Chapter 1

When Alisha Poole stepped inside the house, the muffled rush of a shower drifted down from the second floor, followed almost immediately by the sound of footsteps on the stairs.

A young woman appeared carrying an armful of Jason Wiley's clothes. The moment she spotted Alisha, she stopped short, then quickly offered an overly cautious smile.

"Hi, Mrs. Wiley. I'm Katie, Mr. Wiley's new assistant."

"I know."

Alisha returned the greeting with a faint smile of her own, though there was nothing warm behind it. "You're his new girlfriend. He took you overseas last week, didn't he?"

Katie Taylor's expression shifted at once.

She hurriedly waved her hands, looking almost flustered. "Oh, no, you've misunderstood. Mr. Wiley is an honest man. He would never do anything to betray you."

Whether Katie was genuinely that naïve or simply a very convincing actress, Alisha couldn't say. But it hardly mattered anymore.

Everyone in their social circle knew that she and Jason had long since fallen from the pedestal of being the enviable college sweethearts everyone once admired.

These days, they were nothing more than a married couple bound together by a hollow contract, living separate lives beneath the same name.

Jason had made cheating almost routine, while Alisha—the woman he had once treasured above everyone else—had gradually been reduced to a neglected wife he barely bothered to acknowledge.

The years they shared had once seemed like an entire lifetime. Somehow, Jason had managed to turn all of it into a ruin.

The Bellemont Estate had been their marital home ever since they bought it five years ago. And now, another woman was trying to take her place.

"You must be special," Alisha said evenly. "Jason has never brought another woman back here before."

A flicker of satisfaction crossed Katie's eyes before she lowered her voice, pretending to explain herself. "Mr. Wiley had too much to drink, so I drove him home."

Alisha almost laughed.

She was supposed to believe that Katie had accompanied her boss to an important dinner, remained sober while he drank himself senseless, and then personally drove him home?

Jason had a private chauffeur. There was no reason for his assistant to take on that role unless there was another reason for her to be there.

But Alisha didn't bother exposing the lie.

She and Jason hadn't seen each other since her 28th birthday two months ago. That night, she had been eating alone at a hotel restaurant when she happened to see him at another table, enjoying an intimate candlelit dinner with a young escort.

The sight had shattered whatever restraint she had left.

Blinded by rage, Alisha had stormed over, slapped him across the face, and cursed him as a disgusting, shameless bastard.

Jason hadn't even looked ashamed. Instead, he had stared at her with cold contempt and sneered. "Why don't you take a look in the mirror, Alisha? See what kind of pathetic sight you've turned into?"

Then, as though deliberately rubbing salt into the wound, he had wrapped an arm around the escort's waist and taken her straight to the penthouse suite.

Alisha had returned to their empty home that night and smashed everything she could reach. When she finally caught sight of herself in the mirror, her reflection looked so twisted by rage and humiliation that she broke down, sobbing until she could barely breathe.

"How did I end up like this? How did I turn into someone so hysterical, so bitter and resentful?"

She had moved out the very next day, and Jason never came looking for her.

Not long afterward, she heard that he had broken things off with the escort. Apparently, though, he hadn't needed much time to find someone else.

...

Alisha had returned today for a single purpose: to deliver the divorce agreement.

As she waited downstairs, Katie quietly approached the bathroom door and tapped on it.

"Mr. Wiley?"

The door opened a crack, and Katie slipped Jason's clothes through the opening. Her face was flushed as though she were embarrassed to be seen in such an intimate situation.

Alisha didn't say a word. She simply turned and headed upstairs to collect the rest of her belongings. While packing, she opened a drawer and found something she hadn't expected to see.

For a moment, she simply stared at it.

The sight pulled her back five years, to her 23rd birthday, when Jason had held that very ring in his hand before dropping to one knee in front of her.

His eyes had been full of passion and sincerity as he promised, "Alisha, I swear I'll make you happy for the rest of your life."

She had never imagined that only five years later, on that same birthday, the two of them would become strangers who could barely stand the sight of each other, much less speak without hurling insults meant to wound.

She silently slipped the ring back into the drawer instead of taking it with her.

