iage wa
ways knew it, but I nev
ise whispered over a grave. My fiancé, Ryan, the brilliant tec
her, Liam, stepp
known for late nights and a revolving d
for the first time I could remember. "To protect the family,
like a lifeline. I saw it as an act of selfl
marri
oted husband. He was attentive, kind, and loving. He' d bring me flowers for no reason
Chloe," he' d say. "I' ll
conceive, he was my rock. He held my hand through every doctor' s appointment, ever
Hope, I fell apart. Liam held the pieces together. He cr
k with emotion. "I don' t care if we ever have
hey were the one solid th
library of our mansion. The door was sli
ng with us for the past year, a supposedly strug
ice laced with a desperate urgency. "He' s the only heir to
d to beat in a slow, hea
reassuring. The same voice tha
rry, I' ll
stle of fabric, the
. You helped me and your brother, who faked his death, to be together. Now, you' re do
its axis. Faked hi
fying sense. The pieces of a puzzle I never knew existed slamme
th to stifle a gasp. I felt a wave of nausea so intense
eeded to confirm it, to hear it from someone else. I found Maria,
trembling. "Have you... have y
yes, her hands freezing over a silve
sweet to me, his hands so gentle, his words so comforting. I replayed the nights he h
an act. A p
mach c
, he leaned in to kiss me. I flinched. He pul
s wrong,
id, forcing a smi
off his jacket, I caught it. A faint scent of jasmine, the same expe
ys dismissed it. I told myself it was from her pass
ell of his lies, of their shared secrets. It
o to the guest room. I didn' t want to arouse suspicion. I lay beside h
on? Liam had married me to protect them, to create a smokescreen. My grief, m
t began to form in my mind, a thought so mons
aw a path forward, a narrow, dark path paved with my own
ait. I wo
nd then, I would burn their world to the ground. T