Chapter 2

On my way back to the bedroom, I passed the study and saw the light still on.

My psychotherapy schedule for next week was sitting on the desk.

I picked it up and saw the dense markings in his handwriting, and something behind my nose stung.

The next second, I shoved the paper back down against the desk.

There was a thud.

The bottom drawer jolted half an inch out, leaving a thin gap.

My hand went still.

After a moment, I bent down anyway and pulled it open.

There were no documents inside, and no gun.

Just a stack of yellowed letters.

The top one had a curled corner, and the signature beneath it was perfectly clear.

Camilla Sloane.

They were love letters Lucian had written her when they were young.

I read them one by one, and by the end the pages were soaked through, with not a single tear left in me.

So the Don who'd grown cold enough to seem barely human had once been a boy with his whole heart laid open.

He'd buried it so deep that even I, his close friend of years, never knew this hidden affection.

That night I sat against the headboard and didn't sleep at all.

Early the next morning, Lucian offered to take me to my mother's grave.

I shook my head and said, "Don't bother."

He blinked.

I kept my eyes down and my voice level. "Last night just got on top of me. Don't you have meetings today? Work comes first."

He studied me for a long while, and in the end he let it go.

But only I knew the truth.

It wasn't that I didn't want to see my mother.

It was that a murderer like Lucian Graves had no right standing in front of her headstone.

Lucian dropped it, only telling me before he left that I'd be going with him to a banquet that night.

I had no heart for getting ready. I had a gynecology appointment that afternoon and barely changed clothes before it was time.

It wasn't until I arrived that I saw Julian Ashford standing in the middle of the hall with Camilla Sloane on his arm.

Camilla was dressed to dazzle, planted dead center like the world had been born to circle around her.

She had a boy by the hand, dressed up like a little prince.

The moment Julian saw me, my old fiancé's eyes slid away.

But Camilla led the child straight toward me.

"Vivian, it's been too long."

"What happened back then, I had my own reasons."

"But seeing you married to the Don, seeing you this happy, honestly it takes a weight off me."

The whole time she said it, her eyes were on Lucian.

And when he looked down at her, something in his face went noticeably soft.

Right then someone nearby spoke up with a laugh.

"If you ask me, Miss Sloane's the one who's truly happy."

"A devoted husband, a beautiful son. Now that's a real family."

The man beside her changed color the instant it landed and yanked her aside.

"Watch your mouth. The Don is right here."

The room dropped quiet.

Worried I'd read too much into it, Lucian took my hand and bent to murmur at my ear.

"Vivian, we'll have children too, one day."

I looked at him and the whole thing struck me as absurd.

Right then my phone buzzed. It was the test results from Dr. Reed.

"Results are in. Confirmed long-term residue from abortive medication."

"The damage to your uterus is severe. You can no longer conceive."

"It's also affected your nervous system, which is why the depression keeps getting worse."

I read it word by word, and the room blurred.

"What are you looking at?"

Lucian came over, and I killed the screen at once and let out a soft breath. "Nothing."

He was about to say something.

Right then someone's hand slipped, and red wine splashed across Camilla's son.

Lucian's grip on his glass snapped tight.

I saw it clearly. He took half a step forward, on instinct.

But Julian had already crouched first, wiping the wine off the boy's face.

Camilla bent down too, soothing him in a low voice.

Lucian stayed where he was, his face dark.

The man who'd spilled it apologized in a rush, and others smoothed it over, saying the boy was fine, a change of clothes and it was forgotten.

But Lucian only turned and said low to one of his men.

"Make a note of that one."

"He's not to be invited to a Graves event again."

His voice was quiet, but I still caught it.

So this was what it meant to love a woman so much you loved her child too, even a child that wasn't his.

A cold, hollow feeling came over me. I made an excuse about getting some air and went out to the back garden alone.

Before long, the boy came running out after me.

He crouched at the edge of the pool to play in the water, no adult watching him, leaning so far his upper body nearly hung over the surface.

My chest tightened, and I went toward him without thinking.

His foot slid out from under him, and just as he was about to pitch into the pool, I lunged and caught him by the arm.

I hadn't even exhaled before Camilla's voice cut sharp across the garden.

"Vivian, why would you push my son?"

People came rushing over in an instant.

Once the boy was clear of the water, Camilla crushed him to her chest, sobbing like she couldn't breathe.

"What happened before was my fault, and I apologized for it. If you can't let it go, come at me. What kind of person takes it out on a child!"

With Lucian standing right there, no one said the cruelest things out loud, but the way they looked at me had clearly soured.

Julian's face went cold too. His eyes went past me, straight to Lucian.

"Don."

"My family expects an answer for this."

After that the guests slowly drifted off.

I turned to Lucian, my voice gone badly hoarse.

"I didn't push him. I just saw him about to go in, so I—"

But before I could finish, Lucian cut me off, cold as ice.

"Come in."

He turned and walked toward the study, without sparing me so much as a glance.

The door had barely shut before Lucian rounded on me, his face like iron.

"Vivian."

"How much longer are you going to trap yourself in the past?"

I froze in place.

Lucian came toward me a step at a time, his voice sinking lower.

"Today it's shoving someone."

"What's tomorrow?"

"Will you not stop until you kill them in front of everyone?"

I stared at him, unable to believe it.

For a second, the old days came back to me.

After my mother died, he brought in the best therapist in the area for me.

He promised, over and over, that he'd be patient and walk me out of the past.

And now, the moment Camilla Sloane was involved, every bit of that act fell apart.

Lucian watched my eyes redden and only frowned harder, like his patience had run out.

"Enough."

"This is going to be a real mess."

"The Ashfords won't let it go easily, and I'm the one who has to clean up after you."

I stared at him, my throat blocked solid, unable to get out a single word.

But Lucian had already turned away, done looking at me.

"If you're going to cry, don't do it here. I don't have time for your feelings."

"Get out."

I didn't try to explain again. I turned and walked out of the study.

The moment the door shut, the tears came down.

But this time there was no hurt in them. There was only hatred.

Calm as still water, I called the Lockwood family's investigators. "For the next month, I want eyes on Camilla Sloane every single second."

Lucian was careful, and he never left an obvious handle for anyone to grab.

But Camilla was different.

She loved to show off, loved to win, loved watching me come apart.

Keep her in frame long enough and she would hand me exactly what I needed.

The kind of thing that would burn Lucian Graves's name to the ground.