The day before the trial.
The usually calm ocean breeze turned sharp, slicing through the silk curtains of Amelia's estate like unseen blades.
She sat silently in her private study, surrounded by legal documents and strategy reports stacked like fragile towers of hope.
Her fingers gripped a delicate porcelain teacup, the heat barely reaching her cold fingertips.
Despite the comforting aroma of chamomile, her stomach churned with a familiar dread.
He's coming for everything… for my child.
Damian entered the room without a word, his face grim, a folder clutched tightly in his hands.
His expression alone told her this wasn't just another legal setback.
He placed the folder on the table before her, his jaw clenched.
"You need to see this."
Amelia hesitated for a heartbeat before opening it.
Her eyes scanned the first page… and her blood turned to ice.
A name.
One she hadn't heard in years.
One she prayed would stay buried with the past.
Cassandra Vance.
Her former best friend.
The woman who once stood beside her in every storm…
Until the day she betrayed her for a slice of the Blake fortune.
The file detailed everything.
A subpoena.
Cassandra had agreed to testify on behalf of Ethan Blake.
And worse—
She claimed to have evidence that Amelia was mentally unstable, unfit to be a mother.
Her vision blurred, her breathing shallow.
Her heart twisted painfully, as if someone had reached into her chest and squeezed the life from it.
Damian knelt beside her, his strong hands gently covering her trembling fingers.
"This is a low move, even for Blake. But you're not that woman anymore, Amelia. You won't break."
Amelia closed her eyes, taking a slow, shaky breath.
When she opened them again, they gleamed with steel resolve.
"If Cassandra wants to drag my past into this… I'll show her exactly how dangerous my present has become."
Across the city, in a darkened hotel suite, Cassandra Vance sat before a mirror, practicing her lines.
Her lips curled into a practiced, pitiful smile.
The kind of smile that dripped poison sweetly enough to convince anyone of anything.
And just beyond the cracked door, Ethan Blake stood silently in the shadows.
His eyes hard.
His mind racing.
If Amelia thought she could win this easily… she was dead wrong.
And as the clock struck midnight, a private investigator placed a new file on Amelia's desk… containing a secret that could destroy Cassandra's credibility forever.
But would she dare use it?