Elena (then, Avalor)
I still remember the dress I wore the first time I met Logan's mother.
It was pale blue — borrowed from my roommate. The zipper was broken, so we pinned it with a safety pin and prayed no one would notice. My hair was straightened with heatless socks the night before, and I wore the only flats I owned that didn't talk when I walked.
I had no business sitting at that dinner table.
But Logan wanted me there.
He said, "You're mine. That's all that matters."
He made it sound like love was enough.
Like his world would somehow make space for mine.
It didn't.
That night, her eyes sliced through me before her voice ever did.
Madeline Hunter.
She greeted me with a smile that didn't touch her eyes, and a kiss on both cheeks like I was being marked, not welcomed.
"Sweet girl," she said, her voice sweet as champagne and sharp as glass. "Logan's little friend."
I smiled politely. "I'm his girlfriend, ma'am."
Her lashes didn't even twitch. "Of course."
Logan sat beside me, tall and proud, his hand warming the small of my back like I belonged. He ordered wine for both of us and whispered jokes in my ear.
I tried to laugh. I tried to breathe.
But the entire time, I could feel her watching me — weighing my earrings, calculating the exact shade of discount lipstick I wore, noting how I didn't order steak because I didn't know how to pronounce the one on the menu.
After dinner, when Logan stepped away to take a call, she leaned toward me slowly — gracefully, like a viper uncoiling.
"I don't blame you, Elena," she said softly. "You're young. You're pretty in a fragile sort of way. And of course, you'd want a better life."
I blinked, confused.
She reached into her purse and pulled out a folded envelope. It was thick. Cream-colored. Elegant.
"Fifty thousand dollars," she said. "Just for knowing your place."
I stared at it. I couldn't move. Not because I was shocked — but because something deeper inside me cracked.
"You'd be saving yourself from embarrassment," she continued. "Logan is kind-hearted. He doesn't understand what's at stake. But you… you're smart, aren't you?"
I should've screamed. Should've thrown it at her face.
But I didn't.
I picked it up slowly… looked her dead in the eye…
And slid it back across the table.
"I'm not for sale," I whispered.
Her smile deepened. "Everyone is, dear. The only question is your price."
Logan returned seconds later. I sat up, said nothing. He didn't ask why I looked like I wanted to cry.
He didn't notice.
Two weeks later, she found my parents.
They came home shaken — my father quiet, my mother red-eyed. I thought someone died.
"She offered us money," my mother choked. "Said you'd only bring disgrace to yourself. Said we'd embarrass you. That you'd suffer."
"She called me a 'ragman,'" my father muttered, voice low. "Like I wasn't a man."
I'd never seen him like that before — like a balloon that had lost its air.
"I told her to leave," he added. "I told her you weren't raised to chase money."
And that was the moment I knew…
This wasn't about me and Logan anymore.
This was war.
I didn't tell Logan. I didn't want to cause drama.
I wanted him to see for himself.
I wanted him to fight for me — not just hold my hand.
But each time his mother would make a snide comment, he would just chuckle.
"She's not that bad," he'd say. "She's just… traditional."
Traditional.
Like humiliation was a family heirloom.
I stayed.
Because love makes you foolish.
Because I thought my presence would soften her edges.
That she'd come around if I smiled enough. If I proved I wasn't after money.
But no amount of kindness can soften a woman whose heart was shaped by power and poisoned by pride.
Madeline Hunter didn't just want me gone.
She wanted me destroyed.
And in ways I didn't even realize yet… she was already succeeding.
Present Day: Elena Stone
I sat quietly in my office, the lights low, my thoughts far away.
Dominic returned, dropping a new folder on my desk. "Declined the invitation. Also removed their proposal from the shared investor board. Want me to block their name entirely?"
I nodded. "Not yet. Let them watch."
He lingered for a moment, then asked carefully, "You were somewhere else just now."
I glanced up. My voice came out dry, almost distant.
"I was remembering the day her nails tried to rip the girl out of me."
Dominic didn't ask who.
He already knew.