Chapter 199

[Evelyn]

The scene keeps replaying in my head. I’m standing backstage, looking out at the crowd and glowing lights. Debrassy, that bastard, is glowing like a gem and standing next to him is that bitch, Miss Bluebird, the girl he’s worked so hard to keep away from me, but who is always around, her essence lingering, smelling like spring apricots.

Before this, we were never allowed to meet. At first, I thought it was a coincidence, that we were never in the same place at the same time. This whole time I thought she was the other woman, but it turns out that was always me. Even when she was just a child, he had planned to shape her, to groom her, to cut her rough edges and present her as a sparkling gem on his hand. Jessica Johnson Debrassy is his wife, his treasure, the mother of his heir–I’m nothing more than the rag he used to keep her clean. And our children together, our two sons, are nothing more than bastards bearing another man’s last name.

One day, when our son is old enough to