The morning sun cut pale stripes across the dining room floor.

Elissa sat at the table, her eyes dry but rimmed with faint shadows. She hadn't slept. After Alexander had slammed the guest room door the night before, she had lain awake for hours, one hand resting on her stomach, staring at the ceiling. Somewhere around dawn, she had given up on rest entirely and come downstairs.

The breakfast she had laid out on the table had gone cold. She hadn't touched it herself—the faint nausea curling in her stomach made the thought of food impossible—but she had set the table anyway. Habit. A small, stubborn ritual of normalcy in a house that had never been a home.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Steady. Measured. Familiar.

Alexander appeared in the doorway, already dressed in a charcoal suit, immaculate as always. His gaze swept the room, landing briefly on the plates of food, then on her.

"Mrs. Adler," he called, his voice flat.

The housekeeper appeared almost instantly, wiping her hands on her apron. "Yes, Mr. Harvey?"

"Redo the breakfast."

Mrs. Adler's face flickered with something—surprise, or perhaps pity—as her eyes darted toward Elissa.

The breakfast on the table had clearly been prepared with care. Fresh fruit, arranged neatly. Toast, perfectly golden. Eggs, cooked just the way Alexander preferred them. She had been about to compliment Mrs. Harvey on her thoughtful preparation, but now the words died on her lips.

"Yes, sir," she said quietly, and retreated toward the kitchen.

Elissa said nothing. Her hands were folded in her lap, her knuckles white. She had told herself she wouldn't react.

But still. Her heart clenched, just for a moment. A small, sharp pain she couldn't quite suppress.

"The production, Heaven and Hell," she said, her voice quiet but steady. "The lead female role. Do you know anything about it?"

Alexander took a seat at the head of the table, unfolding a napkin with precise, deliberate movements. He didn't look at her.

"The director insisted on giving it to me," he said.

It wasn't even a denial. He was admitting it outright.

Just minutes ago, she recived a call. The screen lit up with a picture of her agent, Kate.

She took a deep breath and swiped to answer.

"They dropped you." Kate's voice was a furious, frantic buzz in her ear. "The producers just called. You're out. Five minutes ago, they replaced you."

The air left Elissa's lungs. "What? Why? Kate, that role... that was my comeback." It was her one chance to claw her way back into the industry's view after three years of playing the part of a reclusive socialite wife. A chance she'd been fighting for since her days with nothing but a cheap apartment and the memory of a drafty dormitory at St. Jude's.

Kate sighed, a sound heavy with frustration. "It came from the top. A directive straight from Harvey Media's executive board."

Harvey Media.

A bucket of ice water dumped over her head.

It was him. It was Alexander.

Elissa's fingers tightened around the napkin in her lap. "And why would a director hand a lead role to you?"

His lips curved into a cold, humorless smile. "It's your first day in the entertainment industry? You don't know how they love to cozy up to investors with deep pockets?"

The meaning was unmistakable. He had invested in the project not to help her career, but to destroy it. And the role he had taken from her, he had handed to Jenna Stone. Harvey Media's reigning queen. The company's most bankable star, the pampered heiress of the Stone family empire.

"Is this because you married me?" she asked, her voice measured. She was proud of how calm she sounded. "You hate me that much, so you gave the role to Jenna Stone?"

Alexander finally looked at her. His gray eyes were empty, devoid of warmth.

"Finally," he said. "Some self-awareness."

Elissa held his gaze for a long moment. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to demand how he could be so cruel, how he could use his power to systematically dismantle everything she had worked for.

She had fought for that role. She had auditioned, prepared, sacrificed. It was supposed to be her comeback. Her chance to prove she was more than just a name attached to the Harvey family.

And he had taken it from her. Not because he needed to. Not because it served any purpose. But simply because he could. Because hurting her was the only thing that seemed to give him any satisfaction.

She pushed back her chair and stood.

"I know you hate me," she said, her voice quiet. "But blacklisting an actor—it's a career death sentence."

She didn't wait for his response. She turned and walked out of the dining room, her heels clicking against the marble floor. She grabbed her bag and keys from the hook by the door and stepped out into the cold morning air.

Elissa drove away from her old apartment building, the role—Heaven and Hell—that role was hers. She had fought for it. She had bled for it. She had stayed up countless nights memorizing every line, perfecting every expression, imagining the moment she would finally step back into the spotlight and prove that she was more than just a name attached to the Harvey family.

She couldn't let it go. Not without trying.

The morning sun was climbing higher now, casting long shadows across the city streets. Elissa made a decision. She turned the wheel and headed toward Brooklyn, where the production was filming.

She didn't have a plan, not really. She just knew she had to try. She had to look the director in the eye and ask him why. She had to see for herself if there was any chance—any sliver of hope—that this decision could be undone.

Thirty minutes later, she pulled up outside the studio. It was a sprawling, industrial building, the kind of place that looked unremarkable from the outside but held entire worlds within its walls. Crew members hurried past, carrying equipment and clipboards, their faces set with the focused urgency of a production in full swing.

The studio was chaos. Lights were being rigged. Sets were being assembled. Someone was shouting about a missing prop. The air smelled of coffee and sawdust and the electric hum of a thousand things happening at once.

And then she saw her.

