Chapter 1

Aria Lane had rehearsed this courtroom a hundred times.

The opening argument. The exhibits. The way she would stand when the judge called her name.

She had not rehearsed him.

"Counsel for the plaintiffs, are you ready?" Judge Whitmore asked.

"Yes, Your Honor." Aria pushed through the double doors in her black blazer, heels clicking on marble. Her pulse was steady. Her face was calm.

Then she looked at the defense table.

Her feet stopped.

Kai Sterling.

Dark suit. Sharp jaw. Those gray eyes she used to wake up to every morning.

Six years of silence. And he sat there like nothing had ever ended.

Zoe bumped into her back. "Aria? What's wrong?"

"Other table."

Zoe looked. Her mouth fell open. "Is that your ex-husband?"

"Zoe."

"Sorry. Breathing now."

Aria made her legs move. She set her files on the table and refused to turn her head.

She could feel him staring anyway. It burned across her skin like a hand.

Don't look, she told herself. Don't give him anything.

She looked.

Kai's eyes were already on her. Wide. Shocked. Then something softer.

She hated that it still made her chest ache.

"Ms. Lane. Mr. Sterling," the judge said. "Preliminary hearing, Harmon Shareholders versus Ashford Global. State your appearances."

Aria stood. "Aria Lane, Lane and Park, for the plaintiffs."

Her voice didn't shake. She was proud of that.

Kai rose slowly. "Kai Sterling, Sterling Pierce Group, for Ashford Global."

That voice. Deep. Low. Exactly the same.

Behind him, a man in a navy suit smiled at her. Smooth. Polished. Too friendly.

Jaxon Pierce.

Her stomach turned. That smile had stood at her wedding. It had also stood at the door the day she left.

"Ms. Lane," Jaxon said warmly. "What a pleasure. It's been too long."

"Not long enough."

A young associate beside him hid a grin behind her notepad. Long dark hair. Red lipstick. Her name tag read Mila Reyes. Her eyes flicked from Aria to Kai and back again. Curious. Calculating.

Great, Aria thought. Another one watching.

"Ms. Lane," the judge said. "Your opening."

Aria walked to the center of the room. She looked at the judge. Only the judge.

"Your Honor, three thousand employees lost their pensions overnight when Ashford swallowed Harmon Industries. Ashford calls it an accident."

She paused.

"It was a plan. They hid the numbers. They moved the money. And they destroyed the records that prove it."

"Objection," Kai said, rising. "Speculation."

"Sustained. Stick to evidence, Ms. Lane."

"Of course." Aria smiled. Thin. Sharp. "The evidence will speak for itself."

"Which she has yet to produce," Kai said.

"Because your client has stalled discovery for three months."

"Ashford has complied fully."

"Ashford has complied with nothing."

"Counsel," the judge warned.

Kai turned his head, just slightly, and met her eyes across the room. For one second, the lawyer vanished. He looked at her the way he used to look at her across their kitchen table, over burnt toast and legal briefs.

Aria's grip tightened on her pen.

Not here. Not now.

"I'll allow a limited discovery order," Judge Whitmore said at last, looking between them like she was watching a tennis match. "Submit your requests by Friday."

Aria sat down. Zoe leaned close.

"You were terrifying," she whispered. "Also, he looks like a kicked puppy."

"He's a shark."

"A shark with puppy eyes. It's a lot."

The hearing ended twenty minutes later. Every point Kai scored, Aria scored back. When the gavel fell, her hands were shaking under the table.

She gathered her papers too fast. She needed air.

She made it three steps into the hallway before Jaxon fell into stride beside her.

"Aria. Let's not be enemies."

"Enemies would require me to think about you."

He chuckled. "Still sharp. Kai always said you were the best he ever trained."

"Kai said a lot of things."

"He did." Jaxon's smile thinned. "He's emotional about you, you know. It makes him sloppy. Don't let him talk you into anything."

"Is that a threat?"

"Friendly advice." He tapped her folder twice. "Ashford is worth four billion dollars. Your little boutique firm is worth one bad lawsuit. Think about that."

He walked away whistling.

Zoe peeled herself off a pillar. "I hate him. Can I hate him? I'm hating him."

"Quietly."

Behind them, Mila Reyes stood at the end of the corridor, phone to her ear. She wasn't talking. She was watching.

Aria was almost at the doors when a hand caught her wrist.

Warm. Familiar.

Her whole body went still.

"Aria."

Kai stood inches away. Cedar and something clean. The same cologne. He had never changed it.

"Let go."

He did, instantly. "I didn't know it was you. I swear. I only saw the file last night. It said Lane and Park. I thought it was a coincidence."

"Then recuse yourself."

"It's not a legal conflict." His voice dropped. "You know that."

She did. She hated that she did.

"Fine. Here's how this works." She stepped closer, close enough that he stopped breathing. "We're opposing counsel. Nothing more. You call me Ms. Lane. You don't text. You don't show up at my office with coffee and that look."

"What look?"

"That one."

A tiny smile tugged at his mouth. "I don't have a look."

"One rule, Kai. Keep it professional. The second you cross the line, I file a motion and walk."

He stared at her. Beneath his open collar, she caught the thin line of a silver chain. She did not ask.

He nodded. "Understood."

She turned to leave.

"Aria." His voice cracked. "You look good."

Her heart did something stupid.

"Goodbye, Mr. Sterling."

The elevator doors closed. Zoe pounced.

"Details. Did he apologize? Beg? Cry?"

"He said I looked good."

"That's it? Disgusting. I'd have thrown my shoe."

Aria laughed. Short. Shaky. The first real breath she'd taken all morning.

Then it faded. She leaned against the mirrored wall and closed her eyes. Her wrist still tingled where he'd touched it.

Stupid.

Six years ago, she had found a memo on his desk. His signature at the bottom. Proof that he had sold her out for the partnership.

She had packed one suitcase that night. She had left her ring on the pillow.

He hadn't even chased her.

"You okay?" Zoe asked softly.

"No."

"Want to get drunk at eleven a.m.?"

"I want to win this case."

"Same thing, with paperwork."

The doors opened onto the lobby. Aria reached into her bag for her phone, and her fingers brushed her case folder.

Something was tucked inside the cover. A yellow sticky note, folded once.

She hadn't put it there.

She unfolded it. The handwriting was neat. Slanted. Achingly familiar.

Don't trust Jaxon. Ask him who signed the memo.

Her blood turned to ice.

The memo.

The one that had ended her marriage. The one only three people in the world knew about.

"Aria?" Zoe whispered. "What does it say?"

Aria looked up. Through the glass doors, Kai stood on the courthouse steps. Alone. Watching her.

He didn't wave. He didn't smile.

He lowered his gaze to the note in her hand and gave one slow, deliberate nod.

Her heart slammed against her ribs.

What did you do, Kai?

And what did I get wrong?