Chapter 3

By noon, Hailey Stewart would become a widow.

She just didn’t know it yet.

Calvin Blake was the adopted son of the Blake family’s second son. He had been abandoned on a snowy day as a baby, and the Blake matriarch had taken him in and raised him as part of the family.

Now, he lay motionless on a hospital bed.

His face was pale and thin. Machines surrounded him, their steady sounds filling the quiet room.

After initially being told to remain at the estate, Hailey had been brought to the hospital when Calvin’s condition suddenly worsened.

Now she stood beside the bed, staring at the husband she had married only that morning.

So this was Calvin Blake.

A stranger.

Her husband.

And judging by his condition, a dying man.

“Stop standing there like a statue,” Rowena Harver snapped. “If you can’t help, move aside.”

Hailey quietly stepped back.

Rowena was Calvin’s mother and Hailey’s new mother-in-law. She looked exhausted, as though she had not slept properly in days.

A servant entered carrying a basin of warm water.

Rowena took the cloth herself and gently wiped Calvin’s face and hands.

Her red eyes never left him.

She had no children of her own. Calvin was the child she had raised and loved as her own son.

Watching her, Hailey’s irritation disappeared.

Whatever Hailey thought about this strange marriage, Rowena’s pain was real.

Then Calvin’s fingers moved.

Hailey blinked.

Had she imagined it?

His fingers twitched again.

“Mrs. Harver…”

Before Hailey could finish, Calvin’s eyelids slowly opened.

Rowena froze.

“Calvin?”

His eyes moved weakly.

“Calvin!”

Rowena jumped to her feet.

“Get the doctor! Quickly!”

The servant rushed from the room.

Hailey stared at the man on the bed.

He had awakened.

On the same morning they had gotten married.

For one foolish second, Hailey remembered what the Blake family believed about her horoscope.

Had their ridiculous plan actually worked?

Calvin slowly looked around the room.

Then his gaze stopped on Hailey.

His eyes were weak, but surprisingly clear.

“Who…” His voice was barely a whisper. “Who are you?”

Hailey’s heart tightened.

Rowena immediately looked at her.

Hailey understood.

She stepped closer to the bed.

“I’m Hailey Stewart.”

She hesitated before forcing out the next words.

“Your wife.”

Calvin stared at her.

Then, unexpectedly, he smiled.

Hailey had prepared herself to meet a bitter, sick man who might resent being married to a stranger.

Instead, his smile was gentle.

“I didn’t think…” Calvin whispered. “I’d live long enough to have a wife.”

Rowena’s face changed.

“What nonsense are you saying?”

Her voice trembled despite her attempt to sound angry.

“You’re going to recover. You and Hailey will have plenty of time together.”

Calvin gave his mother a tired smile.

They both knew she was trying to convince herself.

His gaze returned to Hailey.

“Even if it’s only for a little while…”

He struggled for another breath.

“We’re husband and wife now.”

Hailey suddenly found it difficult to look at him.

She had never wanted this marriage.

She had spent last night trying to escape the thought of it.

Yet the man lying in front of her had done nothing to deserve her resentment.

“Please,” Calvin whispered.

Hailey looked at him again.

“Take care of my mother after I’m gone.”

Rowena immediately shook her head.

“Stop talking like that!”

But Hailey saw something in Calvin’s eyes.

Acceptance.

Her chest tightened.

Half an hour later, Calvin Blake was dead.

Before taking his final breath, he asked his mother not to blame Hailey for anything.

The woman who had become his bride that morning was a widow before noon.

---

Across the city, Travis Blake sat at the head of a long conference table.

An executive was halfway through his presentation when Travis’s phone vibrated.

Travis normally ignored calls during meetings.

This time, he glanced at the screen.

A message from the Blake family.

His expression changed.

Calvin was dead.

Travis raised one hand.

The executive immediately stopped speaking.

“Cancel the rest of the meeting.”

Everyone looked at him.

“We’ll continue tomorrow.”

Travis stood and left.

No one questioned him.

Within the Blake family, Travis held enormous influence despite his age. In business, he was known for being cold, decisive, and difficult to challenge.

But Calvin’s death was different.

They were not related by blood, but they had grown up as family.

And family was family.

---

By the time Travis reached the hospital, Calvin’s body was being prepared for the morgue.

He stood silently beside the bed for several moments.

No one disturbed him.

After paying his respects, Travis went to check on Rowena.

She had collapsed from grief and had been sedated.

