The note still burned in her hand—ripped down the center, its weight far heavier than the paper it was printed on.

We all wear chains. You just got to choose yours.

Lily stared at the torn halves, her pulse throbbing behind her ears. She wanted to scream. To break the box. To burn this whole damn mansion to ash. But instead, she sat on the bed like a girl trapped between memory and decision, the weight of silence pressing down on her chest.

After a while of thinking and moving from one position of the room to another, she decided to give in. He was going to have his way...