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.

Elease slammed into the heavy wooden door of the ground-floor executive restroom.

She rushed into the furthest stall, dropped to her knees, and gripped the edges of the porcelain toilet bowl. Her stomach violently convulsed, but there was nothing to throw up. She dry-heaved, her throat burning with stomach acid.

Her hand shook uncontrollably as she reached up and slammed the flush button. The loud rush of water barely masked the desperate, broken sob tearing out of her throat.

The pain in her heart was catastrophic. It felt like a serrated knife twisting between her ribs. She pressed her forehead against the cold metal partition, cold sweat soaking through the back of her silk blouse.

Suddenly, the main door to the restroom swung open.

The sharp, rhythmic clicking of stilettos echoed against the tiles, accompanied by the overwhelming scent of Chanel No. 5.

Elease instantly stopped breathing. Pure panic and the last shreds of her dignity made her reach up and slide the deadbolt on the stall door locked. She didn't make a single sound.

Outside, Kori was complaining loudly into her phone.

"Brogan was being entirely too rigid with the press just now. He needs to relax," Kori whined, her tone dripping with the spoiled entitlement of someone who knew she was adored.

Elease sat on the floor, her back pressed hard against the door. Listening to that voice-a voice so similar to her own, yet so full of confidence-made Elease dig her fingernails directly into her own palms.

Kori hung up the phone. She walked over to the marble vanity. The faucet turned on, water splashing loudly.

Elease looked down at her watch. Her heart was beating in a terrifying, erratic rhythm. If she didn't get out of this stall and take her medication right now, she was going to go into cardiac arrest on the bathroom floor.

She took a slow, agonizing breath, forcing the emotional breakdown into a tight box in her mind.

Elease reached up, unlocked the door, and pushed it open. She walked over to the sink on the far side of the vanity.

Kori was leaning toward the mirror, applying lipstick. She caught Elease's movement in the reflection and paused.

Kori turned her head. She openly looked Elease up and down, her eyes filled with a condescending, aristocratic judgment.

Elease forced herself to meet that gaze. She kept her face completely blank and professional. She turned on the water and began washing her hands.

Kori let out a soft, mocking laugh.

"Your makeup is far too heavy for a corporate environment. It looks cheap," Kori critiqued, her voice laced with poison.

Elease turned off the faucet. She pulled a paper towel from the dispenser and dried her hands.

"This is my personal style. You don't need to worry about it," Elease replied coldly.

Kori's face darkened. Having her authority challenged on her first day was unacceptable. She narrowed her eyes, glaring at Elease.

Kori's eyes dropped to the Walton Group employee badge clipped to Elease's skirt. A malicious smile curled her lips. She slipped right into her role as the supreme boss.

"Go to the independent cafe on the corner of 5th. Get me a hand-crafted double espresso. Bring it up to the CEO suite immediately," Kori ordered.

Elease wanted to tell her to go to hell. But a sharp spasm in her chest warned her that her heart couldn't handle a screaming match right now. She needed to get outside to take her pills.

Elease kept her face expressionless. She gave a stiff nod, threw the crumpled paper towel into the trash, and walked out of the restroom with long, fast strides.

The moment she pushed through the lobby doors and hit the cold street, Elease ducked into a blind alleyway out of sight of the security cameras.

Her hands were shaking so violently she dropped the pill bottle twice before getting three pills into her mouth. She swallowed them dry.

She leaned against the rough brick wall, staring at the cafe down the street. The humiliation was a physical weight crushing her throat.

But Julian had her PTO approval. She needed that money. She had to swallow her pride for one more hour.

Elease walked into the cafe and bought the espresso.

Holding the scalding paper cup, Elease stepped into the executive elevator. As the car shot up to the top floor, the deadness inside her solidified into ice.

The elevator doors opened to the CEO suite. The thick, plush carpet absorbed the sound of her heels entirely. The hallway was dead silent.

Elease walked up to the heavy mahogany double doors. They were cracked open just an inch.

She raised her hand to knock, but her eyes caught the movement inside.

Kori was sitting sideways on Brogan's lap. Her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck. Brogan had his head buried in the crook of Kori's neck, kissing her skin deeply.

Elease's hand jerked.

Scalding hot espresso sloshed out of the lid, splashing directly onto the back of her hand. The skin instantly turned angry red, but Elease didn't feel the burn. Her nerve endings were completely numb.

Brogan sensed something. His head snapped up, and his predatory gaze shot straight through the crack in the door, locking onto Elease.

Elease didn't flinch. She didn't look away.

She stared back at Brogan with the dead, freezing eyes of a stranger for one full second.

Then, she turned her hand over and dropped the full cup of coffee straight into the hallway trash can.