Listening to her mother, Yara Ross, Eleanor Bishop’s eyes filled with anguish. "Mom, why do you insist on tying me to Jason Lockwood? Hasn’t he made our lives miserable enough?"

"If you hadn’t been so disobedient and refused to marry him, our family wouldn’t have ended up in this state."

Utterly exhausted, Eleanor Bishop whispered in a voice full of helplessness and pain, "I’m a person, not a commodity for you to trade."

"Eleanor, you’re our only daughter. Can’t you just step up and go beg Jason to help us?"

"Mom, I’m tired. I don’t want to talk about this with you anymore." ’Beg? Help? Haven’t I begged enough over the past few years?’

Watching Eleanor Bishop go inside, Yara Ross decided to try and talk some more sense into her. ’Now that Jason is willing to bring Eleanor home, they must be getting along better.’

But she had only taken a single step when she spotted a business card on the ground. She furrowed her brow, walked over, and picked it up. When she saw the name on it, she was slightly shocked and gave the front door a complicated look.

’No wonder Eleanor refuses to go beg Jason. So she’s found herself a new big shot.’

***

By the time Tristan Grayson got home, Mika Summers had already fallen asleep in her seat.

He frowned, got out, and carefully lifted her from the car. When he reached the front door, he raised his right knee, trying to free a hand to ring the doorbell. But just then, his arms suddenly felt weak. He looked down at the woman in his embrace, and his heart ached.

CLICK—the door opened from the inside.

The person who opened the door was Ms. Warren, the nanny who looked after Kiki for the Grayson family. She had been watching TV with Kiki in the living room and hurried to get the door when she heard the car arrive.

Ms. Warren glanced at the woman in Tristan Grayson’s arms and frowned. Just as she was about to speak, Tristan cut in, his voice low. "Is Kiki asleep?"

"Not yet. He said he wanted to wait for you all to come back before he’d go to sleep."

"Alright, I understand. You can head home for the night."

"Okay."

Ms. Warren turned, grabbed her bag, and left immediately.

Tristan carried Mika Summers into the living room. Seeing Kiki sprawled on the sofa looking over at them, he smiled. "Kiki, turn off the TV, go upstairs, and get to bed."

"Okay." Kiki scrambled down from the sofa, grabbed the remote off the table to turn off the TV, then picked up his bottle and headed upstairs.

Once upstairs in the bedroom, Tristan Grayson laid Mika Summers on the bed. He then picked up Kiki, took him to the bathroom to get washed up, and finally placed him on the bed next to Mika.

Kiki drank his milk, his eyes wide as he watched his dad start to undress the woman.

Tristan carefully removed Mika Summers’s coat. As he started to unbutton her shirt, the woman’s eyes suddenly snapped open. She lifted her hand and slapped Tristan across the face. Sitting up, she scrambled backward and demanded warily, "Tristan Grayson, what are you doing!" ’Taking advantage of me when I’m helpless! How could I have fallen asleep?’

Stung by the slap, Tristan frowned, annoyed. "I’m not doing anything," he said. "I was just checking on your injuries."

"I’m not injured. I don’t need you to look."

Kiki had been frightened when he saw Mika Summers hit Tristan, and now, after hearing their exchange, he pouted angrily. "She’s a bad woman! Daddy, let’s go." Holding his bottle, he started to climb off the bed...