CHAPTER 1: THE FALL FROM GOLD
The mansion doors slammed behind them with a finality that echoed like a gunshot.
Ethan didn’t look back.
The cold night air hit his face, but it was nothing compared to the storm raging inside him. In his arms, Lily trembled—her breaths shallow, her body fragile as glass. The bruises on her face burned into his memory like scars on his own soul.
“Stay with me,” he whispered, his voice breaking for the first time in years.
Moments later, the luxury of his old life faded into irrelevance as he rushed her into the nearest hospital—no private wings, no family name opening doors. Just urgency. Just fear.
Hours passed.
When the doctor finally stepped out, Ethan stood up so fast his chair crashed behind him.
“She’ll recover,” the doctor said. “But she needs time… and someone who truly cares.”
Ethan exhaled, a weight lifting—but not completely.
Through the glass, he saw her. Small. Still. Alive.
And in that moment, he understood something he had never been taught in that cold, perfect mansion:
May you like
Love wasn’t power.
Love was staying.
