The Copeland Legacy

I suppose I should tell you about my family. You’re going to be spending a lot of time with us, so you might as well understand who we are.

The Copelands are one of the founding families of the Paradigm. We were there at the beginning, when it was just a fringe movement, a whisper in the shadows. My grandfather was one of the original architects. He truly believed that some people were meant to be owned. That some people needed to surrender to find peace.

My father inherited that belief. He was eighteen when he received Lily. She was sixteen—the same age my mother was when she married my father. They were both so young. Both are so beautiful. Both are so certain of their choices.

My mother, on the other hand, never understood. She saw the Paradigm as a threat. She saw Lily as competition. She saw my father’s love as a betrayal. And she couldn’t stand it.

So she destroyed it.

She sold Lily to a stranger. She broke my father’s heart. She spent the rest of her life pretending that none of it had happened.

But I remember. I remember the way my father looked at Lily. I remember the way Lily looked at him. I remember the peace on their faces, the belonging, the love.

And I remember the day my mother took it all away.

I was three years old. I didn’t understand what was happening. I just knew that my father was crying, that Lily was gone, and that something beautiful had been destroyed.

That day, I made a vow. I would never let fear rule me. I would never let jealousy blind me. I would finish what my father started.