Mag-log inCatherina Hanshaw Dalton has spent six years believing she lived a fairytale, married to billionaire Xavier Dalton, cherished by him, and building a life rooted in devotion, even amid one heartbreak she cannot control: their inability to have a child. Though Xavier assures her she is enough, Catherine senses his quiet disappointment, a wound deepened by the venomous hostility of his mother, Lydia Dalton. Lydia never misses a chance to insult Catherine’s infertility, idolize Xavier’s sister Mia and her children, or imply Xavier married beneath his status. Catherine endures it all, clinging to the one constant comfort, Xavier always defends her. Or so she believes. This Christmas, however, Catherine’s dread of another humiliating Dalton family gathering turns into confusion. Lydia is gracious….kind, even. The manor is full of relatives, business partners, and esteemed guests, including Hunter Powell, Xavier’s ruthless business rival. The brief moment when Cathy’s eyes meet Hunter unsettles her, but nothing prepares her for Lydia’s “special Christmas gift.” During the toast, Lydia presents Caroline Turner…a beautiful young woman who is allegedly four months pregnant through surrogacy…with Xavier’s child.
view moreCathy’s P.O.VThe pain hit slowly and deep across my cheek, radiating outward like something had been cracked open beneath the skin. My head had snapped to the side with the force of it and for a moment the room tilted, the furniture blurring at the edges, the fireplace light swaying.I blinked. And when my vision steadied, the first thing I focused on was Caroline.She was sitting exactly where she had been, her hands folded in her lap, but the corners of her mouth had shifted. Just slightly. Just enough. A small, private curve that she wasn't even trying to fully hide. She caught me looking and her eyes stayed steady on mine, unbothered and amused, the way someone watches a scene they have already seen the ending of.That look told me everything.This had not been an ambush born from Lydia's concern or Xavier's frustration. This had been arranged. They had sat in this room and waited for me to walk through that door and this, all of it, had been theater. And I was the only one who h
Cathy’s P.O.VThe Dalton mansion looked the same as it always did in the morning light.It looked cold, grand and perfectly arranged, like a painting that existed only to impress people who were passing by. The stone driveway curved wide and the hedges on either side were trimmed so precisely they looked almost artificial. I had driven through this entrance hundreds of times and never once felt like I was coming home.This morning felt no different.Except that it did, because the moment I rounded the bend in the driveway and the front of the house came fully into view, I saw it.A third car.Parked beside Xavier's and behind Caroline's rental, tight against the left side of the drive, was a sleek black vehicle I recognized without needing to read the plates. I had seen that car pull up to enough family dinners and formal events to know exactly who it belonged to.Lydia Dalton.My stomach tightened before my brain had even fully processed it. I pulled up slowly and sat in the car for
Cathy’s P.O.VThe elevator doors opened and the lobby of Hunter's building greeted me with its cold marble floors and its sharp, clean lighting. I walked through it slowly, my coat pulled tight around me, the prenup tucked inside my bag against my ribs.But my mind was still back upstairs, the whole conversations was still replaying in my head.Sophia, bathtub, gifts laid out beside her like a farewell arrangement. Death.I pushed through the revolving door and stepped outside and the cold hit me immediately, the kind that reaches through fabric and finds skin. I stood on the pavement for a moment and just breathed. The street was quieter than it had been when I arrived. Fewer cars. Fewer people. The city was settling into itself the way it does in the late hours, slower and softer but never fully still.Then I felt something. Something light and cold on my cheek. I looked up.Snow was falling. Small, unhurried flakes drifting down from a dark sky, catching the light from the streetla
Cathy’s P.O.VShe took her life. That statement kept repeating in my head over and over, like a broken tape recorder.She killed herself, ended her life because of a worthless man, because of a man who took advantage of her love and devotion.I turned it over in my mind slowly. Sophia. A girl I had never heard of. A girl who had existed, loved, and suffered, all before I ever walked into Xavier's life. And he had never once let her name pass his lips in my presence."What happened to her, how did she even kill herself without no one seeing her, no one to rescue her?" I asked, my voice was barely above a whisper.Hunter looked at me carefully, the way someone looks at another person before delivering news that cannot be taken back once it is spoken. He took a slow, deep breath and delivered the devastating news."Her body was found in her dorm room," he said. "In the bathtub. Both her wrists had been slit."I stopped breathing for a second."And beside her," Hunter continued, his voice
Cathy's P.O.V"Is that all I ever was to you?" I ask, and my voice sounds hollow, like it's coming from someone else entirely. "A money making machine? Is that all I've ever been?"My mother scoffs, waving her hand dismissively like my words are nothing more than a nuisance."You make barely forty
Cathy's P.O.VI look up at Hunter, a thought suddenly crossing my mind."Wait…how did you know about a prenup?" I ask. "How could you possibly know that Xavier made me sign one?"Hunter lets out a breath and crosses his arms over his chest, leaning against the dresser behind him."Think about it, C
Cathy's P.O.VI start to laugh. It's a strange, hollow sound that bubbles up from my chest before I can stop it."This is absurd," I say, shaking my head. "Hunter, this is completely absurd. Xavier couldn't have just pretended to love me for six years. Six entire years, just for the sake of some in
Cathy's P.O.VI stare at Hunter, my mouth falling open in shock."Divorce?" The word comes out as barely a whisper. "Hunter, Xavier and I have been together for six years. Six years. I can't just throw all that away without a proper confrontation. Without at least trying to understand what happened












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