough to buy a beachfront villa in California," Nolan stated, his tone strictly business.

Elease stopped walking. She stared at the document in his hand. The sudden spike in her adrenaline made her chest tighten uncomfortably.

She took a deep breath, forcing the physical discomfort down.

She reached out and shoved the document away. The sharp edge of the paper sliced across the back of Nolan's knuckles.

Nolan frowned, his jaw tightening.

"Don't let your emotions ruin your future, Elease. Without Mr. Walton's protection, you won't survive in New York," he warned her.

Elease reached into her coat pocket. She pulled out a heavy ring of keys and the titanium Centurion Black Card.

She slammed them down onto the marble console table in the entryway.

The sharp, metallic clatter echoed off the high ceilings. That sound physically severed the last tie she had to this place.

Nolan stared at the black card. The shock in his eyes was real this time. In all his years working for Brogan, he had never seen anyone walk away from that kind of unlimited power.

Elease gripped the handle of her cheap suitcase.

"Tell Brogan I don't want anything to do with the Walton family ever again," she said, her voice completely hollow.

Nolan reached out, trying to grab her arm to stop her from making what he thought was a massive mistake.

Elease flinched, her body jerking sideways to avoid his touch. Her movements were stiff and defensive.

She bypassed him entirely and walked straight to the private elevator. With every step she took, her lungs felt heavier, as if they were filling with wet sand.

The elevator doors slid open. Elease stepped inside, turned around, and looked at Nolan, who was still standing frozen by the console table.

She pressed the close button.

The metal doors slid shut, cutting off Nolan's face.

The moment she was alone, Elease's knees buckled. She slumped against the cold metal wall of the elevator car.

The high-speed descent created a sudden drop in gravity. The sensation made her panic-induced cardiac symptoms flare up violently. She squeezed her eyes shut, panting heavily, fighting the urge to vomit.

The elevator chimed at the ground floor lobby.

The security guard looked up. He saw her dragging the old suitcase. A flicker of surprise crossed his face, but he didn't step forward to help her.

Elease pushed through the revolving glass doors.

The late autumn wind of New York, mixed with a freezing drizzle, slammed into her. The cold air rushed down her collar, making her whole body violently shiver.

She didn't open her phone to call an Uber. Every single ride-sharing app on her phone was tied to the black card she had just left on the marble table.

Elease dragged her suitcase toward the nearest subway station. Her high heels splashed into the muddy puddles on the uneven pavement.

A black Maybach sped past her on the street. The tires hit a pothole, splashing dirty, freezing water all over the hem of her wool coat.

Elease looked down at the dark stains. She didn't feel angry. She only felt a numb, exhausting sense of relief.

She reached the steep concrete stairs of the subway entrance. Lifting the suitcase drained the last bit of strength from her arms. She had to stop halfway down, leaning against the filthy tiled wall.

The deafening roar of an arriving train masked the sound of her violent coughing fit.

She pressed a white handkerchief to her mouth. When she pulled it away, there was a faint, unmistakable streak of red blood on the fabric.

Elease crumpled the handkerchief in her fist, hiding it. She swiped a standard yellow MetroCard at the turnstile and squeezed into the packed subway car.

The smell of damp clothes, sweat, and stale air hit her face. Her stomach churned. She wrapped her arms tightly around the handle of her suitcase, using it as a crutch to keep herself upright.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

The screen lit up with the name 'Brianna'. It looked like a tiny beacon of light in a pitch-black room.

Elease answered the call. She forced her vocal cords to project a bright, cheerful tone.

"Hey, Bri. I need to crash on your couch tonight," Elease said, smiling through the physical agony tearing her chest apart.

Nolan stood in the center of the massive, sunlit CEO office at Walton Group. He carefully placed the ring of keys and the titanium black card onto Brogan's wide mahogany desk.

Brogan was looking down, signing a stack of acquisition papers. The moment he saw the black card in his peripheral vision, his hand stopped.

The nib of his pen bled a dark ink stain into the paper.

"She tore up the check and refused the trust fund," Nolan reported. He tried to keep his voice neutral, but the disbelief bled through.

Brogan's head snapped up. His eyes were dark and dangerous.

"It's a cheap trick. She thinks playing hard to get will make me increase the payout," Brogan sneered.

He reached out and slammed his hand down on the intercom button.

"Finance. Cancel all authorizations attached to my secondary Centurion card. Immediately," Brogan ordered.

