Crystal was still pacing outside the glass doors of the studio, pointing her finger and yelling at the receptionist.
Ellery's phone vibrated in her hand. The caller ID showed Holland's private number.
She answered it.
"Drop whatever you are doing and come back to the estate," Holland ordered. His voice was hard and impatient.
"I can't," Ellery said, looking out the window. "There is a situation outside my studio. And I have work to finish."
Holland let out a dark, humorless chuckle. "The trash outside your door is already being taken care of."
Right as he spoke, two black Range Rovers pulled up to the curb outside the studio. Four massive men in black suits stepped out.
They walked straight up to Crystal. One of the men grabbed her by the arm. Crystal shrieked, thrashing wildly, but the men easily shoved her into the back of the SUV. The cars sped away, leaving the sidewalk empty.
Ellery stared through the glass in shock.
"You have thirty minutes to be standing in the living room," Holland said, and hung up.
Ellery grabbed her coat, hugged Ira goodbye, and ran down to the parking garage.
Exactly thirty minutes later, Ellery walked into the living room of the Sutton estate. The air in the room felt suffocatingly thick.
Goldia sat in her usual spot on the sofa. Holland stood by the massive stone fireplace, swirling a glass of bourbon in his hand.
Goldia picked up a piece of thick, expensive paper from the coffee table and tossed it toward Ellery. It landed at her feet.
"Sign it," Goldia commanded.
Ellery looked down. It was a formal letter of resignation, completely severing her ties with TT Couture.
"You are starting an intensive IVF cycle next week," Goldia stated. "You will not be working. You will stay in this house and focus on your duty."
Ellery's blood ran cold. The studio was the only thing she had left. It was her only escape.
She stood up straight, looking Goldia in the eye. "No. I will not sign it."
Goldia slammed her hand on the table. "You ungrateful brat! If you don't sign it, I will poison the old man's ear against your brother's pathetic company! Do you really think Holland will even get the chance to ask his grandfather for that investment without my blessing? I will personally ensure the Garza Group never sees a single cent of our money!"
Panic flared in Ellery's chest. She turned her head and looked at Holland, silently begging him to intervene.
Holland took a slow sip of his bourbon. His dark eyes locked onto hers, completely devoid of warmth.
"My mother is right," Holland said slowly. "But she is leaving out a crucial detail."
He walked toward Ellery, stopping just inches away from her.
"I don't have the authority to approve the White-Peak project," Holland said, his voice dropping to a low, cruel whisper. "Only my grandfather, Mr. Sutton Sr. , can sign off on funds that large."
Ellery's breath stopped. Her mind spun.
"And my grandfather," Holland continued, "will not sign a damn thing until he holds a great-grandson in his arms."
Ellery felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She had been played. Hayward had lied to her. Holland had lied to her. She had been enduring this torture for a promise that Holland couldn't even keep.
She was trapped in a cage with no doors.
For a long, excruciating moment, she just stared at the floor. The realization crashed over her in suffocating waves. Every bitter pill she had swallowed, every humiliation she had endured, every time she had let Holland crush her dignity-it was all for absolutely nothing. She had been the perfect, silent puppet in a play where the script was completely fake. A cold, terrifying clarity began to replace her despair. A sudden, violent surge of adrenaline, fueled by years of repressed rage, rushed through her veins.
Ellery bent down and snatched the resignation letter off the floor. She held it up in front of Goldia and Holland.
With one swift, aggressive motion, she ripped the thick paper in half.
The sound of the tearing paper echoed sharply in the quiet room.
"If you force me to quit my studio," Ellery said, her voice shaking with pure rage, "I will stop the IVF treatments. I will not take another pill. I will not let another doctor touch me."
Goldia gasped, clutching her chest. "How dare you!"
Holland's eyes turned pitch black. The muscle in his jaw ticked furiously. He raised his hand and hurled his crystal glass at the stone fireplace.
The glass shattered into a thousand pieces, the loud crash ringing in Ellery's ears.
