Chapter 1

My only living family was dying, and the housekeeper wouldn't let me out the door.

"Any outing must be reported twenty-four hours in advance and can only happen once approved. Those are the Harding house rules."

"You're just a bar hostess someone keeps as a mistress. Remember your place."

Three days later, when I finally received permission to leave, the only family I had left in this world was a handful of ashes.

Grief and rage tore through me, and the seven-month-old baby in my womb left me too.

Dragging the ruined body of a woman who had just lost a late-term pregnancy, I boarded a helicopter bound for a distant island.

Before I switched off my phone, a message came in from Rolf Harding:

"Out more than two hours and you still dare turn off your location? You know what happens. I'm calling right now to have your brother's medication stopped."

"If you're not home admitting your mistake within the hour, don't ever come back. And the child in your belly, I won't claim it either."

Coldly, I let the screen go dark.

I handed the phone to one of the classified staff on board to destroy.

1

A week earlier.

The doctor said my brother had taken a sharp turn for the worse, and his treatment plan needed to be reworked immediately.

I tried to leave, and Mrs. Dickerson stopped me cold.

Staring at the carved wooden doors just a few steps away, I begged her.

"Mrs. Dickerson, this came out of nowhere. Chad is in critical condition and I can't reach Rolf. Please, just let me get to the hospital first. I'll take on every consequence myself."

She didn't budge from the doorway.

"Without Mr. Harding's permission, I'm not letting you out."

I sobbed and pleaded, small and desperate.

"Mrs. Dickerson, please, I'll just go to the hospital and come straight back."

"If you don't trust me, come with me. I swear I won't leave your sight for a single second."

She shook me off, impatient.

"Miss Pruitt, remember what you are. You're just a karaoke bar hostess. Mr. Harding bringing you into this house is more good fortune than your ancestors ever earned."

"Don't think that carrying a Harding child gets you a seat at the table. This family will never let someone like you through the door."

With that, she picked up her radio and told the guards to lock the front and back gates.

"No one leaves today without my word."

The old Harding estate sat on a hillside by the lake outside Ashford.

Without a car, this far along in my pregnancy, there was no way I could walk out.

And three years ago, I had slipped off to the hospital to see my brother in secret, without reporting it first.

To punish me, Rolf had every one of Chad's treatments and medications stopped for a full week.

It triggered severe complications. Chad barely pulled through.

I kept calling Rolf.

An hour later, the call finally went through.

But it was a woman's voice that answered.

"Miss Pruitt, Mr. Harding and I are entertaining guests right now. He says to stop harassing him."

I wiped my nose and forced my voice to come out clear.

"Assistant Dickerson, please, put Mr. Harding on. Or can you approve this for me?"

"Chad's condition has changed, it's serious, the doctor needs a family member's signature for the new treatment. I have to get to the hospital right now."

"Please, show a little mercy, a life is on the line, I…"

I was crying too hard to finish, my heart in shreds.

The voice on the other end answered like an AI service line, cold and mechanical:

"Mr. Harding set this rule himself. Any outing must be reported twenty-four hours in advance, and you can only leave once he personally agrees."

"You didn't report in advance. And Mr. Harding just said, whatever it is, it waits until after his event."

The call cut off without mercy.

My legs gave out and I slid down onto the cold marble floor.

I called the doctor again.

"Dr. Swanson, I really can't get out. Can I authorize the new plan over the phone?"

Just as I feared, he refused.

"A life is at stake. Without the family member's own signature, we can't take on that kind of responsibility on a verbal phone authorization alone."