He released the button, the loud click echoing in the silent office. Brogan aggressively loosened his silk tie, his jaw clenching.

"Don't waste any more time on that greedy woman," Brogan snapped at Nolan.

Nolan opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it. He nodded and backed out of the office, leaving Brogan alone to stare at the rejected black card on his desk.

Across the city, outside a crumbling apartment building in Brooklyn, Elease was dragging her suitcase up three flights of narrow, unlit stairs.

She knocked on the peeling wooden door.

It swung open almost instantly. Brianna, wearing an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants, pulled Elease into a bone-crushing hug.

Brianna pulled back and took one look at Elease's pale face and the soaked hem of her coat. She immediately grabbed Elease's wrist and yanked her into the warm, cramped apartment.

Elease forced a wide, careless smile onto her face.

"I got sick of being a kept woman. I dumped that Wall Street bastard," Elease lied smoothly.

Brianna cursed Brogan out, using every foul word in her vocabulary. She turned around and marched into the tiny kitchen to heat up some milk.

Because Brianna's back was turned, she didn't see Elease's face contort in agony as she pressed her hand hard against her chest.

Elease quickly unzipped her handbag, shoved the plastic pill bottle deep into the bottom compartment, and zipped it shut. She locked her lethal secret away.

Brianna walked back into the living room holding a steaming mug. She pointed at the lumpy, faded fabric sofa against the wall.

"It's all yours, babe," Brianna announced generously.

Elease took the mug. The heat from the ceramic seeped into her freezing palms. Her eyes burned, and the edges of her vision blurred with unshed tears.

To change the subject, Brianna sat cross-legged on the floor and excitedly started talking about work.

"Walton Group is going crazy tomorrow. We're getting a new CEO dropped in from the board. Supposedly, she's got massive backing," Brianna gossiped.

Elease didn't care about corporate politics. All she cared about was going into the office tomorrow, handing in her resignation, and using her accumulated Paid Time Off (PTO) to fund her last few months on earth.

Hours later, the apartment was pitch black. Brianna was snoring softly in the bedroom.

Elease lay curled in a tight fetal position on the narrow sofa. The wail of police sirens echoed down the Brooklyn streets outside.

Cold air leaked through the cracks in the cheap window frame. The chill triggered another bout of irregular heartbeats.

A dull, grinding pain started in her chest and radiated down her left arm.

She didn't dare turn on the lamp to find her pills. She couldn't risk waking Brianna up.

Elease grabbed the decorative throw pillow and bit down hard into the fabric, muffling her own agonizing gasps as the pain tore through her body.

Through the haze of torture, Brogan's cold, disgusted eyes flashed in her mind. The injustice and the heartbreak acted like acid, burning through her nervous system.

She survived the night.

When the sun came up, Elease dragged her exhausted, trembling body into the cramped bathroom. She gripped the edges of the sink and stared at the mirror.

Her face looked like a corpse. Her skin was gray, her eyes sunken.

She turned on the faucet and splashed freezing water onto her face, slapping her cheeks hard to force the blood to circulate.

Elease unzipped her makeup bag. She squeezed out a massive amount of thick concealer and liquid foundation. She layered it on, blending it aggressively until the sickly pallor was completely erased.

She uncapped her brightest, most aggressive red lipstick and painted her lips. She looked like a soldier putting on war paint.

She changed into a sharp, tailored pencil skirt and silk blouse. She carefully folded her resignation letter and slid it into her leather tote bag.

Brianna walked out of the bedroom, yawning. She took one look at Elease and let out a loud, appreciative whistle.

"Look at you! Ready to kill," Brianna cheered.

Elease smiled back. She linked her arm through Brianna's, and the two of them walked out of the apartment, heading toward the subway.

The morning rush hour train was a nightmare.

Elease was shoved against the sliding doors by the crush of bodies. The physical pressure against her chest made it incredibly difficult to breathe. Sweat beaded on her forehead.

The train finally screeched to a halt in the Financial District.

Elease stepped off the platform. She walked up to the street level and tilted her head back, looking up at the towering glass facade of the Walton Group building.

It was time to say goodbye.

Elease pushed through the revolving glass doors of Walton Group.

The massive lobby was chaotic. The noise level was deafening, and there were twice as many security guards patrolling the marble floors as usual.

She started walking toward the elevator banks when her coworker, Penny, grabbed her arm.

Penny leaned in, her eyes wide with excitement, and lowered her voice. "Did you hear? The major shareholder's daughter is taking over as CEO today."

