Chapter 2: The Empty Castle
Chapter 2: The Empty Castle
Jasper checked his Rolex. It was 6:00 PM.
He unlocked the door to our penthouse apartment—the one my father had quietly secured for us, though Jasper believed he had negotiated the killer lease himself.
“Hailey!” he called out, dropping his keys on the marble entryway table. “Is dinner ready? My mother is starving.”
Silence echoed back to him.
Gillian and Priscilla walked in behind him, dropping their designer shopping bags onto the floor.
“I told you she was lazy, Jasper,” his mother sneered, kicking off her heels. “Five days is plenty of time to recover. She’s just milking it to get out of hosting us.”
Jasper marched into the kitchen, expecting to find me sulking. It was empty. The refrigerator was bare. He walked into the master bedroom. The closet doors were wide open. My clothes were gone. Toby’s crib was completely dismantled, and the nursery was stripped bare.
His face flushed with sudden, hot anger. He pulled out his phone and dialed my number. It went straight to voicemail.
“Unbelievable,” he muttered, marching back to the living room. “She took the baby and left. Probably went to her dad’s little house in the suburbs to throw a pity party.”
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“Let her stay there,” Priscilla laughed, pouring herself a glass of wine from the bar. “You don't need that kind of negativity in your life, Jas. You’re about to be a billionaire.”
Jasper smirked, his ego quickly soothing his bruised pride. “You’re right. Let her cool off on the bus. She’ll come crawling back by tomorrow when she realizes she has no money.”
