Chapter 1

The moment Hannah Winters stepped into Silverthorne Manor, she knew something was wrong.

The grand hall was a wreck. Clothes lay scattered across the marble floor, as if someone had torn them off in a hurry.

A strange, heavy hush hung in the air. Then she heard it: a woman's soft moans, and a man's low, ragged breathing, drifting down the corridor.

Hannah's heart sank.

Step by step, she followed the sound. Her fingers went cold.

It was coming from the master bedroom, her bedroom, the one she shared with her husband, Lucas Hale.

Her mind went white. Her whole body began to shake.

But her hand moved before her thoughts could catch up. She grabbed the handle and shoved the door open.

What she saw froze her where she stood.

Two figures tangled together on her wedding bed, so lost in each other they had forgotten the world existed.

"Luke... faster... please..."

The woman's voice was sweet and shameless. The man's answering groan was thick with pleasure.

Then the door banged against the wall, and the spell shattered. They sprang apart as if struck by lightning.

The woman shrieked and snatched the blanket, dragging it over her head and body. The man stared at the doorway, pale and speechless.

"Lucas Hale!"

Hannah's voice cracked like a whip. "What do you think you're doing?"

She could barely breathe. Her husband and her best friend, Victoria Ashford, in that bed. Her stomach twisted until she thought she would be sick.

"Hannah..."

Lucas scrambled to pull on his trousers, his face drained of color. "Why... why are you home so early?"

Victoria clutched the blanket, shrinking back, one hand still searching the sheets for her clothes.

Hannah's fury burst its banks. She swung her bag with all her strength and hurled it at him.

"How could you do this to me? You bastard!"

Her voice broke with rage and grief.

Lucas ducked and flinched, not daring to strike back. "Hannah, stop! Let me explain! Vicky and I aren't what you think!"

"You're half-naked in my bed with her! What else could it possibly be?"

Something inside her snapped. She spun around, ripped the blanket from Victoria's body, seized her long hair, and slapped her again and again.

"Victoria, how could you? I trusted you! I called you my best friend, and you crawled into my husband's bed behind my back! Have you no shame at all?"

Her eyes burned with hatred and heartbreak.

Victoria thrashed to get away, tears streaming down her face. "Ow! It hurts! Hannah, you've got it wrong! Not my face, please, not my face!"

She cupped her cheek and turned to him, sobbing. "Luke, help me! Hannah's hitting me so hard... hic..."

"Hannah, enough!"

Lucas panicked. Seeing his wife wild with rage and Victoria begging for rescue, he seized Hannah and threw her to the floor.

Then he stepped in front of Victoria, shielding her, his brows knitted and his eyes blazing.

"Have you lost your mind? Why would you hit Vicky? I told you it's not what you think!"

Hannah hit the floor hard. Pain shot through her hip, but she barely felt it. The fury in her chest was far stronger, and her whole body shook with it.

She stared up at them and pointed, her voice rough and hoarse. "Lucas, you pushed me. Even now, you're protecting her? You two are shameless!"

Her chest heaved. Everything she had swallowed, every ounce of hurt and resentment, was rising to the surface.

She had never imagined the man she loved so deeply would betray her, and then stand so proudly beside another woman.

Lucas spread his hands, looking almost wounded. "Hannah, you really have misunderstood. Vicky and I..."

"Misunderstood?" Hannah cut in, her voice shaking with scorn. "You're my husband, Lucas! You slept with another woman behind my back, and now you tell me I'm the one who misunderstood? Have you no shame?!"

Victoria, pulling her dress on, let out a soft, trembling sob.

"Hannah... you can't have children. Luke has always wanted a child of his own. I couldn't bear to watch him suffer, so I stood by him."

She dabbed at her eyes. "We've wanted to tell you for so long, but we were afraid it would break you. Everything we did was for your sake."

Hannah almost laughed. Her rage was so great it twisted into disbelief.

They had betrayed her in her own home, and they dared to call it a kindness? She had never heard anything so absurd.

She glared at Victoria. "Victoria, you have no conscience at all. Listen to yourself! You did this for my sake? You're nothing but a thick-skinned, shameless snake!"

Victoria's eyes reddened, and a flicker of resentment crossed her face.

"Hannah, please don't speak so cruelly," Lucas said, as if he were the reasonable one. "Don't you understand our situation?"

He lowered his voice. "The only reason I'm with Vicky is that I need an heir. If I find another woman anyway, why not Vicky? She's your friend. Once she gives birth, you can raise the child. That way you can face my parents and give them the answer they want. Isn't that fair?"

He added quickly, "Vicky promised she won't break up our marriage. After the baby is born, nothing more will happen between us."

Then his gaze softened, and he looked at Hannah with something that almost resembled tenderness.

"Hannah, in the end, it's still you I love."