Penny pointed toward the massive floral arrangements being set up in the center of the lobby.

Veronica, another coworker known for her snobbery, slid over to them. She crossed her arms and smirked.

"She's not just an Ivy League socialite," Veronica said, her tone dripping with envy. "She's Brogan's first love."

The words 'Brogan's first love' hit Elease like a physical blow to the stomach.

An invisible hand clamped down on her heart. Her lungs stopped working for a full second.

Elease forced her facial muscles to stay relaxed. She stretched her lips into a casual smile.

"Really? What's her name?" Elease asked, though her voice trembled slightly at the edges.

Veronica rolled her eyes dramatically. "Kori Barnett."

The name reeked of old money and generational wealth.

A wave of severe dizziness washed over Elease. The lobby spun. She needed to get out of there immediately.

But the elevator chimed, and the doors slid open. The crowd of employees surged forward, physically pushing Elease into the metal box.

Inside the packed elevator, the gossip continued. Penny and Veronica loudly discussed Kori's flawless resume and her time in Europe. Every single word was a needle piercing Elease's eardrums.

Elease stared blankly at the digital floor numbers ticking upward. She pressed her hand against her chest, fighting the suffocating tightness, repeating a mantra in her head: Just hand in the resignation letter. Just leave.

The elevator reached the administrative floor.

Elease practically ran to her cubicle. She just needed to grab her personal mug and head straight to Julian's office.

She had barely pulled her drawer open when Julian Proctor, her direct supervisor, marched out of his glass office clapping his hands loudly.

"Everyone downstairs! Now! We are lining up in the lobby to welcome the new CEO," Julian barked.

Elease walked up to him. "Julian, I'm not feeling well. I need to take a sick-"

"Absolutely not," Julian cut her off harshly. "New leadership means perfect attendance. Get downstairs, Elease."

Left with no choice, Elease was herded back into the elevator with the rest of the department.

Down in the lobby, she was shoved into the second row of the massive welcoming committee. Her heart hammered against her ribs, the psychosomatic pain radiating down her arm as the trauma of her fabricated genetic illness flared under the extreme stress.

Suddenly, a commotion erupted on the street outside the glass walls. Three black Range Rovers pulled up, flanking a massive, extended Rolls-Royce.

Elease stood in the crowd. The lack of oxygen from her failing heart was making her vision go dark at the edges. She leaned her shoulder against a cold Roman pillar to keep from collapsing.

The door of the Rolls-Royce was pulled open by a bodyguard.

A pair of legs wearing limited-edition Christian Louboutin red-bottom heels stepped out onto the pavement.

Then, Kori Barnett emerged. She was wearing a custom white trench coat, looking effortlessly elegant as camera flashes erupted around her.

Elease peered through the gap between her coworkers' shoulders.

In the next second, a physical shockwave ripped through Elease's nervous system. Her entire body froze solid.

Stepping out of the car right behind Kori, wearing a bespoke suit and a gentle, protective expression, was Brogan Walton.

Brogan naturally placed his hand on the small of Kori's back, shielding her from the aggressive paparazzi. It was a tender, fiercely protective gesture Elease had never, ever received from him.

The employees around Elease gasped in awe, whispering about how perfect the golden couple looked together.

Elease's eyes were locked onto Kori's face. As the couple walked closer, the horrifying truth poured over Elease like a bucket of ice water.

Kori's eyes, the slope of her nose, even the exact curve of her smile-they were a terrifying, identical match to Elease's own face.

Five years of bizarre, controlling rules suddenly clicked into place in Elease's brain. Brogan forcing her to dye her hair that specific shade of chestnut. Brogan forbidding her from wearing heavy makeup.

A violent, tearing agony exploded in Elease's chest. She bit down on her lip so hard that the metallic taste of fresh blood flooded her mouth.

She wasn't a Cinderella. She was never loved. She was just a cheap, easily replaceable stand-in for the woman he actually wanted.

Brogan and Kori walked through the lobby doors, surrounded by executives.

Brogan's sharp gaze swept over the crowd. For a fraction of a second, his eyes seemed to pause near Elease's section.

A split second before their eyes met, Elease ducked her head down, completely hiding herself behind the broad back of a male coworker.

The sharp clicking of Kori's red bottoms faded as they walked toward the VIP elevators.

The moment the private elevator chimed, Elease's legs gave out. She turned and sprinted toward the ground floor restrooms, desperate to escape the nightmare.