Chapter 1

“Evelyn, Victoria's old room has been empty too long. It's damp. Could you move into the guest room for a while?”

Adrian stood in our bedroom doorway, one hand on the handle. Two of his captains waited silently farther down the hall. He spoke in the same matter-of-fact tone he used when giving them orders.

I looked at him. He had once come home after a tense meeting with the heads of allied families, dismissed his guards, and buried his face against my neck.

“With you, I don't have to watch every word I say.”

Now he was asking me to make room for someone else.

“I'll move my things.”

He paused, apparently expecting an argument, then reached for my bag.

“Let me help. You've been at work all day.”

I stepped past him.

“I can manage.”

I opened the wardrobe and began folding my clothes. My ceramic organizers stood on the dressing table, my succulents lined the balcony, and the oil Adrian had bought me sat beside the bed.

This was my room, too. I wasn't leaving it because Victoria had a better claim.

I was leaving because I had decided to go.

“Leave the oil,” Adrian said. “Victoria's been having trouble sleeping. That scent might help.”

He had searched three cities for it, telling me I needed proper rest after spending all day over drawings.

I put it in my toiletry bag.

“That was a gift to me. I'm keeping it.”

Before he could answer, Victoria walked in wearing the silk pajamas I'd bought yesterday. She carried a small velvet box.

“Packing already?” She glanced at my suitcase, then slipped her arm through Adrian's. “I know you two are married, but surely there's no harm in letting me have my old room?”

I looked at him.

He met my eyes without hesitation.

“It's only a room, Evelyn.”

Then he turned to the housekeeper.

“Have the guest room prepared for her.”

“Yes, Mr. Moretti.”

At Lily's school, he had proudly introduced me as her mother. At dinners with his captains and the heads of allied families, he had kept me beside him. “This is my wife, Evelyn.”

He hadn't forgotten we were married. He simply expected me to accept this.

I zipped up my suitcase.

Victoria held out the box.

“I brought you something from overseas. Matching keychains—one for you, one for Adrian. A little thank-you for looking after him and Lily all these years.”

She smiled brightly, as though five years of marriage and motherhood were a favor she could repay with a souvenir.

“Thank you, Victoria.”

I took out one keychain and offered it to him.

“Mr. Moretti. Yours.”

His hand stopped short of mine.

“Evelyn, do you have to call me that?”

His voice dropped into the softer tone he used when we were alone. He reached for my fingers instead of the keychain.

“That's what everyone calls you.”

I set it on the table before he could take my hand.

“Mommy! Where are you?”

Lily ran into the room barefoot, heading straight for me. I bent to pick her up, but Victoria crouched first and caught her in her arms.

“Not Mommy, sweetheart. That's Aunt Evelyn. I'm your mommy.”

Lily went still. She looked from Victoria to me.

“But Mommy picked me up from school.”

Victoria's smile tightened.

“That's because I wasn't here before. Now I'm back.”

“Why weren't you here?”

For a moment, no one answered.

Then Victoria pinched her cheek.

“I had important things to do overseas. They're finished now.”

Lily reached toward me.

“Mommy, hold me.”

Adrian stepped beside Victoria and stroked Lily's hair.

“Be good, Lily. She's the mommy who gave birth to you. Give her a kiss.”

Lily glanced at him, then back at me. After a long hesitation, she put her arms around Victoria's neck.

“Mommy.”

Victoria hugged her, leaning against Adrian. He put an arm around them both.

I had spent five years comforting Lily whenever she cried. Now I stood a few feet away while they taught her to call me something else.

“I'll be just down the hall, Lily.”

I picked up my suitcase and walked to the guest room.

The date I'd marked was still on my phone.

Three days until I left the Moretti estate.