All Chapters of The Heiress in Glass: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Vivienne didn’t sleep. Daniel knew because neither did he.They lay beside each other in the quiet gray hours before dawn, her back against his chest, his arm wrapped around her like he could hold her together if she started to come apart.He could feel the tension in her. Not panic. Not weakness. Direction.Vivienne Laurent was at her most dangerous when she was quiet.“Tell me everything you remember,” Daniel said softly.She didn’t ask him what he meant.“About Eloise,” he added.Vivienne stared at the faint light creeping across the ceiling.“She hated being watched,” Vivienne said.Daniel frowned slightly.“Watched?”Vivienne nodded.“Margaux monitored everything. Calls. Friends. Staff interactions. But Eloise…” Her voice softened. “She learned how to disappear inside it.”Daniel tightened his arm around her slightly.“How?”Vivienne was quiet f

Helena didn’t speak while Vivienne finished reading the letter. She stood near the long conference table in her private office, one hand resting against the polished wood, her face carefully composed in that way Vivienne had come to recognize—when Helena was thinking ten moves ahead and didn’t yet like any of them. Marcus, on the other hand, had no such restraint. “This changes everything,” he said. Daniel stood beside Vivienne, his shoulder barely touching hers, but the contact was enough. Enough to remind her she wasn’t standing alone in this. Helena finally looked up. “Not everything,” she said quietly. Vivienne frowned. Helena held out her hand. “May I?” Vivienne hesitated, then gave her the letter. Helena read it once. Then again. Slower. When she finished, she set it down very carefully. “This confirms motive,” Helena said. Marcus blinked. “Motive for what?” Helena met Vivienne’s eyes. “For control that extends beyond Laurent Holdings.” Dan

Eloise had learned a long time ago that captivity didn’t always look like chains.Sometimes it looked like a beautiful room.Sometimes it looked like freedom.The house Margaux had brought her to was neither large nor ostentatious. It sat on the edge of a frozen lake, surrounded by bare winter trees and silence so complete it felt manufactured.There were no guards at the door.No locked windows.No raised voices.But Eloise knew better.Margaux had never needed locks.She used fear.And patience.Eloise sat near the window, her hands folded in her lap, staring out at the pale gray ice stretching across the lake.She didn’t turn when she heard Margaux enter the room.“You should eat,” Margaux said calmly.Eloise didn’t respond.Margaux set the tray down anyway.The porcelain clicked softly against the glass table.“You won’t be useful to anyone if you collapse.”Useful.Not safe.Not loved.Useful.Eloise turned her head slightly.Margaux stood exactly as she always did.Perfect postu

Vivienne didn’t sleep.She lay beside Daniel in the quiet darkness of his penthouse, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest as he slept. One of his arms rested across her waist, heavy and warm, as if even unconscious he refused to let her go.She envied him.Not his peace.But his ability to rest at all.Her mind wouldn’t stop.Eloise was alive.Margaux was waiting.And somewhere inside it all was a choice Vivienne knew was coming.One she might not survive.She turned her head slightly, studying Daniel’s face in the faint blue glow of the city outside the windows.He looked younger when he slept.Less guarded.Less shaped by disappointment and survival.She reached up carefully, brushing her fingers along his jaw.He stirred.His eyes opened instantly.Alert.Always alert.He relaxed when he saw her.

Morning came too soon.Vivienne woke before the sun fully rose, her body still tangled with Daniel’s. For a moment, she didn’t move. She simply lay there, listening to his breathing, steady and deep, his arm heavy around her waist like an anchor holding her in place.She let herself pretend.Pretend there wasn’t a war waiting outside those windows.Pretend Margaux didn’t have Eloise.Pretend she wasn’t about to walk into something she might not escape.Daniel stirred behind her, his hand tightening instinctively when he felt her shift.“You’re thinking too loudly,” he murmured, his voice rough with sleep.Vivienne smiled faintly, though he couldn’t see it.“You always say that.”He pressed his face into her hair, breathing her in.“Because it’s always true.”She turned slowly in his arms until she was facing him. His eyes opened fully now, alert, searching her face as if check