Love Me Like Before

Selina had barely made it through her front door when her adoptive mother's voice cut through the quiet house like a whip.

"Selina! Where have you been all night?"

Selina froze, one shoe removed, her body still aching from her quick trip down fifteen flights of emergency stairs. She'd hoped to slip in without being noticed, shower away the proof of her shame, and pretend nothing had happened.

But Mrs. Williams was waiting in the hallway, her silk robe perfectly tied, not a hair out of place despite the early hour. Her eyes, cold and judging as always, looked over Selina's messy appearance.

"I asked you a question, young lady."

Selina swallowed, falling back on the lie she'd texted last night. "I was studying at the library with my project group. We lost track of time, and then it was so late... Emma offered to let me stay at her apartment."

Mrs. Williams' lips got thin. "The library called. Your student ID was found after closing. They said you never picked up your books."

Ice formed in Selina's stomach. "I...."

"Don't lie to me," Mrs. Williams snapped, stepping closer. Her nose flared. "You smell like alcohol. And...." She grabbed Selina's chin, turning her face to show the bruise on her neck. "What is this?"

Selina pulled away, tears threatening. "It's not what you think...."

"Don't tell me what I think!" Mrs. Williams' voice got louder, her carefully kept calm cracking. "Your father and I took you in when no one wanted you. We gave you our name, our home, and the best education money could buy. And this is how you pay us back? By acting like a common whore?"

The words cut through Selina like physical hits. Despite eight years in this house, she'd never quite become "daughter" instead of "charity case," a fact Mrs. Williams never let her forget.

"I'm sorry," Selina whispered, the words automatic after years of conditional love. "It won't happen again."

Mrs. Williams' expression got harder. "Your father has put too much money into you to let you ruin everything now. The Johnson merger depends on your marriage prospects. Go upstairs and make yourself look decent. You look disgusting."

Selina nodded numbly, her legs carrying her up the stairs by muscle memory alone. The mention of the merger explained everything; her "father" wasn't worried about her welfare. He was worried about the business deal that depended on her marriage to the Johnson family's eldest son.

She was an asset, not a daughter. A bargaining chip in the Williams family's relentless climb up New York's social ladder.

In her bathroom, Selina turned the shower as hot as she could bear, scrubbing her skin until it was raw, as if she could wash away the memory of the stranger's hands. She avoided looking at her reflection, unable to face the girl who had lost everything in one night.

All she had left was her intelligence, the talent the Williams had been using since they'd discovered her eight years ago. The brain that had won their company prestigious contracts, that had designed innovations they'd claimed as their own, that had earned them millions while she received nothing but conditional shelter and constant reminders of her "low birth."

By the time she came out of the shower, Selina had composed herself enough to face the day. She had one task: confront Michelle. After that, she'd figure out how to fix what remained of her life.

"You set me up," Selina said quietly, sliding into the couch across from Michelle at her apartment near campus. "You didn't tell me I was doing something so... degrading."

Michelle looked up from her phone, lips pursed in annoyance. Her perfectly styled hair and perfect makeup made Selina's still-damp ponytail and bare face feel even more inadequate.

"Don't be so dramatic," Michelle sighed, stirring her iced coffee with practiced indifference. "It was just an escort job. Go with a rich guy to dinner, laugh at his jokes, make him look good. What did you think it was?"

"He drugged me, Michelle!" Selina leaned forward, keeping her voice low despite the anger bubbling inside her. "After I slapped him for getting grabby, something terrible happened. Something I can never take back."

"Look, I'm sorry if things got weird," Michelle said, sounding anything but sorry. "But don't call what I do immoral. We all have to survive somehow in this city. Not everyone has a rich family paying for them."

Shame colored Selina's cheeks. Michelle didn't know, couldn't know, the truth about her life with the Williams. The golden cage that grew smaller with each passing year.

"You're right," Selina whispered, shoulders slumping. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have judged you."

Michelle's expression softened slightly. "It's fine. Just forget last night happened and move on. That's what I always do."

Before Selina could respond, her phone rang, her father's ringtone. With a sense of dread, she answered.

"Selina," her mother's voice shook, an unusual break in her perfect composure. "They've arrested your father. They're saying our company broke the contract with Kane Tech. We're at the central police station. They're threatening to sue for everything we have. It would destroy us. Come quickly, your father needs you to bring the files."

The phone slipped from Selina's fingers, hitting the table. "I have to go," she whispered, already gathering her things. "My father's been arrested."