Chapter 2

Elena's eyes fluttered open to harsh morning sunlight streaming through the curtains. She lay there for a moment, her mind replaying the events of last night. The ballroom. The humiliation. Four men claiming to be her brothers.

It had to be a dream. Some desperate fantasy her broken heart had conjured.

She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes, and that's when she saw the wine-stained dress crumpled on the floor. Her shoes kicked off by the door. Her phone on the nightstand showed multiple missed calls from unknown numbers.

Her heart began to race.

"Aaron?" she called out, her voice hoarse.

Elena wrapped herself in her robe and went to the kitchen. The dinner she'd prepared last night sat exactly where she'd left it untouched, cold, the edges of the food starting to discolor. She'd made his favorite. Beef stew with roasted vegetables. She'd spent three hours cooking it, hoping it would make him smile when he came home.

But obviously he never came home.

She checked her phone. No messages. No missed calls from him. It was almost nine in the morning.

Her hands trembled as she turned on the television, needing something to fill the oppressive silence.

".....shocking appearance last night at the Four Points Hotel," the anchor was saying. "The Andersons brothers, one of the world's wealthiest and most powerful families, made a rare public appearance. Sources say they were there to unite with a family member, though her identity remains unknown."

Elena staggered backwards.

The screen showed footage from last night. Four luxury cars. Four men in expensive suits. And there, in the center, a figure whose face was deliberately blocked by the men's bodies, as if on purpose.

But Elena recognized who the relative was, herself.

"The Andersons family has declined to comment," the anchor continued. "But speculation is running wild about who this mystery woman might be and what her connection to the family is."

It wasn't a dream.

Elena's legs gave out, and she sank onto the couch. It was real. All of it. She had brothers. A family. The Andersons family.

Her mind spun with possibilities. If she was an Andersons, that meant she was wealthy and powerful. Everything would change. Aaron would finally be proud of her. He wouldn't have to hide her anymore. She could stand beside him at events, not as his secret wife but as his equal…. no, as someone even more prestigious than him.

He would love her the way she'd always wanted him to.

She had to tell him.

Elena rushed to get dressed, her fingers fumbling with buttons in her haste. She chose her best dress, a simple blue one that Aaron had once said looked nice and fixed her hair. Her reflection in the mirror looked hopeful for the first time in years.

Twenty minutes later, she was standing outside Aaron's office building. The receptionist wasn't on the seat. The office looked deserted, maybe because it was the weekend. But Aaron worked all round the clock.

The elevator ride to the fifteenth floor felt eternal. Her heart hammered with excitement and nervousness. How would she tell him? Should she just blurt it out? Should she explain everything that happened?

The elevator dinged. She stepped out into the familiar hallway, her heels clicking against the polished floor.

His office was at the end. The door was slightly ajar.

Elena smiled, smoothing down her dress one more time. She was about to knock when she heard a soft moan.

Her hand froze in midair.

"Oh Gosh! Aaron," a woman's voice exclaimed in pleasure. "Right there."

No!

Elena's body moved before her mind could stop it. She pushed the door open.

The sight that greeted her would be burned into her memory forever.

Aaron was bent over his desk, his shirt unbuttoned. And wrapped around him, her red dress hiked up, her perfectly manicured hands tangled in his hair, was Tiffani Cavalli.

They broke apart at the sound of the door. Tiffani's eyes widened, then narrowed with something that looked almost like triumph. Aaron's face went white.

"Elena" he stated.

"Three years." Her voice came out strangled. "Three years I've been your wife, and this is what you do?"

Tiffani made a show of adjusting her dress, smirking. "Oh, did no one tell you? How awkward."

"Shut up, Tiffani." Aaron ran his hands through his hair, but he didn't look guilty. He looked annoyed. Caught. "Elena, this isn't what it looks like."

"Really?" Elena's laugh was bitter. "Because it looks like you're fucking with your business associate In your office. While your wife sits at home waiting for you."

"You shouldn't be here," he said, and there it was, that familiar tone. The one that made her feel like she was the problem, like she was the one doing something wrong.

"I came to tell you something important." Tears burned her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. "I found my family. My real family. Last night. The Andersons family."

Aaron blinked. "What?"

"I'm an Anderson." She said it louder, hoping it would matter, hoping it would change something. "One of the wealthiest families in the world. I'm their sister. They've been searching for me for a while."

Then Tiffani laughed out loud.

"Oh, who's rich? You? An Anderson?" She stepped closer to Aaron. "Nice try. Everyone knows the Andersons family. If you were one of them, why would you be married to Aaron in secret? Why would you let people treat you like dirt?"

Aaron's expression hardened. "This is ridiculous. You're making up stories now? For what? Attention?"

"I'm not making it up! It's all over the news."

"I saw the news. Some blurry footage of the Andersons brothers with an unidentified woman. That doesn't mean it was you." He crossed his arms. "You're delusional, Elena. You've always been delusional. Living in fantasy worlds because you can't handle reality."

Each word was a slap.

"I have proof," she said desperately. "They gave me their numbers. They told me everything. I have brothersfour brothers."

"Enough!" Aaron's voice cracked like a whip. "I don't want to hear your fantasies. I have work to do."

Tiffani wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder. "We have work to do."

Elena looked at the man she'd loved for five years, married for three, sacrificed everything for and she saw him clearly for the first time.

"We are getting divorced, Elena" He dropped the bomb.