At my own birthday party, my husband tied me to a ceiling beam and whipped me thirty times because I had spilled wine on his mistress’s dress. He laughed as fifty guests watched me endure the humiliation, but when they finally cut me down, I made one phone call to my five brothers, and seconds later, the mansion gates slammed shut.

Two weeks later, the Cole estate was put up for emergency bankruptcy liquidation by a federal receiver.

The glittering ballroom where fifty hypocritical socialites had watched me hang from a ceiling beam was now empty, echoing with the footsteps of court-appointed appraisers and creditors looking to strip the carcass clean.

I didn't care about the mansion. I didn't care about the crystal chandeliers, the imported marble floors, or the designer clothes hanging in the master closet.

I had packed two suitcases of simple clothes, my old sketchbooks, and a photograph of my mother.

That was all I took from four years of my life.

Standing on the front steps of the sprawling stone mansion for the last time, the crisp autumn wind caught my hair. I took a deep, clear breath of the October air—an air that smelled of fallen leaves, fresh starts, and absolute freedom.

A sleek black Mercedes pulled up to the circular driveway.

The rear door opened, and Dominic stepped out, walking over to take my heavy bags without a word.

“Where to, kid?” Dominic asked, loading the luggage into the trunk.

“Back to the city,” I said, looking up at the imposing stone facade of the house that had nearly broken me. “I want to open that art studio in downtown Manhattan. The one I talked about before I met Adrian.”

Dominic paused, a slow, genuine smile breaking across his stern face. He reached out and pulled me into a fierce, suffocating hug that instantly made me feel safer than I had in years.

“Done,” Dominic said into my hair. “Location is already secured. Matteo’s logistics company is handling the shipping for your easels, and Luca already set up the LLC. All you have to do is paint.”

I laughed—a real, bright, unburdened laugh that echoed across the empty driveway.