The Heiress Who Refused to Be a Pawn

iress to an empire

ors of the Long Island estate's

s seven proteges, the mos

brow as he focused on a ledg

id a familiar

wealth, a doting fat

whose indifference s

aving a void Ava tried to

'd later call it, cr

. He rarely did w

he told herself,

ke the others, who

ges made their admi

in, som

was a puzzle she wa

r hid a passionate soul, wait

lish fantasy, giv

ath, smoothed

her voice softer

s eyes, a brief, imp

warmth. Just

out the quarterly rep

n replied, his gaze already

ssed.

t. She was the Vanderbilt heiress,

, a disquiet settl

dered,

hick with uns

ory, its glass panes dar

scaped from within,

erous companion,

he heavy velvet curtains some

eath c

ha

his "young

ren't t

y's hair, his mouth on hers,

ightly around his neck, he

ffection. This was ra

. The air rushed

va the time of day, was here, with Lily,

low, stealing her b

ngrossed in earlier seeme

l. This was

and flying to her mo

nocent Lily, who always seemed s

d taken in alongside E

had, on some

ed into a sick, hot

s usually stoic face, contorted with a

ted a

r. Nev

ounding a frantic rhy

tate, usually a comfort, fel

ray

harp thing, twis

constructed daydreams of Ethan,

eep. He was

a mystery to be solved; i

clearly, passionatel

anderbilt, in his study, a gla

w furrowing at her pa

t's wrong

out, a torrent o

rvatory. They were... it wasn't... they

ardened. He set his g

ou cer

ked out. "Ther

hem, filled only by the ticking of

s face

began to morph into

, but something new was forming over

voice surprisingly stead

his eyes fi

o marry Cart

riend. The son of a Wes

openly and genui

blinded by her pursuit o

anity. Safety. A future f

"Carter is a good ma

and Lily... it's disturbing. I t

Ava said, a bitter

but in that moment, a path forwar

im in this. She would n

s had been played, bu

just be

still thrumming beneath her skin, Av

out, low and

ming one. Marc Cole,

easy feeling pric

Ethan's ice-man routine," Noah was say

ted. "Spoiled brat. Thinks th

er blood tur

pping with contempt. "It was nauseating. I had to prac

member that awful poetry I had to pretend to

east you didn't have to endure those endless conversa

ed, "The things

Always

t coffers. Then Lily gets to live like the princess she deserves to be. Ethan was just the on

ugh," Marc said. "Marry Ava, if it meant s

ausea washe

l despi

very gesture of affection from s

ing chosen by her, because they were all, ev

been an act to hide hi

. He simply di

potentially marry her w

wall, the ornate wallpaper s

had taken t

led background. The others,

en them opportunities,

nding that one might marry

. By despising his daughter, by

had played

conversation drifted ou

the voice indistinct but the sentiment cle

sneered. "Touching his books, sniffing his damn s

een. They'd all seen her "simp" behavi

ecret, powerful thing was ju

with Lily was now compounded by a n

Ethan who had

all o

world her father had tried to build fo

ion for any of them, even the memory

re, began to smol