Beyond Our Broken Dreams

He respected her. Protected her.

Little by little, he pulled her out of the darkness she'd been trapped in for years.

The day he proposed, Preston got down on one knee.

“Tanya, give me the chance to take care of you for the rest of my life. I'll spend the rest of my life healing every wound you've ever carried.”

Tanya believed him.

She placed her broken heart in his hands without holding anything back.

Their lavish wedding became the talk of Harbor City.

Everyone said Tanya must have done something incredible in a past life to be cherished by a man like Preston Hayes. Overnight, she'd gone from an ordinary girl to the wife of one of the most powerful men in the city.

Tanya believed it too.

She thought she'd been unbelievably lucky.

After falling into the darkest period of her life, somehow she'd found someone who brought her back into the light.

Until one night.

Preston took Tanya to a business gala.

She'd never been comfortable at events like these. After staying for a while, she told him she was tired and wanted to go home early.

Preston arranged for someone to drive her back while he stayed behind to socialize.

Tanya had almost reached the parking garage when she realized she'd left her phone in the lounge.

She turned around to get it.

But as she passed a private VIP room with the door slightly ajar, she heard voices inside.

“It's been five years, Preston. Don't you think it's about time you wrapped up this little revenge scheme of yours?”

“Yeah.”

Preston's voice came from inside.

It was the same cool, deep voice Tanya knew so well, except there was an indifference in it she'd never heard before.

“I signed the divorce papers a long time ago. In a few days, when she's at the point where she loves me most, I'll give them to her.”

He paused.

“Then I'll tell her everything.”

“Damn. Five years. First you arranged that car accident and ruined her hand so she'd never be able to play the piano she loved again. Then, when she got pregnant and was so excited about the baby, you staged another accident and made her miscarry.”

The man clicked his tongue.

“But the craziest part? You haven't touched her once in five years. Every time she thought she was sleeping with you, you had Liam take your place. Preston, you really went all out to avenge your brother.”

“She called the police and sent my brother to prison. He had a heart attack and died in there.”

Preston's voice remained perfectly calm.

But every word dripped with hatred.

“Taking one life in return would've been too easy for her. I wanted to destroy everything she cared about.”

His tone turned glacial.

“I wanted to wait until she was happier than she'd ever been, then send her straight to hell.”

“So after the divorce, you're finally going to marry that woman you've been keeping in your heart all these years? Sylvia?”

Sylvia.

Tanya froze.

Sylvia Shaw?

The beautiful, soft-spoken daughter of the Shaw family who came from an equally privileged background?

Tanya had run into her occasionally at parties.

And every time, Sylvia had looked at Preston with an expression Tanya could never quite understand.

So she was the woman Preston had really loved all along.

“Of course,” Preston replied without hesitation.

“Makes sense. If your brother hadn't died in prison and you hadn't spent all these years getting revenge, you and Sylvia probably would've been married a long time ago.”

Then someone suddenly turned to Liam Hunter, a strikingly handsome man whose presence was almost aggressively masculine.

“But what about you, Liam?”

His tone became teasing.

“You've been sleeping with Preston's wife for five years. Don't tell me you haven't caught feelings. She's a gorgeous woman, and Preston's been putting her through hell. You seriously don't feel even a little sorry for her?”

A low chuckle came from inside.

Casual.

Careless.

Yet it sliced straight through Tanya's heart.

“Sorry for her?”

Liam's voice carried its usual arrogance and contempt.

“Why would I feel sorry for some other guy's leftovers?”

He laughed again.

“I only did it all these years to help my buddy get his revenge. I've got women throwing themselves at me left and right. You really think I'd want her otherwise?”

Every word exploded in Tanya's ears like thunder.

She stumbled backward.

For a second, she nearly collapsed.

Tanya bit down hard on her lower lip.

The metallic taste of blood instantly filled her mouth.

Her nails dug deep into her palms, but she couldn't feel the pain.

The only thing she could feel was her heart being ripped apart.

Crushed.

Destroyed so completely that she could barely breathe, let alone remain standing.

The man she'd sent to prison at eighteen...

He was Preston's younger brother?

So the past five years had all been a lie.

Five years of love.

Five years of tenderness.

Five years of believing he'd saved her.

It had all been an elaborate, vicious revenge scheme.

The husband she loved more than anyone was the brother of the man who had assaulted her.

Preston had approached her and married her for one reason.

To destroy her.

He'd ruined her hand so she could never play the piano she loved again.

He'd killed her unborn child and left her to grieve the baby she'd desperately wanted.

And he'd been so disgusted by her that he hadn't even been willing to touch her himself.

Every night over the past five years when she'd thought her husband was holding her in the darkness, kissing her, making love to her, it hadn't been Preston at all.

It had been another man.

His best friend, Liam.

And Tanya had been the biggest fool of all.

She'd spent five years lost in the tender illusion Preston had created for her, believing she was the luckiest woman in the world.