The next morning, Kara forced herself to sit up. Her body screamed in protest, every muscle aching as if she had run a marathon, but her mind was clear. Coldly, brutally clear.

Julian helped her into a wheelchair. He wanted her to stay, but she refused. Staying meant waiting for Davin to pull the plug on her grandfather's care.

She opened her old laptop on the tray table. Her fingers flew across the keys, bypassing the hospital's firewall to access a secure Swiss server. She needed liquidity.

A red box popped up on the screen: ACCOUNT FROZEN. AUTHORIZATION REVOKED.

Kara slammed the laptop shut. Davin. He was thorough. He had locked down every joint asset, every allowance account.

She had to sever the tie. She picked up her phone and dialed a number she had memorized years ago. She used a voice modulator app.

"I need a draft drawn up immediately," she said into the receiver. "Standard divorce filing. Irreconcilable differences."

Two hours later, Kara walked into the study at Johnston Manor. She was wearing a thick sweater to hide how much weight she had lost, but she still looked like a ghost haunting her own house.

Davin was behind his massive oak desk, signing documents. He didn't look up when she entered.

"Back so soon?" he asked. "Run out of money for the hotel room?"

Kara walked to the desk and slapped a manila folder onto the wood.

"Sign it," she said.

Davin paused. He put his pen down and looked at the folder. He flipped it open. Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.

He laughed. It was a dry, humorless sound.

"You want a divorce?" he asked, standing up. He walked around the desk, closing the distance between them. He towered over her, radiating power and expensive cologne.

"I want my mother's dowry back," Kara said, staring at his tie knot because she couldn't bear to look in his eyes. "The Higgins shares. That's all I want."

Davin grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up. His fingers dug into her jaw.

"You think you can just walk away? You begged to marry me, remember? You and your criminal father."

"I'm begging you to let me go," Kara said.

Davin's eyes darkened. He released her chin with a shove. He walked back to a filing cabinet and pulled out a thick document. He threw it on the desk next to her divorce papers.

"Read the post-nuptial agreement, Kara. Specifically, the fidelity and heir clauses."

He leaned against the desk, crossing his arms.

"You want out? Fine. Pay the fifty million dollar breach of contract fee. Or..."

He looked her up and down, his gaze lingering on her stomach.

"Give me an heir. You owe me a son to replace the reputation your mother destroyed."

Kara felt bile rise in her throat. The cruelty was breathtaking.

"You're insane," she whispered. "I just lost a baby yesterday."

Davin waved his hand dismissively. "You got rid of a problem. Don't pretend it was anything else."

Kara stepped back. She realized then that there was no negotiating with him. He didn't see her as a human. He saw her as an asset that was underperforming.

She opened her mouth to threaten him. To tell him she knew about the tax evasion scheme in his Cayman subsidiaries. She could burn his company to the ground with three keystrokes. But she stopped. Any move she made as The Ghost would be traced back to the manor's network. Davin's IT team was military-grade; they'd be on her in seconds. It would expose everything and put her grandfather in even more danger.

A knock at the door interrupted her.

Charles, Davin's assistant, poked his head in. He looked uncomfortable.

"Sir, the nursing home is on line one. They're asking about the payment for Arthur Higgins."

Davin didn't break eye contact with Kara.

"Tell them to stop all services," he said calmly. "Until my wife learns how to sign the correct papers."

Kara felt the blood drain from her face. Her leverage was gone. If she fought him, Arthur would die.

She looked at the divorce papers, then at Davin. Her shoulders slumped.

"You win," she whispered.

Davin smiled. It didn't reach his eyes.

"I always do. Now get out of my sight."

Kara was a prisoner in the guest wing. Davin had confiscated her car keys and instructed the security team not to let her leave the grounds.

She sat by the window, watching the rain lash against the glass. The grey sky mirrored her internal landscape.

Her mind drifted back ten years. To the night her life ended and this purgatory began.

The charity gala. The rain was falling just like this. Her mother, Grace, was behind the wheel. Kara was in the back seat. The car had hydroplaned. Or that's what the police report said. Kara remembered the brakes screaming, the feeling of weightlessness.

Then the impact.

She remembered crawling out of the wreckage, seeing Victoria Johnston's car crushed against the barrier. She remembered a teenage Davin standing in the rain, his tuxedo soaked, staring at his mother's lifeless body.

He had looked up and locked eyes with Kara. The hatred in his gaze had burned her then, and it burned her now.

A knock at the door snapped her back to the present.

A maid entered, carrying a tray with a cold sandwich. She set it on the floor without a word and left, locking the door from the outside.

Kara stared at the food. She wasn't hungry, but the nausea from the chemotherapy was rising. She forced herself to eat a bite of the dry bread.

Laughter drifted up from the floor below. A woman's laugh. High, tinkling, fake.

Alyse.

Kara crept to the door and pressed her ear against the wood.

"Oh, Davin, this painting is perfect here," Alyse was saying. "Victoria would have loved it. You have such an eye."

"She knows her taste," Davin replied. His voice was soft. A tone he never used with Kara.

Kara's grip on the doorknob tightened until her knuckles cracked. Alyse was wearing a mask, playing the role of the perfect socialite, while Kara was locked away like a dirty secret.

"Is she still upstairs?" Alyse asked. Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.

"Yes," Davin said.

"Don't be too hard on her, Davin. You know Grace... maybe the madness is genetic."

