Fallen 26

Fallen 26 Summary

Meadow is overwhelmed with conflicting emotions as she reflects on Alaric’s cold refusal to free her sister, Juniper, from punishment. Despite Juniper’s cruel treatment of her over the years, Meadow struggles with the idea of Juniper being locked away, haunted by Juniper’s accusations that Meadow is responsible for their mother’s death and for Juniper’s own suffering. These painful memories and feelings of guilt weigh heavily on Meadow, yet she tries to resist being controlled by Juniper’s manipulations.

 

Alaric suddenly appears, slamming a folder down on the counter and presenting Meadow with a contract. He challenges her to read and sign it, making it clear he will not show mercy to those who never showed mercy to her, especially Juniper. Their tense exchange reveals Alaric’s deep understanding of Meadow’s past, including the emotional turmoil that led her to drop out of college, a fact he uses to push her toward acceptance of his offer.

 

As Meadow opens the contract, she is shocked to see that Alaric is offering her one hundred million dollars in exchange for a contract marriage, a proposal tied to her desire for revenge. Though overwhelmed and hesitant, Meadow is drawn in by the promise of power and resources, realizing this could be a turning point for her future. Despite her reservations about how much Alaric already knows about her, she signs the contract, committing herself to this new and uncertain path.

 

After signing, Meadow confronts Alaric about his knowledge of her life and demands that he stop digging into her past. She asserts her boundaries firmly, making it clear she wants nothing more to do with Juniper and is focused solely on her own goals. Alaric’s amused response and his final words welcoming her to the family leave Meadow with a mixture of apprehension and determination, knowing that this alliance will change everything.

Meadow’s Perspective:

I cradled my coffee cup in my hands, the warmth barely reaching me as my thoughts spun wildly out of control, unraveling faster than I could ever hope to gather them back into something coherent. The room around me felt heavy, thick with tension and unspoken words.

Alaric hadn’t come back downstairs since he had so coldly dismissed my plea to free Juniper. The way he shut me down—it was like a parent refusing a child’s request for candy at bedtime, absolute and non-negotiable. I let out a bitter scoff, unable to shake the memory of his unwavering refusal.

His “no” echoed in my mind relentlessly, delivered without hesitation, as if my feelings and opinions were utterly irrelevant. Juniper had made me feel that exact same way countless times before—like my voice didn’t matter, like I was invisible in the face of her cruelty.

The truth was, I wasn’t trying to protect Juniper from the consequences she deserved. She absolutely should face punishment for every vile thing she had done to me over the years. Yet, the thought of her locked away in that facility—alone, terrified—twisted something deep inside me. Or maybe she wasn’t scared. Maybe, in some twisted way, she was exactly where she was meant to be.

Still, all I could hear was her voice, ringing in the darkest corners of my mind.

“It’s all your fault,” she would hiss over and over again.

“If I die, it’s your fault, you know? You killed Mom. And you’ll kill me too.”

That line—her favorite weapon—was always there, lurking in the background whenever I tried to escape, to breathe without her shadow suffocating me. Every time I packed a bag, every time I tried to carve out a life of my own, Juniper found a way to drag me back into her chaos.

Tears pricked at the back of my eyes, and I tilted my head back, blinking fiercely to hold them at bay.

No. Not now. I refused to let her win this time.

I reached for my coffee again, but before I could lift the cup, a sharp slam echoed against the counter. My body jerked instinctively as I looked up to see Alaric standing across from me. He was impeccably dressed in a tailored suit, his expression unreadable, eyes darker and more intense than ever before.

My gaze dropped to the folder he had slammed down on the counter between us.

He didn’t say a word at first, simply watching me as if daring me to touch it.

“What is this?” I asked, my voice thick with emotion. I already had a good idea, but I needed him to confirm it—to make it real.

“Read it. Sign it. Or don’t,” he finally said, his gaze sharp and unyielding. “But don’t ask me to show mercy to people who never showed mercy to you.”

I looked away from the folder—this contract—feeling the weight of his words settle heavily over me.

“You really think this is just about mercy?” I snapped, letting out a hollow, bitter laugh.

He stepped around the counter, his voice dropping deeper. “I think you have a habit of making excuses for the people who hurt you most. Especially your sister.”

He stopped right beside me, too close. The scent of wood and musk enveloped me, clouding my thoughts as I struggled to find words.

His tone softened. “You dropped out of college,” he murmured. “Why?”

I froze, caught off guard. He wasn’t asking because he was curious—he already knew the answer. He was trying to make me admit it.

But how did he know? How did Alaric Ashford, a man I barely knew, understand so much about me before we even met? What else did he know?

“That’s none of your business, Alaric,” I snapped, my voice cracking despite my anger.

“It will be,” he said quietly, his piercing ink-blue eyes never leaving mine, narrowing as if trying to unravel the mystery of how someone could be both so fragile and so stubborn.

This was his game—he wanted me to admit that Juniper was the reason I left school.

But I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.

How can you explain years spent chained emotionally to someone you once loved? How do you describe waking up to phone calls filled with sobs, knowing it was always Juniper on the other end, threatening to destroy you?

“I’ll do it right now, Meadow.”

How do you explain that your own sister manipulated others into believing she was you? The professors, the people who thought they knew me—Juniper made sure I carried the weight of her chaos as if it were my own skin.

And the worst part? I believed her. I let her control me because, in a twisted way, she was right. I was guilty.

I was the reason our mother was gone.

My hands trembled as I opened the folder, scanning through the dense legal language, skipping over the parts I didn’t want to understand. Then I reached the numbers.

Numbers I never expected to see.

One hundred million dollars.

That was the amount Alaric was offering me—for a contract marriage, for my chance at revenge.

“Alaric, this is… a lot of money,” I stammered, overwhelmed. “I—I can’t accept this!”

His lips twitched into what might have been a smirk. “I promise you, Meadow,” he said, hands shoved into his pockets, “a hundred million won’t cost me a single hair on my head. I want you, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes.” Then his voice dropped lower, almost a whisper. “Don’t pretend you don’t want it, Meadow.”

I swallowed hard, my mind racing. What could I possibly do with so much money? Going back to school wasn’t even on my radar right now, but maybe that was exactly why he was offering so much.

“Do you really think I’m worth this much?” I asked softly.

“No, Meadow,” he said, voice deepening. “That’s what I’m offering for you to stay. What you’re truly worth? I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.”

A shiver ran down my spine, heat rising to my cheeks. I looked away, letting the silence stretch for a moment before finally reaching for the pen.

And I signed.

One page. Then another. And another, as Alaric watched silently.

When I finished, I closed the folder and pushed it toward him, finally meeting his gaze.

I might have been willing to sign my life away to a man I barely knew, but I wasn’t okay with how much he already knew about me—especially when I knew almost nothing about him.

I lifted my chin, voice steady and sharp. “I don’t know how long you’ve been watching me, Alaric,” I said, “or how you seem to know every little thing about me.”

I stood taller, determination hardening my tone. “But this ends here. I don’t want you digging through my past. I don’t want you dragging up dirt just because you can. You want my revenge? Fine. You want my name on that contract? You’ve got it.”

A faint twitch at the corner of his mouth was the only sign he’d heard me. He even looked… amused.

“And Juniper?” I added, voice dropping. “Leave her there. I don’t care anymore.”

I hated how unreadable he was while my own face was an open book. He knew too much—far too much.

But he didn’t know everything. I was certain of that.

Because if he truly understood my family’s history, he wouldn’t be asking me to wear his ring.

Not the daughter of Clint Russell.

Alaric hummed softly, stepping back with a slight smile. “Welcome to the family, Mrs. Ashford.”