ra's

e lights when I got

apped box with the Patek Philippe watch-which I'd snatched from the dining table in a daze before heading out-slid

at there

d midnight. Headlights swep

as h

scent of expensive wine and Jasmine's cloying perfume with him.

k? You look like a ghost." His

ice was terrifyingly calm.

face before his usual arrogance settled back in. "There was an emergency a

lips. "Yes. Just an anniversary. Not ne

. "Did you follow

ice called from the top of the st

ent her home with a driver an hour ago, presumably to steal more private time wi

or Conrad. "Aunt Jasmine said this one'

ulated strike, a testament to

in a pout. "Mommy, why did you call Daddy?

s lips. He looked at me as if to s

a folder in her hand. She stopped dead, her gaze taking in the scene: Conrad's

me the folder. "The background check you ordered l

voice a fierce whisper only I could hear. "It confirms your suspicions, ma

p. I stared at he

ly needs you. To them, you're nothing more than a tool. A

o

rmed the cold calculus I had begun to suspect. Th

voice cut through my shock, laced with irrit

d in. "Aunt Jasmine is sick, but she still

accusation from my daughter. Thi

ectly at him. The love that had lived in my eyes for so long was

walked past him

I felt a strange tremor through our bond-a flicker of

room and locked t

k, pulled out a sheet of heavy crea

Aurora. Always.' The mate bond had hummed bright and gold between us then. Now, it was a severed wire, sparking uselessly in the void. I couldn't believe

the page, I wr

e Agre

It illuminated the path I w