The silence that followed was heavy.

"She better pray Arthur stays alive," Davin said coldly. "He is the only reason she is still breathing in my house."

Kara slid down the door until she hit the floor. She pulled her knees to her chest.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a text from Julian.

Arthur is stable but they cut the meds. I paid for three days out of pocket. I can't do more. You need to fix this.

Kara stared at the screen. Three days.

She stood up. She went to her closet and pulled out a hidden suitcase. Inside the lining, she found a small USB drive. It contained the digital patterns for the S. Anders bridal collection. Her secret identity. Her art. And, most importantly, her off-the-books emergency fund, a business completely firewalled from her activities as The Ghost.

If she couldn't hack the money, she would sell the designs.

She opened her laptop. No signal.

She checked the Wi-Fi settings. Blocked. Davin's IT team had blacklisted her MAC address.

She had to get out. Physically.

Kara changed into black leggings and a hoodie. She waited until the house was quiet. She opened the window. It was a second-story drop, but there was a trellis covered in ivy.

She climbed out. The rain soaked her instantly, chilling her to the bone. Her weakened muscles trembled as she descended. A sharp, tearing pain shot through her abdomen with every move, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out. Adrenaline and desperation were the only things keeping her from collapsing.

She hit the grass and ran toward the back gate.

Sirens blared. Floodlights snapped on, blinding her.

Kara froze.

Davin walked out onto the back patio. He was holding a glass of red wine. He looked like a king surveying a peasant.

"Going somewhere?" he called out. "Or just going to meet your lover?"

Kara shielded her eyes from the light. "I need to see my grandfather."

Davin walked down the stone steps. He approached her slowly. The rain matted his hair to his forehead, making him look wild.

"You don't leave this house without my permission."

He reached out and grabbed the silver chain around her neck. It was her mother's locket. The only thing she had left of Grace.

"Murderer's gold," Davin spat. "It doesn't belong here."

He yanked. The chain snapped.

The locket flew from his grasp, a silver glint in the harsh floodlights, and disappeared into the dark, manicured shrubbery near the garage.

Kara screamed. She didn't care about her dignity. She stumbled toward the bushes, dropping to her knees and digging through the wet leaves and branches.

Davin watched her, his expression unreadable.

"Pathetic," he muttered, and turned back to the house.

Kara was still on her knees on the wet pavement, her hands deep in the thorny bushes, when the patio door opened again.

She expected Davin. Instead, she saw red-soled heels.

Alyse stood under a large umbrella, perfectly dry, perfectly groomed. She was holding the silver locket in her hand. She must have seen where it landed from the upstairs window.

"Looking for this?" Alyse asked.

Kara scrambled to her feet. She wiped the rain from her eyes. "Give it to me."

Alyse dangled the necklace. "Tsk, tsk. Look at you. The heiress of the Higgins fortune, digging in the mud like a rat."

She walked over to the ornamental koi pond that lined the garden path. She held the necklace over the water.

"Oops."

She let go. The silver locket splashed into the murky water and sank.

Kara lunged for the pond. Alyse stepped in her path, grabbing Kara's wrist. Her grip was surprisingly strong.

Alyse leaned in close. She pulled the collar of her blouse down slightly to reveal a purple mark on her neck.

"See this?" Alyse whispered. "Davin gave it to me last night. While you were crying in the hospital."

It was a lie. Kara knew it was a lie-Davin had been at the office-but the image still made her stomach turn.

"You're disgusting," Kara said."Scavenging is your hobby, I don't care."

Alyse laughed. "And you are stupid. Do you know why that stage light fell on you six months ago? The one that broke your ribs?"

Kara went still.

"I paid the technician to loosen the bolt," Alyse hissed. "And all I had to do was cry a little, and Davin believed you rigged it yourself for attention."

Rage, hot and blinding, exploded in Kara's chest. She raised her hand to slap Alyse.

Alyse caught her wrist easily. "You're too weak, Kara. Look at you. You're dying, aren't you?"

Alyse shoved her. Hard.

Kara stumbled back. Her hip slammed into the sharp stone corner of the planter. Pain shot through her body, radiating from her surgery site. She collapsed onto the wet stones, gasping for air.

"Davin!" Alyse screamed.

Davin appeared at the door instantly.

Alyse threw herself onto the ground, sobbing. "She pushed me! She tried to drown me in the pond!"

Davin ran to Alyse. He helped her up, checking her for injuries. He turned his furious gaze on Kara, who was curled in a fetal position, clutching her side.

"You are sick," Davin shouted. "You need to be locked up."

Kara couldn't speak. The pain was too intense. She pointed a shaking finger at the pond.

Davin didn't look. He scooped Alyse up in his arms.

"Charles!" he yelled. "Get the car. We're taking Alyse to the clinic."

He looked at the head of security. "Put my wife in the basement. She can think about what she did in the dark. No food until I get back."

They dragged Kara away. She watched Davin carry Alyse into the house, shielding her from the rain, while Kara was left to bleed.

The heavy door of the basement slammed shut. The lock clicked. Total darkness.

Kara lay on the cold concrete floor. She reached into her pocket. She had managed to palm the tiny backup phone she kept hidden in her shoe.

She pressed and held the side button, activating a voice command protocol she'd designed herself.

"Chloe," she whispered into the dark. "Initiate Plan B. We're auctioning the dress."