By the time she returned downstairs, Jason had finished showering.

He was stretched out on the sofa in a loose robe, one leg crossed over the other, while Katie stood beside him holding out a bottle of Gatorade to help with his hangover.

When Katie leaned closer, he casually slipped an arm around her waist. The unexpected intimacy immediately brought a deep flush to her cheeks.

Alisha watched them for a moment before speaking.

"Jason, sign the divorce agreement."

He paused with the bottle at his lips and finally turned his attention toward her. Only then did he seem to notice the documents resting on the coffee table.

A cold, mocking smile touched his lips. "What kind of game are you playing this time?"

Alisha's voice remained remarkably steady. "I'm not interested in wasting another minute on you. Just sign it, and we'll be done with each other."

"Done with each other?" Jason gave a short, contemptuous laugh.

"You spent all these years wasting my time, and now that you still can't get pregnant, you think you can sign a piece of paper and walk away as if none of it ever happened?"

Alisha remained impassive. "If I'd had a child with you, I'd be terrified it would come into this world carrying a full course of STDs."

For years, the two of them had been evenly matched when it came to vicious arguments. Neither knew how to back down, and neither had ever hesitated to strike where it hurt most.

But by now, Alisha had become so numb that even Jason's cruelest words could no longer stir much of a reaction.

Jason stared at her with undisguised hostility, his eyes burning as though he wanted to tear apart whatever remained of the dignity she was clinging to.

Sensing the tension, Katie lowered her gaze and spoke timidly. "Mr. Wiley... I probably shouldn't stay and interrupt you and Mrs. Wiley. I'll leave."

Jason glanced out the floor-to-ceiling windows where thick snow was already piling up outside.

"It's snowing heavily, and the roads are slick," he said casually. "It's not safe to drive in this weather. Pick one of the guest rooms and stay tonight."

Katie immediately glanced at Alisha, carefully arranging her expression into one of reluctant concern. "But... Mrs. Wiley..."

"It's fine." Jason waved it off before turning back to Alisha. "I need to review the agreement first and consult my lawyer. You can go now."

The moment Alisha stepped outside the estate, a blast of wind-driven snow struck her in the face. The flakes melted against her skin like icy tears, leaving her eyelids and the tip of her nose flushed red from the cold.

Standing there, she suddenly remembered one winter years ago when she and Jason had first started dating. It had snowed just as heavily during that winter break.

She had texted him one evening: [Jason, I miss you so much.]

The following morning, when she opened the door, she had found him standing outside, covered in snow but grinning brightly with his arms spread wide.

He had even built a snowman for her. It was round and adorably plump, with the baseball cap she had given him perched crookedly on its head.

She had once thought that memory would stay with her forever. But the snowman had melted long ago, and so had the man who had loved her.

...

By the time Alisha got back into her car, the snowfall had grown even heavier, coating the roads in a slick white layer. She drove carefully, but sometimes caution simply wasn't enough.

A few minutes later, her car slammed into the back of a Bentley.

Alisha immediately pulled over and stepped outside into the biting cold. Before she could even gather her thoughts, the Bentley's chauffeur had already stepped out and respectfully opened the rear passenger door.

A man in a perfectly tailored black suit emerged from the car and stood beneath the swirling snow. The moment Alisha got a clear look at his sharply defined features, she froze.

"Rory?"

Rory Duncan was one of Jason's closest friends, though unlike the rest of their privileged social circle, he hadn't been born into wealth.

Back in college, even with academic scholarships covering much of his tuition, he still needed to juggle several part-time jobs simply to make ends meet.

No one had expected that the poor kid with no influential family behind him would one day become the most successful self-made billionaire among them all.

Five years ago, Rory had attended Alisha and Jason's wedding as the best man. He had looked impeccably dressed that day, his refined yet distant demeanor carrying a quiet gravity as he offered her nothing more than a simple, polite blessing.

Over the years, whatever coldness had once lingered beneath his calm exterior had sharpened into something far more formidable. Now, as he stood before her in the falling snow, his dark gaze seemed almost to cut through the endless white surrounding them.

When he finally spoke, his voice was colder than the winter air. "Why are you out here alone? Where is Jason?"