Jenna Stone.

She was sitting in what should have been Elissa's makeup chair, a silk robe draped over her shoulders, a team of stylists fussing around her. Her hair was being curled into perfect waves. Her nails were being buffed to a high shine. She looked like a queen holding court, completely at ease in the chaos around her.

As if sensing Elissa's presence, Jenna looked up. Their eyes met in the mirror.

A slow, triumphant smile spread across Jenna's face.

"Well, well," Jenna said, loud enough for half the studio to hear. "Look who decided to visit. Come to see how a real star works?"

Elissa ignored her. She scanned the room until she found the director, David Chen. She had worked with David before, years ago, when she was still a rising talent, before her marriage had turned her into a recluse. He was a good man. Fair. Honest. She had hoped he would at least give her a chance to plead her case.

"David," she said, approaching him."Tell me why. Why was I dropped? What did I do wrong?"

David hesitated. He glanced around the studio, as if checking to see who might be listening. Then he lowered his voice.

"It wasn't my decision, Elissa. You know that. The investors—"

"Harvey Media," she finished for him.

He nodded, his expression pained. "Alexander Harvey himself signed off on it. He made it very clear that the lead role was to go to Jenna Stone. No auditions. No negotiations. His word was final."

Elissa felt the words like a punch to the gut, even though she had already known the truth. Hearing it spoken aloud, hearing it confirmed by someone she respected—it made it real in a way it hadn't been before.

Jenna Stone sauntered over, the click of her heels on the concrete floor a deliberate, arrogant rhythm. She stopped in front of Elissa, her eyes gleaming with malicious victory.

"You know," Jenna said, her voice a conspiratorial whisper, "everyone in New York has a theory about how a no-name like you managed to trap Alexander Harvey." She leaned closer, her cheap perfume cloying and sweet. "But I always knew you weren't good enough to keep him."

Elissa's head snapped up. "Shut up, Jenna," she said, her voice low and dangerous.

Jenna just laughed, a high, tinkling sound that grated on Elissa's raw nerves. She took a step back and raised her voice for everyone to hear. "Excuse me, are you going to stand there all day? Some of us actually have a movie to shoot."

A couple of crew members shuffled forward, their faces a mixture of pity and professional obligation. "Ma'am, you need to leave the set," one of them said, not quite meeting her eyes.

The humiliation was a physical thing, a hot flush that spread from her chest to her cheeks. She straightened her spine, refusing to give Jenna the satisfaction of seeing her crumble. Without another word, she turned and walked away, each step feeling like she was wading through cement.

Outside the studio doors, the cold wind hit her face. A tear finally escaped, hot and stinging against her chilled skin.

She hurried to her car, fumbling with the keys. She collapsed into the driver's seat, dropping her head onto the steering wheel, the leather cool against her forehead.

Just as she was trying to pull herself together, her phone rang again, the shrill tone making her jump.

The screen read: Hamptons Estate.

The Harvey family's ancestral home.

A knot of dread tightened in her stomach. She cleared her throat, swiped to answer, and held the phone to her ear. "Brenda?"

Her mother-in-law's voice was as cold and clipped as ever, dripping with the unmistakable accent of old-money Long Island. "Elissa. You will be at the estate for dinner tonight." It wasn't a request; it was a command.

"I'm not feeling very well," Elissa tried, her voice still hoarse. "And I don't think Alexander would want to see me."

A sharp, humorless laugh came through the line. "I don't care what you're feeling. As long as you hold the title of Mrs. Harvey, you will perform your duties. Be here by seven."

Before Elissa could protest further, the line went dead.

She lowered the phone, a deep sense of unease settling over her. Brenda despised her. In three years, she had never once been summoned to the Hamptons for a casual family dinner. Something was wrong.

Jenna's taunts echoed in her mind. For the first time, a sliver of doubt about the story of her marriage—the story that Warren, Alexander's grandfather, had insisted was for the good of the family—crept into her heart.

She started the car, pulling away from the curb in Brooklyn and merging onto the highway heading east.

The concrete jungle of the city slowly gave way to the manicured lawns and sprawling properties of Long Island's elite. With every mile, the weight in her chest grew heavier.

Two hours later, she turned onto the private road leading to the estate. The massive, black wrought-iron gates swung open silently, admitting her into a world of old trees and older money.

She parked on the gravel driveway and got out, staring up at the imposing Tudor-style mansion. It was grand and beautiful, but it had never felt like a home. It was a museum, cold and silent.

The butler, a man with a face carved from stone, met her at the door. He gave a stiff, formal bow. "Madam. Mrs. Hicks and the young masters are in the rear garden."

Elissa's heels clicked on the marble floors as she walked through the long, portrait-lined hallway. She pushed open the French doors at the far end, and a cool breeze carrying the scent of salt and roses washed over her.

Her eyes scanned the perfectly sculpted garden, landing on the group of figures gathered in the white gazebo in the distance.

She stopped dead.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her heart felt like it had been seized by an icy fist.

There, under the soft afternoon sun, was her husband, Alexander. He was leaning down, his expression one of infinite tenderness, as he carefully draped a cashmere shawl over the shoulders of the woman sitting in the garden chair, a light blanket tucked around her legs.

Adriane Nicholson.