When Travis entered the private room, someone was already sitting beside her bed.

A young woman.

Hailey.

She was watching over Rowena when a servant quietly entered.

“Young Madam, the eldest master is here.”

Hailey looked up.

The eldest master?

She had heard enough about Travis Blake to know his reputation.

Powerful.

Cold.

Untouchable.

She had never met him.

At least, she thought she hadn’t.

Footsteps approached.

Hailey turned toward the door.

Then she froze.

Her heart nearly stopped.

No.

It couldn’t be.

Travis stepped into the room.

His gaze moved across the room before landing on Hailey.

He stopped.

Recognition flashed in his eyes.

Hailey forgot how to breathe.

The stranger from the hotel.

The man she had spent the night with.

He was Travis Blake.

Her dead husband’s cousin.

And one of the most powerful members of the family she had just married into.

Travis’s expression turned cold.

“Everyone out.”

The servants exchanged nervous looks before immediately obeying.

Hailey stood as well.

She had almost reached the door when his voice stopped her.

“You stay.”

Hailey closed her eyes for half a second.

Of course.

She turned around.

Once the servants were gone, Travis stared at her.

“What are you doing here?”

Hailey almost laughed.

Of all the men she could have met last night, why did it have to be him?

She forced herself to remain calm.

“I’m Hailey Stewart.”

Travis’s eyes narrowed.

“Calvin Blake’s wife.”

She paused.

“Or his widow now.”

Silence.

For the first time since entering the room, Travis looked genuinely surprised.

His gaze sharpened.

“You’re Calvin’s wife?”

“I was.”

Travis studied her as if seeing her for the first time.

Then suspicion entered his expression.

“Are you the replacement Denver Stewart sent?”

Hailey’s mouth curved into a humorless smile.

“Your family wanted someone with the right horoscope badly enough to save Calvin. Did anyone bother asking how many daughters Denver Stewart actually has?”

Travis went silent.

That answer explained one mystery.

But it created another.

His eyes hardened again.

“If you’re Denver Stewart’s daughter, what were you doing at that hotel last night?”

Hailey knew exactly what he meant.

He still thought she was Belle.

Her embarrassment immediately turned to anger.

“You really think I do that for a living?”

“You were carrying the rose.”

“And you never bothered listening when I told your man he had the wrong person.”

Travis paused.

Hailey continued before he could speak.

“I’m not Belle. I never took your money.”

His expression changed.

The room became painfully quiet.

Hailey folded her arms.

“Now do you understand?”

Travis stared at her.

Pieces of the previous night were clearly falling into place.

The hesitation.

The nervousness.

Her claim that it was her first time.

Everything he had dismissed.

“You knew there was a mistake,” he said finally.

Hailey’s expression faltered.

She couldn't deny that part.

“I figured it out.”

“And you stayed.”

Hailey looked away.

That was the part she hated remembering.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Her eyes snapped back to him.

“That is none of your business.”

Travis’s jaw tightened.

Neither of them spoke for several seconds.

The situation was absurd.

Last night, they had been strangers.

This morning, Hailey had married his cousin.

Now Calvin was dead.

And Travis had discovered that the woman he thought was Belle had never been Belle at all.

Hailey finally broke the silence.

“Don't worry. I don't plan to tell anyone what happened.”

Travis’s gaze sharpened.

“Neither do I.”

“Good.”

They should have been finished.

Instead, neither moved.

Then Hailey remembered something else.

The woman's name Travis had murmured last night.

Luna.

Until now, Hailey had assumed Luna was merely someone connected to Travis through business.

After last night, she knew better.

Whoever Luna was, she mattered to him.

A lot.

Hailey pushed the thought away.

It had nothing to do with her.

Travis Blake could love whoever he wanted.

And whatever had happened between them last night had been a mistake.

A mistake that could never happen again.

Travis turned toward the door.

Before leaving, he looked back at her.

“Take care of Rowena.”

Hailey glanced at the sleeping woman.

“I will.”

Travis left.

Hailey slowly sat beside Rowena again.

Only after the door closed did she release the breath she had been holding.

In less than twenty-four hours, she had watched her ex-boyfriend celebrate his engagement, spent the night with a stranger, married a dying man, become a widow, and discovered that the stranger was one of the most powerful men in her new family.

Hailey rubbed her forehead.

What else could possibly happen?

Then she remembered Travis’s face when she told him the truth.

He knew now.

She was not Belle.

And somehow, Hailey had a feeling that realization was going to cause far more trouble than either of them expected.