I had told Anthony once, years ago, about how a relative had pushed me into the ocean when I was a child. How I'd nearly drowned. How even after I learned to swim, deep water still made me shake so hard I couldn't breathe.

He'd held me then, his voice fierce with tenderness, promising he would always protect me. Swearing that as long as he was there, nothing like that would ever happen again.

Now he was using that same childhood wound as a blade, and twisting it.

Rex Lambert, Anthony's agent and the only witness to our secret relationship, shifted uncomfortably. The look on his face was something close to guilt.

"Anthony, it's the middle of winter. The shore is at least twelve miles out. She's one person. How is she supposed to swim that? What if something happens?"

"She doesn't have that kind of money. She took care of you for years. Don't take this too far."

Anthony lit a cigarette and let out a thin stream of smoke, his lips curling into a sneer.

"Too far? She should be grateful I'm not charging her for a ticket to the party."

"With her paygrade, she wouldn't even qualify to set foot on this deck. I've been too soft on her, that's the problem. Time she learned her place."

"Vivienne, don't say I'm heartless. All you have to do is apologize and promise you'll never compete with Bianca again. Then I'll forgive you."

Bianca clung to his arm, smiling sweetly. "Come on, Viv. Anthony's already giving you an out. Don't be stubborn."

"Besides, gold diggers like you only care about money. Since when do you deserve a real title? Don't go playing the saint when we all know what you really are."

Anthony pinched her cheek indulgently. Not a word of objection.

I knew what he was doing. This was how he kept me in line.

Breaking me down until I learned to take it quietly, to stay in my place as his dirty little secret. The girlfriend who would never see the light of day.

I said nothing. I calmly slipped my phone into a waterproof pouch.

Then I climbed over the railing and threw myself into the sea without a second thought.

Screams erupted behind me. Anthony's eyes went wide with shock.

I swallowed my terror and swam hard toward the shore.

But the winter ocean was brutal. The cold seeped into my bones, and the coastline was impossibly far. My limbs grew heavier with every stroke.