I'M A SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND

of a rusted-out Civic I'd been nursing back to life. Outside, the storm howled like a wounded animal

rf

e and motor oil clinging to my skin like the weight of my past. Just anothe

door crea

lean for this side of town. I didn't stop working. Rich pe

n?" the m

k from under the car. "You here to

aid. "I'm here

ack, expensive. The name embo

ld Lan

ly so tangled in politics, tech, and pharmaceuticals,

lack car idling outside. "Mr. L

or billionaire tea

're not being invited.

es with eyes that followed you, and enough security to make a prison jealous. I was le

Jaw like granite. Wearing a three-piece suit that p

eside

la Lan

genius. Rumored murderer, if t

sers, scanning, dissecting. No we

he asked, voice

n Vale. Son of Marissa Vale. H

ssing. You think I don't know th

s place," R

le

ha

up appearances. The press, the board, th

nk you can just swap in some nobody

frankly, no one knows Jonathan li

l I'm doi

eaming. "Two million. Up front.

ll stone. Still silent. L

l be in photos. Interviews. Dinners. You'll

-paper?"

ight live to spend that money,

gut. A warning, maybe.

said

I was de

d to know why my brother

e Lancaster garden. No guests. No smiles. T

ce when she slippe

ion. I was shown to a room with a bed bigger than my whole apartment and a

at 3:

hing

. The door was ajar. I c

een slid und

blocky ha

t substitute. The la

ks. My phone was gone. Replaced with a sleek black one

kn

p: "Midnight. Gree

asn't stupid. But I also

nly one there. A butler poured my coffee like I wa

she wa

bel

She didn't sit. Just stared

to the greenhouse,

't say

to," she said. "

ho

ndow. "The ones who think

the scent of danger and some

ht cam

dden by rows of trees. The glass fogged with condensa

humid.

h

wasn't the

urn

ows. Mid-40s. Scar above hi

nize him?"

to. My knees n

was

Eyes sunken. Weari

e

he?" I w

The first Ethan V

the man was gone.

ran back to the mansion.

si

B driv

screen

eo pl

ne off-screen: "He can't know

rning, I co

the note,

brushed past me. But s

" she said. "If yo

en slipped out through the servants' wi

ck

ngerprint

thick in the air. A red light

ity c

door. No

d. Four

tar

nathan's

on

ed

r hisse

ones in my closet. A wall covered in photographs

s. Files marked