Novels by MeritAbi

POV: Hailey WilsonI was in my office, staring at the blueprints of the mansion on my computer screen, when my phone rang. It was Evans."Hailey," his voice sounded broken, hollow. "I need you to come home. Right now. Please.""Evans, I'm in the middle of—""Please," he interrupted. "This can't wait. I need to show you something. I need to tell you everything."Something in his tone made my blood run cold. He wasn't angry. He wasn't defensive. He sounded defeated, like a man who had finally given up fighting."I'll be there in twenty minutes," I said quietly.The drive home felt longer than usual. My hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white. I kept thinking about Nancy in that glass chamber, about David's cold threats, about the photos I had seen online this morning of Evans leaving Valarie's apartment building at dawn.I had cried when I saw those photos. I had thrown my phone across the room and screamed into a pillow until my throat was raw. But undernea

POV: Evans WilsonI watched the needle slide into Nancy's arm, and something inside me snapped.I stopped struggling against the guards. I stopped pleading. Instead, I looked directly at Valarie and said, very calmly, "Marcus, execute protocol seven."Valarie's smile faltered. "What?"I repeated myself, louder this time. "Marcus, execute protocol seven. Now."There was a moment of confused silence. Then my phone buzzed in my pocket. Once, twice, three times. Message sent."What did you just do?" Valarie demanded, her face going pale.Dr. Frost looked up from the chamber, her hand still holding the syringe. "What is protocol seven?"I smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "Protocol seven is what happens when you push me too far, Valarie. Marcus has just sent a very detailed file to three separate law firms, the financial crimes division of the Paris police, and five major news outlets.""You're bluffing," Valarie said, but her voice shook slightly."Am I?" I pulled my phone out with m

POV: Evans WilsonI sat in Valarie's living room until the sky turned grey with dawn. My phone buzzed constantly—messages from the hospital monitoring Nancy's vitals, alerts from the security system at home, and three missed calls from Marcus, my investigator.I couldn't answer any of them. Not while Valarie was watching me like a hawk from the doorway of her bedroom."You look tired, darling," she said, walking toward me with a fresh cup of coffee. She was wearing a silk robe that cost more than most people's cars. "You should rest. The morning photos won't be nearly as effective if you look like a zombie.""Photos?" I stood up quickly, my head spinning from lack of sleep."Oh yes," she smiled, that cold, calculated smile I had learned to hate. "The paparazzi I hired should be arriving downstairs in about fifteen minutes. Perfect timing for you to leave my building looking properly disheveled."My stomach dropped. "You called the press?""Of course I did," she set the coffee down and

POV: Hailey WilsonI didn’t sleep. I stayed in the basement lab for hours, staring at the girl in the tank—at Nancy—until the hum of the machines felt like it was vibrating inside my own skull. By the time I crept back upstairs and changed into a fresh suit for work, I felt like a ghost haunting my own life.I was sitting in my office, staring blankly at a fabric swatch, when the door opened without a knock.David walked in. He looked perfect, as always. Not a hair out of place, his suit sharp enough to cut glass. He held a small bag from an expensive bakery and a coffee."You look pale, Hailey," he said, his voice smooth and concerned. He set the coffee on my desk. "I assume Evans didn't make it home last night. I saw his car wasn't in the drive when I passed by this morning."I stiffened. I didn't want to talk about Evans. I didn't want to tell David that I had found the secret lab, and I certainly didn't want to admit that my husband had spent the night at his ex-mistress's apartme

POV: Evans WilsonThe weight of the secrets I carried was finally starting to crush my bones. Every step I took toward Valarie’s penthouse felt like walking deeper into a swamp. I was drowning, and the worst part was that I was dragging Hailey down with me while telling her I was saving her.I gripped the steering wheel of the car, my breath coming in shallow hitches. The image of Hailey at dinner with David—looking so small and confused while my brother hovered over her like a vulture—burned in my mind. David was a shark, but Valarie was something worse. She was a ghost from my past that refused to stay buried.I took the elevator up, the silence of the lift mocking me. I had come here to end it. I didn't care about the company. I didn't care about the Wilson name. I just wanted my wife back. I wanted to tell her everything, even if she hated me for it.When the doors opened, Valarie was waiting. She was draped across a velvet chaise lounge, a glass of expensive Bordeaux in her hand.

POV: Hailey WilsonThe mansion felt like a graveyard. After David dropped me off, the silence of the hallways seemed to press against my ears. Evans wasn’t home. He was out dealing with "emergencies," leaving me alone in a house that felt less like a home and more like a puzzle with missing pieces.I stood in the center of the dark study, my heart hammering against my ribs. My mind was a whirlwind. David’s words at dinner had acted like acid, eating away at the thin layer of trust I had left for Evans. “A man doesn't spend that much time with a woman like Valarie just to help her,” David had said.I looked at the heavy oak bookshelves. Evans had told me the room behind them was just for storage. He said it was old and dangerous. But I remembered the way he looked when he said it—his eyes had shifted, a tiny tell I hadn't noticed before because I wanted to believe him so badly."I’m not a child, Evans," I whispered into the dark.I walked toward the bookshelf and reached for the portra