"I was drunk,"
Brooke's husband, Ethan, said nonchalantly when her younger sister's pregnancy test came back positive.
He didn't apologize for what he'd done; he just offered an excuse.
Brooke's stepfather, Luther, sighed. "Well, it can't be helped. Men will be men." He turned to Brooke, who still looked shocked by the news. "This has to stay within the family, for Cassie's sake. She's about to win the Actress of the Year award. We can't afford any scandals."
Their mother, Serena, wrapped her arms around Cassie. "Congratulations, dear! You'll make a great mother!"
Serena hugged her back, "I can't believe it!"
Brooke stood frozen, her wooden cane the only thing keeping her upright. She watched as her family acted like her sister sleeping with her husband was no big deal.
It had always been this way since her father died and her mother remarried Luther Crane. She was used to being cast aside, but this was crossing the line.
"Ethan, how could you?!" Brooke spat out, raising the pregnancy test. "You cheated on me with my younger sister!"
Serena disengaged from the hug. "Now, now, Brooke, don't get too worked up. Shouldn't you congratulate your sister?"
Brooke felt like laughing and crying at the same time. Congratulate the little vixen for shamelessly spreading her legs?
Brooke slammed her palm on the dining table, "Ethan, answer me! Why did you do it? How could you cheat on me?"
Ethan gave a detached answer. "I drank too much and thought she was you. It's not that big a deal if the public doesn't find out."
This man was impossible!
Brooke turned to Cassie, who still looked happy. "And you? How could you sleep with my husband? I thought you were my sister!"
Cassie wrapped her arm around her stomach and started crying. "Not in front of the baby! What kind of woman lashes out like this in front of a pregnant woman? Don't you have a heart?"
Serena held Brooke by the shoulders. "Kids make mistakes, Brooke. You made mistakes growing up too. As her elder sister, you need to learn to let go and look forward and accept new changes." She spread her lips into a smile.
"Like the arrival of a new baby! I'm going to be a grandmother! And you're going to be an aunt-"
Anger and frustration boiled over in Brooke, she broke away from her mother and slapped Cassie tightly across the face.
"You're disgusting! You've always had everything, but you still wanted to take away the one thing I couldn't share with you!" Brooke cried out in frustration.
But before Brooke could process her emotions, her husband, Ethan, snatched her cane, disrupting her balance and causing her to fall.
He then grabbed her hair, yanking her head back and yelling, "How dare you touch the mother of my child?!"
Brooke cried out in pain and shock, "Ethan, stop! You're hurting me!"
But Ethan's grip only tightened. "Shut up! You have no right to question anything I do to you, understand?!"
Tears streamed down Brooke's face as she looked around the room for help, but her mother had rushed to comfort Cassie instead. While her stepfather, Luther, watched with a satisfied gaze, seemingly approving of Ethan's actions.
Ethan's voice was cold and menacing in her ear. "Cassie is carrying my child, and until she gives birth to my heir, you will behave yourself and do as you're told!"
With that, Ethan stormed out of the house, leaving Brooke broken and betrayed.
That day marked the beginning of a painful chapter in Brooke's life.
With Ethan Halton as the main sponsor of her sister's acting career, his word became law. No one dared challenge him, and his influence reeled in the most money for the family business.
Brooke had secretly hired a lawyer to help her divorce Ethan, but her plans were discovered by her father, who promptly informed Ethan. The sound of his voice sent shivers down her spine. "You want to divorce me?" he sneered, his hand cracking across her face with a loud slap.
Brooke fell onto the bed, trying to scramble away, but Ethan pinned her wrists above her head, holding her in place.
"You can never escape me," he spat, his breath hot against her face. "I own you, Brooke. No matter how many lawyers you hire, I will never let you leave me." His grip tightened, and Brooke felt a surge of fear as he 'disciplined' her for daring to think of leaving him.
The rest of the family could hear the commotion, but they chose to ignore it. Ethan's power and influence had them all under his control. Brooke lay there, helpless and trapped, as the sound of her own ragged breathing filled her ears.
In those moments, she often found herself transported back to a happier time.
Her life had always been complicated. Her biological father, an alcoholic, had accidentally gotten her mother pregnant with her.
He never hit them, but his neglect and lack of care left a deep scar.
Her mother took a job as a maid to make ends meet, and she often brought Brooke along to her employer's house.
She remembered a boy.
He was the son of her mother's employer and was always kept indoors. The boy was always pale and sickly, he couldn't make any friends and barely ate.
But she had made friends with him, and he became the best part of her life.
Brooke would cry whenever she remembered the plastic promise ring she gave him on the day he left the country with his family for his treatment.
He had promised to come back stronger and take her away.
Even now, as she lay battered and bruised, Brooke's thoughts drifted back to that boy, wondering what had become of him.
It had been so long that she didn't even remember how he looked like, or his name.
Sometimes thoughts of him and his promise would linger on her mind until she passed out from Ethan's abuse.
Country F
"Sir! We've found her!" A middle aged man announced, running into a large bedroom, big enough to house sixty people.
"We've finally located the daughter of the woman who worked for your family sixteen years ago!" He declared triumphantly.
Thane Grayson stared at the plastic ring he had been toying with in-between his fingers, then pulled his lips back into a satisfactory grin.
"Have them ready the jet! It's finally time to make good on my promise."