CHAPTER 1

"Evelyn, your card was declined."

The words made the entire dining room go silent.Evelyn looked up from her breakfast.Across the table, her brother-in-law Jason held up his phone dramatically.

"What do you mean it was declined?" he demanded.

Evelyn frowned."Maybe you've reached the spending limit."

Jason laughed as if she had told a joke."A spending limit? On a family card?"

His mother immediately joined in."Oh dear, maybe money is getting tight."

The table erupted with laughter.Evelyn's grip tightened around her coffee mug.Money getting tight?She owned the company.The mansion.The cars.Everything.

Jason's luxury SUV?She paid for it. His mother's designer handbag?She paid for it.

The vacation they had all taken to Dubai six months ago?She paid for it.Yet somehow she was the one being mocked.

Across from her, her husband Damian continued eating as if nothing had happened.No defense.No support.Nothing. Evelyn waited.Surely he would say something. Anything.

Instead he sighed. "Evelyn, just increase the limit."

Her eyes widened."Jason spent nearly thirty thousand dollars this month."

Jason shrugged."So?"

"So?"Evelyn stared at him."So that's an absurd amount of money."

His mother's face hardened immediately."There she goes again."

"There who goes again?"

"The woman who constantly reminds us she has money."

Evelyn blinked.She felt as if she had been slapped.

Damian finally looked up."Mom has a point."

The words hurt more than they should have.For a moment she couldn't speak.Five years . Five years of marriage.Five years of giving.Five years of trying to make his family feel welcome. And somehow she was still the villain.

She pushed her chair back."I'm late for work."

Nobody stopped her.Nobody cared.As she walked out of the dining room, she heard Jason laughing. "She's getting stingier every day."

More laughter followed.Evelyn kept walking.But the moment she reached her car, tears filled her eyes.This wasn't how she imagined marriage.

When she met Damian, he had been working as a clerk in one of her office buildings.Shy , kind and sweet.Or at least he had seemed that way.Back then he would bring her flowers.

Now he barely looked at her.Back then he couldn't wait to spend time with her.Now he always had excusesBusiness meetings.Client dinners.Work trips.Everything came before her.

Even worse were the rumors. The photos anonymous people kept sending. Photos of Damian with different women. Damian entering hotels. Every time she confronted him, he denied everything.

And every time she chose to believe him. Because she loved him and he was all the family she had left. Because after losing her parents at eighteen, being alone terrified her.

Evelyn knew something was wrong the moment she entered Sinclair Holdings. Her employees usually smiled at her. Today, they looked away.

She ignored the whispers and went to her office.

"Good morning, Evelyn."

Marcus Vale stood by the window—her lawyer, her childhood friend, and the only person who never lied to her.

"You look exhausted," he said.

"I'm fine."

He gave her a look. "Damian's family is causing trouble again."

"Difficult?" Marcus scoffed. "Your brother-in-law spent two hundred thousand from your company account last month."

"He said it was an investment."

"One he can't explain."

Evelyn looked away. "He's family."

"No. He's your husband's family."

That distinction hurt. After her parents died, Evelyn had learned that money made people stay close, but rarely for the right reasons. Damian had loved her without caring about her wealth, and she had wanted to believe that meant something.

Marcus lowered his voice. "And Damian?"

Evelyn said nothing.

"Still haven't asked him about the woman from the hotel?"

Her jaw tightened. Three weeks ago, someone had sent her photos of Damian leaving a luxury hotel with another woman. When she confronted him, he had been angry.

A knock interrupted them.

Her assistant stepped in. "Mrs. Sinclair, Mr. Damian is here."

Evelyn's heart betrayed her before her mind could catch up.

Damian entered in an expensive suit she had bought him, smiling like nothing was wrong.

"Can I speak to my wife alone?"

Marcus looked at Evelyn, then left.

Damian came closer. "I'm sorry about this morning."

"Are you?"

"Of course." He reached for her hand. "My family can be a lot."

"They disrespect me in my own house."

His expression shifted. "Your own house? Our home."

"No." The word slipped out before she could stop it.

For a moment, something cold flashed in his eyes. Then it was gone. "You've changed," he said.

"No. I'm finally seeing clearly."

Then Damian smiled, soft and sad. "I planned something for us."

"What?"

"Our vacation." He handed her two first-class tickets to Europe, along with reservations at five-star hotels. "I want us to start over."

Evelyn stared at the tickets. The girl who had fallen in love with a poor clerk wanted to believe him. So she nodded. "Okay."

Damian kissed her forehead. "Good."

She closed her eyes. She didn't know the vacation wasn't a second honeymoon. It was a trap.