Drew's pov ….
The Sterling mansion looked exactly the same as it had my whole life—immaculate, cold, and lifeless.
A monument to power, and a graveyard for everything else.
The black iron gates swung open as I pulled in. Even the gravel beneath the tires seemed to crunch in quiet judgment. Every time I came here, the air got heavier, like the walls remembered every shout, every slap, every unspoken thing that had rotted in this house.
I killed the engine and sat for a second, staring at the mansion. I shouldn’t have come. But when my father said the word mother, I didn’t have a choice. He knew exactly how to drag me back.
The front door opened before I could knock. Eleanor stood there—my stepmother. Her blonde hair was pinned neatly, her smile practiced, but her eyes… her eyes were ti
