Chapter 3 - The Girl from Ohio
Nora Ellis had never belonged in Ophelia’s gilded world, and Ophelia had made sure every socialite, board member, and distant relative knew it. Nora was born into the kind of quiet, struggling life that the Fairchilds only read about in philanthropic reports. Raised by a widowed father in a small Ohio town, she learned early that unpaid bills had a distinct sound: the soft tearing of envelopes opened at the kitchen table late at night. There were no trust funds, no legacy Ivy League admissions, and no summer homes.
Instead, Nora attended public schools, fought for academic scholarships, and built a meticulous career as a forensic risk analyst. She was the kind of woman corporations hired when the numbers looked impeccably clean on the surface but smelled distinctly rotten underneath. She possessed a terrifying talent for finding money where powerful people hoped no one would look. It was this exact talent—her sharp, uncompromising eye for structural lies—that made Ophelia hate her the moment Julian brought her home. Ophelia saw a threat; Julian saw a savior.
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