Chapter 2

I think it was around the time he finally shed the name "the Dawson driver's son" and became Mr. Cole.

The business dinners started, and they never stopped. He came home with cheap perfume on his shirt, sharp enough to sting.

When I looked at him with a question on my face, he smiled. "It's on one of the partners, sweetheart. Don't read into it."

I believed him.

One flimsy excuse after another, spending down the trust I handed him without conditions.

Once he had the company completely in hand, he stopped bothering with the act at all.

And I was still sitting inside the cage he'd built out of love, too far in to climb out.

The first time I caught him was at the surprise party I threw for his birthday.

I'd rented a yacht. Everyone waited until they were exhausted and the guest of honor never showed. In the end I had someone pull his location, and it said he was at the office, working late.

The whole way over I was silently scolding him for never resting.

I pushed open his office door still carrying the cake I'd made by hand.

There was a half-eaten candlelit dinner on his desk. Underwear scattered across the floor. And, the part I still can't get over, two bodyguards posted outside his private lounge.

When I kicked the door in, there wasn't a flicker of panic on his face. He pulled the blanket up over the woman under him, gently, to spare her, then grabbed a towel for himself.

When he finally looked up at me, he was cold as a block of ice.

"Shut the door. You may not have any shame left, but she does."

He was so calm that it made me look like the clown in the room.

I went at her like something feral, trying to drag the woman who'd wrecked my marriage out of that bed. One of his bodyguards slapped me hard enough that the room spun.

In the middle of it, I finally saw her face.

It was the young nurse who'd changed his dressings after he collapsed and was hospitalized.

She burst into tears. "Please don't misunderstand. I only came by to drop off some medicine for him. I never wanted to come between you two. We'd had a little to drink, we weren't thinking straight, that's the only reason—"

Nathan pressed his lips together, his eyes flat and cold on me.

"Vivian. I'm warning you. Don't lay a hand on her."

So he'd been cheating that early.

All that talk about flowers meaning love. They were just something he picked up on the way home to smooth things over with the wife after a good night out.

After that, the women rotated with the dinners. Glass after glass, one after another.

He stopped caring how I felt. He stopped caring about anything to do with me. As though only money, standing, and a different woman in his bed could make him feel like his life meant anything.

I went numb inside the gap between who he'd been and what he became.

Until one day I stopped expecting him to walk through the door at all.

I let Bianca's sneering go. I went upstairs, got my passport and a few other documents, and came back down.

She was going through the handbag I'd left on the sofa.

My breath stopped. I crossed the room and snatched it back.

She held her hands open and rolled her eyes. "There's nothing worth stealing in there. Why so jumpy?"

I felt for the hospital paperwork at the very bottom of the bag. Still there. I let out a breath.

Then she came and stood in front of me, and her mouth split into a grin.

"You're pregnant, aren't you?

"I saw the prenatal vitamins in there.

"You know Nathan can't stand children. If he finds out, there's no chance he lets you keep it.

"So take my advice. Get rid of it now, before—"

That was exactly when Nathan came back.

He glanced at me, offhand. "Did you drop something?"

I smiled and slid the documents back into the bag. "It's nothing."

He was quiet for a beat. Then, as I turned to go, he pulled out two cards and held them toward me.

"Presidential suite at the Grand Azure. Stay there for now.

"There's ten million dollars on this one. Use it.

"Yesterday, I really did have something."

Something. Hiking through snow for Bianca's chestnut cake counted as something.

Standing there looking at him, all I felt was revulsion.

I smiled, sweetly.

A second later my hand cracked across his face.

I shook out my stinging palm. The smile never moved.

"You're disgusting, Nathan.

"A driver's son who fell into a lucky break and turned into somebody. Did you forget how you used to beg me to help you through it?"

I'd never said anything that cruel to him. He didn't hit back, but his face went dark.

Before he could do anything at all, Bianca picked up an ashtray and swung it into the side of my head.

Warm blood ran down from my temple. The room tipped. The lights in the front hall turned suddenly unbearable, and I could barely stay on my feet.

Martha rushed over and caught me.

She shouted at Nathan, frantic. "Mr. Cole! You don't know what she's—"