This Time, I Let Him Choose

He froze, probably because he'd never seen me so forceful.

I turned to leave, bumping Blaire, who was blocking my path. She let out an exaggerated scream and collapsed onto the sofa.

"My… my asthma!" she gasped, clutching her chest as tears welled up as if on cue. She looked so fragile, so pitiful.

"Alastair, don't blame Oprah," she sobbed. "She didn't mean to."

Alastair's face darkened instantly. He rushed over and swept her into his arms.

She winced in pain, leaning weakly against him. Only then did I notice a fresh scratch on the back of my own hand.

He roared at me, his voice trembling with rage. "You dare touch her again! If anything happens to Blaire, I'll make you pay!"

He carried Blaire and stormed out of the apartment.

I was left alone in the vast, empty penthouse, a hollow ache where my heart used to be.

The hospital just needed the money; they didn't care who paid for it. I called my lawyer, then got ready to head to the bank.

Before I could leave, my phone rang. It was Alastair's cousin, FBI agent Nolan Hayes.

"Well, hello, Oprah," Nolan's voice dripped with condescension. "What's the scheme this time? Trying to get Alastair's attention again?"

The Blackwood family had never respected me.

Only his parents had ever been genuinely kind to me. I had to save them.

I swallowed my anger. "You're an FBI agent, Nolan," I said, my voice dangerously low. "You can either use your resources to verify what I'm saying, or I'll be filing a formal complaint against you with the OPR for obstruction. Your call."

Nolan's playful tone vanished.

His voice exploded through the phone. "You think marrying a Blackwood makes you one of us? You're nothing but a gold-digger who blackmailed her way into this family! If Blaire hadn't gone abroad, Alastair wouldn't have given you a second glance."

I hung up without a word and immediately sent an email to the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility.