Chapter 1 THE NIGHT EVERYTHING CRACKED

The storm over Crescent Ridge looked like it had crawled straight out of some furious god's lungs-thick, swollen clouds bruised purple and black, pressing low over the crooked streets. Rain hammered the pavement so hard it sounded like the city was grinding its teeth.

Mara Vance didn't notice any of it.

She stood under the long roof of Harrington Tower, drenched from her run across the parking lot, her hair plastered to her face. Her breath came in sharp bursts, not from exhaustion, but from the cold, metallic fear rattling around in her ribs. The revolving doors hissed open in front of her, glowing gold in the lobby light like an invitation to hell.

Inside this building, on the twenty-eighth floor, her fiancé was supposed to be "working late."

Inside this building, he had sworn-sworn-he was alone.

But tonight, Mara had felt something snap. No, not felt-known.

Something had been wrong for weeks. The late nights. The half-finished excuses. The sudden urge for privacy. The dismissive kisses that felt like brushing against someone already half-gone.

And then the final insult: a message he meant to send to someone else.

Just one line.

"She won't suspect anything tonight."

Mara replayed that line in her head as she crossed the lobby marble, leaving small rivers of rainwater behind her.

The elevator rose too slowly, whining like it was struggling to lift the weight of her fury. Her reflection stared back at her in the mirrored walls-eyes sharp, trembling hands clenched into fists. She didn't look heartbroken. She looked dangerous.

When the elevator dinged open on the twenty-eighth floor, the office was quiet-too quiet, the kind that settles right before something terrible introduces itself.

Mara walked down the hallway, her shoes squeaking on the polished floor. Every light was off except one: his office, glowing an ugly yellow through the frosted glass. The kind of glow that hides things instead of revealing them.

Her pulse hammered in her ears.

Five more steps.

Four.

Three.

She didn't bother knocking.

The moment she threw the door open, the universe snapped in two.

Marcus-usually so polished, composed, smug in that subtle, calculated way-shot up from behind his desk like he'd been caught stealing souls from the underworld. His tie hung half-loosened, his hair a little too messy, and worst of all, his face twisted into the exact expression of someone who knows the truth has just slapped him in the mouth.

And sitting on the edge of the desk, legs crossed, lips glossy and swollen, shirt half-buttoned-was Tessa Hayes, the company's golden-girl accountant. Pretty. Polite. And apparently, Marcus's extracurricular activity.

For a moment, none of them spoke.

Thunder cracked so violently outside it rattled the windows.

Mara felt something cold settle deep inside her, like ice water pouring into her bones. Betrayal wasn't loud. It was silent, stunning. It was the moment she realized every argument, every late night, every half-hearted apology had been nothing but a performance for an audience he thought too stupid to notice.

Marcus took a step toward her-wrong move, idiot.

"Mara-listen-this isn't-"

"Don't," she said. Her voice sounded calm, which scared even her.

Tessa folded her arms, pretending she wasn't part of the slow-motion car crash happening in front of her. She looked away, as if embarrassment might save her.

Mara's gaze slid to her.

"You can leave," she said softly.

Tessa hesitated-cowardice painted all over her face-but she grabbed her purse and brushed past, muttering some weak apology that evaporated the moment the door clicked shut.

And then it was just the two of them.

Marcus.

And Mara.

And the corpse of their relationship lying in the space between them.

Marcus ran both hands through his hair. "Mara, I swear to you-this isn't what it looks like."

She laughed. Actually laughed. "Marcus, it looks like you were about to screw one of your employees on your desk. I don't know how many different ways that's supposed to look."

His jaw flexed. That always happened when he was about to lie.

"Mara, please-just-sit down, we can talk-"

"No." She stepped deeper into the room, her voice low. "You don't get to ask me for calm. Not tonight. Not after everything."

Lightning flashed, turning the office white for a split second.

"You cheated on me," she said, the words sharp enough to cut skin. "After we planned a wedding. After you told my parents you loved me. After every promise you made."

"I messed up," he whispered.

"Messed up?" Mara's eyes burned. "Marcus, 'messing up' is forgetting to buy milk. This is betrayal."

He didn't speak. Couldn't.

And in that heavy, smothering silence, something new began to grow in Mara.

Not sadness.

Not heartbreak.

No-this thing had teeth.

Revenge, slow and deliberate, curling around her like smoke.

She straightened her shoulders, wiped the rain from her face, and stared Marcus down with a clarity so sharp it felt like another thunderclap.

"This isn't over," she said quietly.

Marcus swallowed. "Mara, please-what are you going to do?"

She gave him the smallest smile. The kind that made his spine stiffen.

"Whatever the hell I want."

Then she walked out, leaving him standing there, alone in the wreckage he created-completely unaware of just how far she would go to make him pay.