EVELYN POV - FLASHBACK
Two weeks have passed.
Evelyn sits in her mother's kitchen and stares at the calendar on the wall. She's been pregnant for two weeks and the secret is eating her alive. She hasn't told anyone. Not her mother. Not her brother. Not a single soul.
She's just trying to survive.
The gossip blogs found the photos from Nocturne. The internet has already destroyed her reputation before she could even understand what happened with Julian. Strangers on the internet are calling her desperate. Calling her a gold digger. Saying she seduced Julian Hart to trap him into a relationship.
The lies sting more than the truth.
Her mother brings her tea and pretends not to notice that Evelyn is getting sicker every day. She pretends not to see that Evelyn runs to the bathroom in the mornings. She just brings her tea and holds her hand and doesn't ask questions.
But Sable knows something is wrong.
Sable always knows everything.
The knock on the front door comes at nine in the morning on a Tuesday. Evelyn's mother goes to answer it. Evelyn hears Sable's voice before she sees her.
"Where is she?" Sable says.
Evelyn comes to the living room slowly. Her stepmother is standing in the middle of the small kitchen like she doesn't belong there. Because she doesn't. Sable belongs in penthouse apartments and private clubs and places where poor people aren't allowed.
Bliss is right behind her.
Evelyn's stepsister sits on the couch like she owns it. She's smiling. She's always smiling these days.
"We need to talk about your behavior," Sable says.
Evelyn's mother steps forward. "You're not welcome here. This is family business and you're not family."
Sable looks at her like she's an insect.
"I control her trust fund. I control her inheritance. I control everything about her financial life. So yes, I'm very much family." Sable turns to Evelyn. "Sit down."
Something in her voice makes Evelyn move. Some part of her that's been trained since childhood to obey this woman's commands.
"I know about Nocturne," Sable says. "I know about the masked lounge. I know about Julian Hart. The photos are already online, Evelyn. Every gossip blog in the country is talking about you. You're famous for all the wrong reasons."
Evelyn feels her mother's hand on her shoulder.
"You're going to sign some papers," Sable continues. "You're going to sign away your inheritance. All of it. The two million dollars. The real estate. The investments. Everything your father left you. And in exchange, I won't release more photos. I won't call every major newspaper and tell them you tried to seduce Julian Hart. I won't hire lawyers to destroy you completely."
"She didn't do anything wrong," Evelyn's mother says. "She's allowed to go to clubs. She's allowed to meet people."
"She's allowed to embarrass this entire family," Sable says. "She's allowed to prove that she's nothing but a gold digger trying to trap one of the richest men in the country. And now I'm giving her a choice. She signs the papers and disappears quietly. Or I destroy everyone she loves."
Sable pulls documents from her purse and drops them on the table.
"What happens if I sign?" Evelyn asks quietly.
"You leave," Sable says. "You get out of New York. You disappear. You never use our name again. Your mother and brother stay. They're safe. They have me. You? You have nothing."
"And if she doesn't sign?" Evelyn's mother says.
Sable smiles. It's the smile of a predator.
"Then I release the photos. Then I go public with every embarrassing thing I've ever known about her. Then I make sure she spends the next decade fighting lawsuits she can't afford. And your daughter will be so destroyed that you'll wish you'd never had her."
Bliss stands up and walks over to Evelyn.
"You should have been nicer to me," she whispers. "You should have remembered that I always win."
Evelyn looks at the papers. Her whole life tied up on those pages. Her father's legacy. Her future. Her security. All of it waiting for her signature.
She thinks about the baby inside her. She thinks about how she can't afford to raise a child as a single mother with an inheritance. She thinks about how that inheritance won't even matter if Sable destroys her publicly.
She picks up the pen.
Her mother tries to stop her but Evelyn stands up. She walks to the table and signs her name. She signs away the inheritance. She signs away the real estate. She signs away everything her father left her.
She signs away her past so she can have a future.
When Sable leaves, she takes the papers and Evelyn's entire life with her.
That night, Evelyn looks at her mother.
"I need to leave," she says. "I need to get out of New York."
"Where will you go?" her mother asks.
"I don't know yet. But I can't stay here. Sable will find a way to hurt you if I'm nearby. I need to disappear."
Her mother nods like she understands. Maybe she does. Maybe she's known this was coming.
Evelyn books a one-way flight to London with the last money she has. It's not much. It won't last long. But it's enough to get her away from New York. It's enough to keep her mother and brother safe.
She packs a single suitcase. Just clothes. Her father's jewelry. Her laptop. Nothing else matters anymore.
Her mother holds her at the airport like she's never going to let go.
"I love you," her mother whispers.
"I love you too," Evelyn says. "I'm going to be okay. I'm going to build something. I'm going to prove that we're worth more than Sable thinks."
Her brother hugs her and cries. She's never seen him cry before.
"Come back," he says.
"I will," she promises. "When I'm strong enough."
She boards the plane with her suitcase and her secret and the baby growing inside her. She doesn't know what's waiting for her in London. She doesn't know how she'll survive with no money and no support.
All she knows is that she has to try.
As the plane takes off, Evelyn touches her stomach and makes another vow.
"I don't know who your father is anymore," she whispers to her unborn child. "I thought he was someone good. I thought he was different. But I learned the truth. He's just like everyone else. He took what he wanted and left."
She looks out the window at the city disappearing below her.
"But we don't need him. We don't need anyone. We're going to build a life that's ours. We're going to become so strong that nobody can ever hurt us again."
The plane climbs higher and higher until New York is just a distant memory.
Evelyn closes her eyes and doesn't open them until the wheels touch down in London.