f old money and unspoken expectations. Tonight, it was suffocating. The crystal glasses

into an elegant chignon that not a single strand dared escape. As a world-renowned art collector, she didn't

cial

made his intentions clear. He is a man of considerable influence in the art world. His

light squeeze. His touch was smooth, his smile charming, but his eyes held a glint of calculation that alw

in a gallery. The prestigious Blackwood Art Academy was the only place I wanted to be

name to support you," she continued, laying out the terms o

nse, a soft, delicate gasp

t. Her face, usually rosy and animated, was s

dmother asked, her tone instantly shifti

ia whispered, her voice tremb

ered against her teeth. Then, with a dramatic, breathy sigh, her eyes rolled back into

y grandmoth

Daniel, my supposed fiancé, didn't even glance at me. He vaulted over a

" he yelled, his face a

muring soft words of comfort to her unconscious form. He look

nating with manufactured sincerity. "I'll take

I was the only one in the audience who seemed to know it. Olivia had always resented my talent, my

exhaustion and a delicate constitution," my grandmother cornered me in the hallway. H

ce low and stern. "This talk of your future, of yo

..." I started, b

ow, not focused on one person's selfish ambitions. You need t

the future she had just laid out for me, were being swept away by a

t fair," I

y grandmother replied, her eyes

nd it was ending with me trapped, my dreams held hostage by my cousin' s jealousy and my grandmother' s blind