Novels by Wonga Rigala

Hannah stood in the marble lobby of Vaughn Holdings at 8:47 the next morning, wearing a blazer she hadn't touched since her last gallery opening, and felt more like herself than she had in six years.Andy found her by the elevators, two coffees in hand, dressed like nothing unusual was happening at all. That was the point, she was learning. Nothing about today could look unusual."Ready?" he asked, handing her a cup."For what, exactly? You never actually told me what happens at nine.""At nine, Marchetti Capital calls Danny's office to withdraw eleven million dollars in funding." Andy checked his watch, unhurried, the way other men checked the weather. "Danny's been counting on that round closing by Friday. Without it, three smaller investors who were only in because Marchetti was in start asking questions of their own.""And you did that. Overnight.""I started it three weeks ago. Overnight I just made a phone call." He pressed the elevator button. "Marchetti's managing partner and

Hannah's coffee mug stopped halfway to her mouth. "That's a strange thing to promise someone.""It's not a promise. It's an observation." Andy pushed off the counter and crossed to the window, hands in his pockets, the city gray and glittering behind him. "You want them to lose everything. I can make that happen. The only question is whether you want to be part of it.""Be part of what, exactly?""Revenge." He said the word the way he said everything—flat, considered, like he'd already tested it for weaknesses. "Not a scene in a hotel lobby. Not a lawyer's letter. I mean the kind of consequence that takes months to build and can't be undone."Hannah set the mug down. Her hands had finally stopped shaking somewhere around 3 a.m., and she wasn't ready to give that up. "You've thought about this.""I've thought about very little else since March."The admission landed harder than she expected. Five months of watching his own wife across a dinner table, saying nothing, building a case ins

“I found out in March. The anniversary dinner was in April.”Hannah stared at him. “You sat across from us and smiled through an entire dinner knowing what he was doing to me.”“I sat across from you,” Andy said, and now he did look up, “and I thought about how unfair it was that he got to sit next to you every single night. And I never told him to stop, because I was collecting evidence instead of protecting you. And I’ve hated myself for that decision every day since I made it.”“Then why didn’t you?” Hannah’s voice trembled, her words growing more unsteady as the alcohol dulled her restraint. “You could’ve told him to stop, for Christ’s sake. That first week in March.”“Because I know my brother. Confront him without proof, and he’ll apologize, promise it’s over, then find a better way to hide it. I’ve watched him do it since we were kids…” Andy’s jaw tightened. “Well, at least before Mom took him away.”He leaned back against the sofa, his expression hardening. “I wasn’t tried to

“What are you going to do?” Andy asked, holding her firmly in place. “Walk in there in a four-thousand-dollar dress and scream at them in a hotel lobby?”“I don’t care what it looks like.”“You will tomorrow. You’ll care when it’s a headline instead of a marriage.”“Then what am I supposed to do, Andy? Sit here and watch the door?”“Yes.” His voice was low and certain. “Tonight, yes. I’m not going to let you hand them a version of this they get to tell at dinner parties for the rest of their lives. The wife who lost her mind in a hotel lobby instead of the two people who actually did something wrong.”Hannah struggled against his grip once more, but the fight was already draining out of her. “He’s my husband.”“I know.”“He’s in there with her.”“I know.”The calmness in Andy’s voice only made the truth hurt more. Hannah looked toward the hotel again, her vision swimming with tears. Behind those golden doors was Danny, the man who had kissed her goodbye that morning as though nothing

Andy parked half a block away from the Warrington’s entrance, under the shadow of a delivery awning. He turned off the engine as rain traced delicate silver lines down the windshield, transforming the hotel’s golden-lit doors into a soft, unreal glow. A valet hurried past under a golf umbrella, and Hannah slid lower in her seat, feeling the dress tighten across her lap.Hannah’s breath fogged a small circle on the passenger window. She didn’t look at him. Her fingers worried the hem of the dress where it had ridden up against the seatbelt.“Andy… I’m asking.” Andy turned in his seat, the leather creaking under his weight. For a moment, he simply watched Hannah, her trembling body catching his attention. Slowly, he reached across, careful not to startle her. His knuckles brushed against the inside of her knee, the thin fabric of her dress already warm from her skin.“What are you doing?”Andy withdrew his hand immediately. “Your seat belt.”Hannah blinked, surprised.Andy pointed tow

Hannah zipped into the dress alone, her hands trembling uncontrollably. The dress cost more than her first car, and she worked the hidden clasp at her ribs by feel. The fabric settled like an unwanted second skin. She smoothed it once, then again, and flipped her phone over for the eleventh time in twenty minutes. Still, nothing. Hannah had sent countless messages to her husband, counting the ten missed calls under her breath. The silence in the room only made her even more anxious.Danny and Hannah hadn’t shared a bedroom in three weeks—not since the “renovation” that had never actually begun. The guest suite still smelled faintly of someone else’s perfume from the last time the cleaners had been through. She shifted her weight from one heel to the other, the straps already biting into her ankles. Three hundred of the city’s most powerful people would be standing under those restored chandeliers tonight. Every one of them would notice if Danny Vaughn’s wife walked in alone.Then,