Four

DREW POV

I’ve never been a believer in coincidence or second chances. Trusting that someone could change or make things right after a mistake has always seemed like a waste of energy to me. Ninety-nine percent of the time, people don’t change. They make excuses, repeat the same mistakes, and expect everyone else to forgive them.

But there is always that one percent.

The rare anomaly that makes you question everything you thought you understood.

For me, that anomaly was the woman currently lying in my home.

The longer I watched her, the harder it became to believe that this was nothing more than an unbelievable coincidence. She had Maeve’s face. Not similar features or the kind of resemblance people noticed in passing. She looked enough like my dead wife to make even me question what I was seeing.

The first time I saw Nadia was a month ago. I had been looking for Maeve. She had disappeared without warning, and for a brief moment, I believed she had run off with some bastard. Maeve had always been unpredictable, but disappearing without telling anyone wasn’t like her. I sent my men to look for her, and when they finally found the woman, I had been watching, I realized she wasn’t Maeve but a complete stranger wearing her face.

I remember standing across the street, staring at her while she walked into a café, completely unaware that someone was watching her.

At the time, I dismissed the resemblance as a strange coincidence.

I shouldn’t have. Because now Nadia was in my house, injured and barely survived.

Maeve had been missing for months. The only thing we had found was her car, which had exploded six months ago. There had been no body, no remains, and no explanation for what had happened to her. I had searched everywhere, questioned everyone who might have known something, and followed every lead my men brought to me, but nothing had ever led me to Maeve.

Then Nadia appeared.

A woman who looked exactly like my missing wife, only she wasn’t Maeve. She had her own name, her own life, and a husband who had tried to kill her.

The timing was too strange to ignore.

“Sir, breakfast is served.”

Nicholas’s voice came from the doorway, pulling me from my thoughts. I turned away from the window and looked at him.

“What about what I asked you to do?”

“Done, sir.”

He stepped into the room. “The clothes and jewelry have been delivered. I got everything from the best designers, just as you requested. The hairstylist will be here by twelve.”

“Okay. Good work.”

I walked toward the door, heading downstairs with Nicholas following behind me.

“And the agreement I asked for?”

“With me, sir.”

“Good.”

We reached the dining room, and I stopped the moment I saw her.

Nadia was already sitting at the table, dressed in one of the outfits I had ordered for her.

For a second, I couldn’t move. The dress suited her perfectly, but that wasn’t what caught my attention.

It was her face. With her hair styled and the bruises on her face beginning to fade, the resemblance was even more disturbing. Sitting there in my house, dressed like the kind of woman I remembered bringing into this room, she looked so much like Maeve that something inside my chest tightened.

Beautiful. Too beautiful. And too much like my wife.

Nadia noticed me standing there and slowly turned her head in my direction. Her expression changed when our eyes met, as though she could tell something had caught me off guard.

“Good morning,” she said.

I forced myself to move and took the chair at the head of the table. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.”

Nicholas placed a folder beside my plate before taking a step back. I opened it, but my attention kept drifting toward Nadia. She was eating quietly, occasionally glancing at her food as though she still wasn’t completely comfortable being here.

“Do I have something on my face?” she asked without looking up.

I raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“You’re staring,” she said, still not looking at me.

“I wasn’t. I’m trying to determine whether the clothes fit. I got you the same size as my wife.”

She finally looked at me. “And?”

“They fit.”

“Okay.”

Her tone was almost dismissive, and something about it amused me.

“You seem comfortable this morning.”

“I’ve had time to think.”

“About?” I asked.

She placed her fork down and met my eyes. “Your offer.”

I leaned back in my chair. “And?”

“I’ll do it.”

Nicholas looked between us. I had expected her to accept eventually, but hearing the words still felt different.

“Six months,” she continued. “Then I’m gone.”

“That was the agreement,” I said, watching her.

“And I want my own room,” she added.

I scoffed. “It would be in your dreams before we ever share a room.”

“Better,” she said. “I also want access to my own phone and money.”

“You’ll have both.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “And I don’t want you treating me like I’m some prisoner.”

“I have no reason to imprison you.”

“You threatened to bury me again yesterday.”

Nicholas lowered his head, clearly trying not to react. I looked at Nadia. “You were being difficult.”

“I was being sane,” she corrected. “Anybody in that situation would have done the same.”

A faint smile almost reached my mouth, but I stopped it before it could form.

She noticed anyway.

“Did you just smile?”

“No.”

“I never thought you knew how to smile.”

“I’d prefer you use that mouth of yours to chew. Eat your breakfast.”

She shook her head and picked up her fork again. For someone who had nearly died two days ago, she had a surprising amount of attitude. Maybe that was a good thing. Maeve had never been afraid to challenge me either.

I pushed the folder toward Nicholas. “Give her the agreement.”

He handed it to Nadia, and she opened the folder and began reading through the pages carefully. I watched her eyes move across the contract, making sure she understood what she was signing. After a few minutes, she looked up.

“There’s something missing.”

“What?”

“My new identity.”

“It isn’t missing. It’s being prepared.”

“What will my name be?”

I held her gaze. “Isabella Callahan.”

Her fingers tightened around the pages.

“You want me to use your wife’s name?”

“For six months, yes. You’re pretending to be her, so it makes more sense that way, don’t you think, Nadia?”

“And everyone is supposed to believe I’m her?”

“That’s the point.”

She looked down at the agreement again and slowly exhaled. “This is insane.”

“Probably.”

She gave me a suspicious look. “You’re not going to tell me anything about her?”

“You’ll learn everything you need to know with time.”

“And if I make a mistake?”

“You won’t.”

“How can you be so sure?”

I looked at her face again. Because she already looked like Maeve.

“I’m not,” I said.

Her brows drew together. “What does that mean?”

“It means you should ask fewer questions and do what you’re told.”

She stared at me for a moment before returning her attention to the contract.

“For the next three months, Nicholas will coach you,” I said, watching her carefully. “You’ll be shown videos of Isabella, and you’ll study her mannerisms, the way she speaks, the way she moves, and the way she carries herself. You need to know her well enough that nobody will question who you are.”

She nodded slowly.

“And take note of something,” I continued. “My wife wasn’t a weak woman. She was brutal when she needed to be, and she never allowed anyone to intimidate her. If you’re going to pretend to be Isabella, you need to learn that side of her too.”

Nadia looked at me for a moment before glancing down at the agreement again.

“So for three months, I become the perfect double?”

“Something like that.”

“And after that?”

“After that, you become fully Isabella Callahan.”

Her fingers tightened around the papers as she absorbed my words. “I hope your wife was worth all this trouble,” she muttered.

I held her gaze. “She was.”