Never Yours to Keep

Dylan Mallory, Zeke Danforth, and Arthur Gaskell were each powerful enough to make the entire city of Harvessa bend to their will.

When all three men insisted on marrying Charlotte Lair, the whole city erupted in gossip. They were so powerful that even the law hadn't been able to stop them.

Harvessa's socialites and wealthy heiresses couldn't stop talking about the arrangement. As much as they gossiped, though, they couldn't help envying Charlotte.

Most women would have considered themselves lucky to marry even one of those men. Charlotte had married all three.

So why was she here, trying to divorce all three men without their consent?

The clerk was dying to ask, but she didn't dare. Instead, she quietly began processing the paperwork.

Once she'd finished, she handed the documents back to Charlotte and said, "Your request has been filed. The paperwork should be ready in a few days. Please allow us some time to process it."

Charlotte nodded and tucked the documents into her purse. She'd barely left the courthouse when three messages came in, one after another.

The first was from Dylan. "One of the staff said you weren't home. Where'd you go?"

Zeke's came next. "Charlotte, who said you could just run off?"

Arthur's message was blunt. "Be here in 30 minutes."

He'd also sent a location pin and a private room number.

Charlotte stared at the messages for a long moment before hailing a cab to Nocturne.

As she approached the private room, she heard someone speaking inside.

"You three have been married to Charlotte for three years now, and you can't stand being apart from her. You can't even hang out with friends without bringing her along. Don't tell me you've actually fallen for her."

All three men frowned, their expressions darkening slightly.

Dylan replied coolly, "Fall for her? She's no different from my housekeeper. Would you fall for yours?"

Zeke's lips curved into a faint smirk. "Everyone knows who we're really in love with."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Who'd ever fall for a stand-in?"

The room burst into laughter.

Charlotte stood outside the door, listening in silence.

Of course they wouldn't fall for a stand-in. They'd only chosen Charlotte because they missed Hazel Worsley, who had gone overseas.

If Hazel had never left, none of them would have given Charlotte a second look.

Everyone in Harvessa's high society knew that Dylan, Zeke, and Arthur were in love with Hazel Worsley. She was the darling of the city's social scene, and she'd grown up with all three of them.

But just as they were finally ready to confess their feelings, Hazel suddenly left the country.

The three men were used to getting whatever they wanted. But with Hazel gone, they finally knew what it felt like to want someone they couldn't have.

Then Charlotte came along. She looked so much like Hazel that all three men wanted her for themselves.

None of them would back down. They turned their wealth and influence against one another, fighting bitterly over Charlotte simply because she had Hazel's face.

In the end, they agreed to share her.

Once they had their three marriage certificates, the men worked out a schedule.

Charlotte spent Mondays and Tuesdays with Dylan, Wednesdays and Thursdays with Zeke, and Fridays and Saturdays with Arthur. On Sundays, she belonged to all three.

Charlotte pushed open the door and walked in, her expression unchanged despite the laughter coming from inside.

The room fell silent.

Dylan, Zeke, and Arthur lounged in the center of the couch, their legs crossed as they looked her over.

"Come here."

Dylan motioned for her to come closer, his tone leaving no room for argument.

The others watched, eager for a show.

Dylan pointed to the dozens of glasses of liquor on the table and said flatly, "Drink them all."

Charlotte couldn't hold her liquor, and all three men knew it. Still, she forced herself to drink one glass after another, her face growing paler with each one. No one spoke up for her.

By the time she finished, her stomach burned so badly she could hardly stand it.

Zeke glanced up at Charlotte, who had slumped to one side, clutching her chest. For a moment, there was a hint of pity in his eyes, but it quickly gave way to indifference.

"It's just a few drinks. Stop being so dramatic. It's not going to kill you. Now get over here. Can't you see my ashtray's full?"

He leaned back on the couch, a cigar held between his fingers. The dim lighting only made his handsome features stand out more.

Charlotte coughed a few times before slowly making her way over to him. She reached for the ashtray on the table, but he stopped her.

"Who told you to empty it? Hold out your hands."

He actually expected her to catch his cigar ash in her bare hands.

Charlotte hesitated, her gaze lingering on the mole beside Zeke's eye. In the end, she said nothing and held out both hands.

Hot cigar ash fell into her palms, and she froze for a moment at the searing pain.

Suddenly, Arthur grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her toward him. He pulled a handkerchief from his jacket and began scrubbing at her palms.

"How dare you do something like that when you look just like Hazel?"

He rubbed so hard that Charlotte winced.

"You're hurting me."

Arthur stopped scrubbing her hands and shoved her away.

"Who said you could talk? Don't you know your voice sounds nothing like Hazel's?"

Already unsteady from all the liquor she'd drunk, Charlotte stumbled backward from the shove. Her back slammed into the coffee table, and she went pale with pain.

The others simply watched, enjoying the spectacle.

Someone even decided to stir up more trouble. "Charlotte, which of the three do you like best?"

All eyes turned to her, waiting for an answer.

Charlotte looked up, about to answer, when a knock came at the door.

Dylan's assistant hurried in. "Mr. Mallory, the piano Ms. Worsley's been wanting is up for auction at Vellmont Auctions!"

Dylan, Zeke, and Arthur shot to their feet and rushed for the door. Clearly, all three were determined to get their hands on that piano.

Once the three men were gone, everyone else lost interest. They grabbed their coats and left too.

Charlotte watched them go, then gave a faint smile as she finally answered the question.

"I don't love any of them."

The men were right about one thing. No one fell in love with a stand-in.

What they didn't know was that they were stand-ins themselves.

Charlotte had chosen all three to replace Max Novak, the man she'd loved before he died. Dylan had Max's eyes, Zeke had a mole in the same spot beside his eye, and Arthur had his lips.

That was the only reason she'd put up with them for three years.

Recently, though, she'd come across someone in a photo database who looked even more like Max. She no longer had to put up with three different men just to catch glimpses of him in each of them.

That was why she'd gone to the courthouse and filed for divorce from all three without their consent.

Now she was going to find the person who looked even more like Max.