Chapter 2

The next day, Rhys picked up the divorce papers and headed straight to Waverly Corp.

Elara happened to be in a meeting. Through the floor-to-ceiling glass of the conference room, sunlight poured in, and Elara was the only focal point.

She was slender and poised, her wrists pale where they showed past her cuffs, her fingers tapping lightly against the table with the quiet authority of someone used to being in charge.

It was the same composure—the same intensity that had once made Rhys's heart race.

He swallowed the bitterness and handed the divorce papers to her assistant, Riley Grey. Riley brought them to Elara just as she was listening intently to a subordinate's report. Without a second thought, she signed her name in a swift, careless flourish.

The whole thing went impossibly smoothly.

Rhys took back those flimsy sheets of paper and stood there staring at them for a long time before tucking them into his bag. He was about to leave when a clear voice called after him. "Mr. Lockhart, wait."

Asher wore an apologetic expression. "I just found out about the baby's name, and I wanted to say I'm sorry. Elara just loves me too much. Back when we were together, she hurt a lot of innocent people because of me.

"She treasured every second we spent together. She'd turn her phone off or put it on silent all the time, so her business partners sometimes had to show up at the house just to reach her.

"She even had Riley send me her full schedule every two hours, just so I'd feel secure. Riley had quite a time keeping up."

The Elara that Asher described was a complete stranger to Rhys.

All Rhys had ever known was that Elara didn't like being in the same room as him. In five years of marriage, they'd slept in separate bedrooms, even on the nights they'd been together.

All he'd known was that whenever he tried to share something with her, even without any outside interruption, Elara would cut him off and say she had work to get back to.

All he'd known was that whenever he carefully asked Riley where Elara was, Riley would just give an apologetic look and say it wasn't something that could be shared.

The difference between how Elara treated the man she loved and how she treated Rhys couldn't have been sharper.

His knuckles went white, the dull ache building in waves, but Rhys just smiled faintly. "That's ancient history. But telling me all this, are you trying to rekindle things with my wife? Are you knowingly stepping in as the other man?"

Asher hadn't expected Rhys to hit back that hard, and his expression shifted. "You think Elara picked you for this arrangement because she actually wanted you? The kind of person she hates most is exactly your type, arrogant and full of yourself.

"She needed a fake marriage. Rather than drag some decent, respectable man into it, she figured she might as well pick you. You were already shameless and out of control, so what difference did it make?"

Rhys's eyes went wide.

From the day he was born, everyone around him had told him the same thing. He had to be steady, be obedient, be ambitious, so that when the time came for a family alliance, he'd be an asset.

He'd refused. Why should he? He was Rhys Lockhart, and he was going to live life on his own terms.

He'd always believed Elara understood that about him. He'd fallen in love with her because of the way she'd once told him to just be himself.

But now he realized it was never understanding. It was because as long as he stayed wild and reckless, she could use him and hurt him without ever having to feel guilty about it.

Just then, a faint noise drifted from down the hall. The meeting had ended.

Asher suddenly grabbed Rhys's hand. "Rhys, Elara will only ever be mine."

The second Elara stepped out of the conference room, Asher let out a cry. "Don't push me!"

He pulled Rhys with him as they both tumbled backward toward the staircase.