Too Late, Governor: My Freedom Is Mine

“For three years, I was Julian Davenport's shadow – his bodyguard by day, his lover by night. Our routine was a carefully guarded secret, a stolen rhythm of illicit nights and cold mornings. Then, in the pre-dawn chill, his voice, flat and emotionless, sliced through the quiet: "It's over, Ava." He was marrying Chloe Vanderbilt, the perfect political match, and I was just... practice. He tossed my birth control pills onto the bed, a cruel reminder not to complicate his future. The worst came later, when Chloe, his fiancée, ordered me to my hands and knees, using me as a footstool to avoid dirtying her gown, while Julian watched, saying nothing. I' d taken a knife protecting her just hours before, and his only concern was her safety, not mine. I was called "sloppy." That was the moment my heart finally gave up. How could the man I protected, the man I loved, strip away my dignity so completely? Was three years of my life truly just a rehearsal? I walked away from the Davenport estate, leaving the shadow behind. But when Julian, now Governor-elect, tracked me down and tried to drag me back into his gilded cage, I knew I had to make my final stand.”