CHAPTER 6.

Grace’s POV.

The air in the room didn’t just turn cold.

It vanished.

My eyes locked onto Ryan, and for a terrifying second the world tilted on its axis. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird, frantic and painful. My legs turned to water.

“It can’t be him.”

But it was.

Ryan.

The man who had promised me forever and then destroyed me.

And beside him, looking equally horrified, was Chloe—the woman he had destroyed me for.

Chloe recovered first.

Her gaze raked over me, sharp and predatory, taking in the designer dress, the diamonds, the way I stood beside Sebastian. I watched the confusion in her eyes slowly curdle into something darker.

Jealousy.

Venomous and instant.

I wanted to run.

Every instinct in my body screamed at me to turn around, sprint out the front door, and never look back.

But then a hand settled on the small of my back.

It wasn’t comforting.

It was heavy. Possessive.

Sebastian’s fingers pressed into the silk of my dress, grounding me… trapping me. The heat of his palm was a silent command.

“Stand your ground.”

“Father,” Sebastian’s voice sliced through the silence, smooth and indifferent. “I’d like you to meet Isabella. My wife.”

My wife.

I forced my lips to curve into a polite smile. It felt like my face had turned to plaster.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Knight,” I said.

My voice sounded foreign to my own ears—far steadier than I felt.

Scrape.

Ryan’s chair shrieked against the floor as he shot to his feet.

“Your wife?” he choked out.

His gaze snapped between Sebastian and me, his face draining of color, disbelief widening his eyes.

“Grace? That’s who you married?”

He stepped toward me, ignoring the table between us.

“Grace? What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded. “When did you change your name?”

The sound of my real name in this house felt like a gunshot.

“Ryan!” Chloe hissed, grabbing his arm.

He shook her off.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Ryan spat, his voice rising, trembling with shock and rage. “You think a new dress and a fake name can fool me? I know you.”

Then he turned to Sebastian, a cruel, disbelieving laugh bubbling out of him.

“You married her?” he said incredulously. “You brought my leftovers into our father’s house and put a ring on her finger?”

“Leftovers.”

The word hung in the air.

Ugly.

Visceral.

I felt sick. For a moment I wanted to shrink into the floor. To cry. To scream.

But I wasn’t Grace anymore.

Grace was weak.

Grace was a victim.

“Isabella was a Knight.”

I drew in a slow, deliberate breath, forcing my spine straight.

Then I looked at Ryan.

I tilted my head slightly, my brows furrowing in polite confusion.

“I’m afraid there has been a mistake,” I said calmly. “My name is Isabella Reeds. I have never met you before in my life.”

“Don’t lie to me!” Ryan shouted, pointing a finger in my face.

“Stop the act! You’re Grace. You’re the poor little teacher who couldn’t afford rent!”

“Ryan, that is enough.”

Sebastian didn’t shout.

He didn’t have to.

He simply stepped forward, placing his body between Ryan and me. Blocking me completely from view.

A solid wall of black wool and simmering violence.

Sebastian looked at his stepbrother with an expression of pure, unadulterated boredom.

“You sound unhinged,” Sebastian said quietly. “Is this a side effect of your medication?”

A beat passed.

“Or are you just drunk?”

“I’m not drunk!” Ryan snapped. “That is Grace! I dated her for a year! Check her background, Sebastian. You’ve been scammed.”

“I have checked her background.”

Sebastian didn’t blink.

Didn’t hesitate.

He spoke with the absolute arrogance of a man who decided what the truth was.

“I have seen her birth certificate. I have met her family, the Reeds. I know exactly who my wife is.”

Then Sebastian stepped closer to Ryan.

Just enough to force him back a step.

“Now,” Sebastian continued softly, his voice turning lethal, “you are insulting my wife. You are embarrassing yourself in front of our father.”

A pause.

“And you are boring me.”

He tilted his head.

“Sit down.”

Ryan opened his mouth to argue.

But the sheer force of Sebastian’s confidence made him falter.

His eyes flicked back to me, searching my face for a crack in the mask.

I didn’t give him one.

I stood perfectly still, looking at him with the distant pity of a stranger.

“Sit down, Ryan.”

The older man at the head of the table finally spoke.

Gerald Knight’s voice was dry and rattling with age, yet it carried unmistakable authority.

“You are making a scene over a resemblance,” he said calmly. “It is unbecoming.”

Ryan clenched his jaw so hard I thought his teeth might crack.

He shot me one last look—filled with hatred and lingering suspicion—before finally dropping back into his chair.

“My apologies,” he muttered.

But his eyes never left me.

“The resemblance is… uncanny.”

“Come, Isabella.”

Sebastian’s hand returned to my back.

He guided me to the seat directly across from Ryan.

I sat down carefully, smoothing my dress as my heart continued slamming against my ribs like a sledgehammer.

The table was set with crystal and silver.

Beautiful.

Cold.

Sebastian settled into the chair beside me, the picture of relaxed power—as if he hadn’t just silenced his own brother in front of their entire family.

I picked up my napkin and placed it on my lap, hiding the tremble in my hands.

Across the table, Chloe stared at me.

Her knife dug into the tablecloth as she gripped it.

Ryan stared down at his drink, his knuckles white.

The silence that descended over the table was heavy.

Suffocating.

Thick with danger.

Sebastian poured a glass of water and slid it toward me.

Then he leaned closer, his lips brushing my ear.

To everyone else, it looked like a private whisper between newlyweds.

“Breathe,” he murmured softly.

“If you fall apart now, I will leave you to the wolves.”

I swallowed and took a sip of water.

I had survived the introduction.

But as I looked across the table at Ryan’s darkening eyes, I knew this wasn’t over.

He didn’t believe the lie.

He was just waiting for me to slip.

I was trapped in a lion’s den.

And the only thing protecting me…

was the monster sitting beside me.