The air in the foyer went completely still.
Eleonora took a deep, ragged breath, her chest heaving under the silk robe.
Her face smoothed out into a mask of absolute ice.
"If you want to prove your worth to this family so badly, you will fulfill your obligations," Eleonora said, her voice terrifyingly calm.
"You are having dinner with Barrett Cushing IV tomorrow night."
Alyssa stared at her mother, the blood draining from her face.
"Barrett Cushing? He's a degenerate. He's practically a walking lawsuit."
"The Cushing family has the political leverage we need in Washington right now," Eleonora stated flatly.
"I am not a piece of property you can trade for lobbying power!" Alyssa yelled, her lungs burning.
Eleonora sneered. "If you can throw yourself at a piece of trash like Benton Steele, you can marry Barrett Cushing."
The insult snapped the last thread of Alyssa's self-control.
A hot, blinding fury rushed to her head.
"Is that how you justify it?" Alyssa asked, her voice shaking with venom.
"Is this what you told yourself when you slept your way into this house?"
She took a step closer to her mother, ignoring the gasps from the maids hiding in the hallway.
"Did you force Demetria Acosta out just so you could sell your own daughter to the highest bidder?"
The name hit Eleonora like a physical strike.
All the color vanished from Eleonora's face, leaving her looking hollow and terrified.
Eleonora's hand flew through the air before Alyssa could blink.
The slap sounded like a gunshot in the massive room.
Alyssa's head snapped to the side.
A sharp, stinging heat spread across her left cheek, but she didn't raise her hand to touch it.
She slowly turned her head back, her eyes burning with unshed tears and pure hatred.
"That proves I'm right," Alyssa whispered, her voice raw.
Eleonora was shaking violently from head to toe.
"Freeze every account in her name," Eleonora screamed at the butler. "Cancel her credit cards. Take her car keys. Take her passport."
Two massive security guards stepped out from the shadows of the corridor, blocking the front door.
"Take her to her room," Eleonora ordered, her voice cracking. "Lock the door. No one lets her out."
Alyssa jerked her arm away when one of the guards reached for her.
She turned and walked up the marble stairs, her spine rigid, her breathing shallow and fast.
She reached her bedroom and turned to look down at her mother one last time.
She walked inside and slammed the heavy wooden door shut with all her strength.
The walls shook.
A second later, she heard the heavy metallic click of the deadbolt sliding into place from the outside.
She was trapped.
