Chapter 4

 He was waiting for my answer.

“No,” I answered. “I wouldn't have refused.”

“Excellent.”

He picked up his phone and checked a message.

“Wear something elegant. My mother dislikes surprises.”

I stood.

“Then she must hate you.”

His eyes lifted from his phone.

“What makes you say that?”

“Because you seem to enjoy making them.”

For a moment, he simply stared at me.

Then he laughed, not the polite laugh he had given me early but a genuine one. And I hated how different he looked when he did. 

“Careful, Alessandra,” he said. “You might start to enjoy my company.”

“Don't worry. I have excellent self-control.”

“We'll see.”

I turned toward the door.

“Wait.”

I stopped, Adrian walked back to his desk and took out a small velvet box.

He opened it, inside was a diamond ring. It was beautiful, an enormous oval diamond surrounded by smaller stones and mounted on a delicate platinum band.

I stared at it.

“This belonged to my grandmother,” he said. “It's traditionally given to the woman who becomes the wife of the eldest Monteverde heir.”

I looked from the ring to him.

“You're giving me a family heirloom?”

“It's part of the arrangement.”

“Of course it is.”

He took the ring from its box.

“May I?”

I hesitated for half a second before extending my hand, His fingers brushed mine as he slid the ring onto my finger.It fit perfectly, too perfectly.

I looked down at it, suddenly aware of how intimate the gesture felt.For one ridiculous moment, I imagined what it would be like if none of this were a lie.If he were simply a man giving a ring to a woman he loved.

Then I remembered my mother's funeral.The prison walls separating me from my father.The years I spent rebuilding my life from nothing.The fantasy disappeared.

“Thank you,” I said.

Adrian's gaze remained on my hand.

“You should know something about that ring.”

I looked up.

“What?”

“It was the only thing my grandmother left behind when she disappeared from this family.”

My heart skipped.

“Disappeared?”

He nodded.

“She left without telling anyone where she was going. Some people say she ran away. Others believe she was forced to leave.”

“And what do you believe?”

His expression became unreadable.

“I believe my family has a talent for making people disappear.”

A chill ran down my spine.For the first time, I wondered whether the ring was more than a family heirloom.Whether it was a warning or a clue.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

He closed the velvet box.

“Because you're about to become a Monteverde.”

He stepped closer.

“And once you're inside this family, Alessandra, you'll learn that not every secret is worth uncovering.”

I held his gaze.

“Maybe I don't have a choice.”

His eyes darkened.

“Everyone has a choice.”

Then he moved aside, allowing me to leave.I walked out of his office with the ring on my finger and a new question burning in my mind.

What had really happened to Adrian's grandmother?

And why did I have the unsettling feeling that her disappearance was somehow connected to my mother's death?

8:30 P.M. at MONTEVERDE MANSION

The mansion was even more intimidating than I had imagined.Tall iron gates. Perfectly trimmed gardens. Marble pillars. Windows glowing with warm golden light.

It was the kind of house people dreamed of living in.I could only think of it as a crime scene that had never been investigated.Adrian stood beside me as the car stopped in front of the entrance.

“Ready?” he asked.

I adjusted my dress.

“Born ready.”

He offered his arm, I stared at it for a moment before accepting.The doors opened before we could reach them.

And there she was, Celeste Monteverde.

Elegant, composed, and beautiful in the way only women who had never known financial insecurity could be.Her eyes moved over me, from my dress to the diamond ring on my finger.

Then she smiled, it was the kind of smile that never reached the eyes.

“So,” she said softly. “You're the woman my son intends to marry.”

I returned her smile.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Monteverde.”

She extended her hand, I took it. Her fingers closed around mine, then her gaze dropped to the ring again and suddenly the color drained from her face. 

She released my hand as if she had touched something burning.

“Where,” she whispered, “did you get that ring?”

Adrian frowned.

“Mother?”

But Celeste wasn't looking at him, she was staring at me. At the ring and at my face, and for the first time that night I saw something I had never expected to see in a Monteverde. Fear.

“Who are you?” she asked.

My heart began to pound, I forced myself to smile. 

“I'm Alessandra Vale, your son's fiancée.” Celeste shook her head slowly.

“No.”

Her voice trembled.

“No, that isn't possible.” Adrian stepped between us.

“Mother, what's wrong?”

She looked at her son, then back at me.

And when she spoke again, her words were barely audible.

“That ring…”

She swallowed hard.

“It's impossible. Because the woman who wore it before you died twenty-five years ago.”