Chapter 5 Night Before

The gates of the Vale estate slid open with a soundless, hydraulic hiss.

Aurora's black sports car, a low, quiet shadow, slipped past the sleeping gatehouse and onto the empty, moonlit road. She didn't turn on her headlights until she was a mile away, a fugitive from her own life.

1:27 AM.

The night was cool, and the air rushing through the open driver's-side window was sharp, smelling of cut grass and the distant, metallic tang of the city. It did nothing to cool the septic heat under her skin.

Her hands were steady on the leather-wrapped steering wheel. This was the only part of her that was steady.

Inside, she was vibrating, a plucked string about to snap.

She drove through the sleeping, opulent suburbs of upstate NewYork, past manicured lawns and colossal brick mansions, each one a fortress of perfect lies, just like hers.

He's lying. He's lying. He's lying.

The refrain was a desperate, pounding drum against the thrum of the engine.

She was driving to his penthouse. Liam's glass tower in the sky, the one that looked down on the entire city. The one he called his "fortress of solitude."

He'd given her the access code three months ago. 2-4-6-8. Our anniversary. Easy to remember. He'd smiled when he said it, a rare, genuine smile. Total trust, Aurora. You're the only person besides me who has this.

Total trust. The words were a bitter joke now.

What was she even doing? Driving through the night, a hysterical bride-to-be, on the hunt for evidence? She was behaving exactly like the woman he'd accused her of being: paranoid, emotional, irrational.

Fix your face. Our guests are waiting.

His words. Cold, dismissive.

Vanessa's smile.

Crimson. Triumphant.

The smile was the truth. His words were the lie.

She pressed her foot down, the engine's growl dropping to a predatory roar. The suburbs melted away, replaced by the steel and glass canyons of Manhattan. The city that never slept was quiet tonight, as if holding its breath for her.

She was praying she was wrong.

She was praying she would walk in and find him asleep, alone, his phone off, the victim of a terrible misunderstanding. She was praying she would crawl into bed beside him, bury her face in his chest, and confess her doubts, and he would laugh and hold her and call her a fool for ever doubting him.

She would beg to be the fool, if it meant this wasn't real.

She pulled into the underground garage of his building. The concrete expanse was empty save for his black Bentley, parked in its designated spot.

So, he was here. He was home.

Alone?

She parked her car in a visitor's spot, her heart hammering so hard against her ribs it hurt. She took the private elevator, her reflection in the polished steel doors a pale, unrecognizable ghost in a cashmere coat.

The elevator opened directly into his foyer. She stepped out.

The penthouse was dark. Silent.

The only light was the city itself, pouring in through the two-story, floor-to-ceiling windows, painting the Italian marble floors in shades of electric blue and cold, distant starlight.

"Liam?"

Her voice was a small, swallowed sound in the cavernous space. It was absorbed instantly by the minimalist furniture, the cold glass, the towering ceilings.

No answer.

The air was still. Too still.

A flicker of relief. He's asleep.

She walked through the living room, a space so large and impersonal it looked more like a hotel lobby than a home. Her bare loafers made no sound.

She moved toward the master bedroom, her steps slowing.

The door was ajar.

She pushed it open.

Empty.

The bed-a vast, king-sized platform of dark wood-was made. The sheets were gray, crisp, and perfectly, agonizingly undisturbed. A single pillow was dented, as if he'd sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, but it was clear no one had slept here.

He wasn't here.

The relief she had felt in the foyer curdled into a new, colder, more terrible dread.

He wasn't here. At 1:45 AM. The night before his wedding.

He's at her apartment. He's with her. He came home, he changed, and he left.

Aurora sank onto the edge of the bed, the one he hadn't slept in, and the "broken glass" in her stomach finally, truly, shattered. This was it. This was the proof. An empty bed was more damning than a thousand whispers.

She looked at the clock on his nightstand. 1:46 AM.

He was gone.

She was about to stand up, to leave, to go back to her car and just... drive. Drive until the sun came up, drive until she ran out of gas, drive until she was no longer Aurora Vale, the girl left waiting at the altar.

But then she saw it.

On the polished obsidian surface of his nightstand, next to the charging port and a heavy crystal tumbler, something glinted.

It was small. Too small to be a cufflink, too delicate to be part of a watch.

She leaned closer, her blood turning to ice.

It was an earring.

A single, delicate drop earring. A cluster of small, glittering diamonds, with one perfect, pear-shaped ruby dangling from the end.

It was not hers.

Her jewelry was pearls. Classic, simple Vale pearls. She would never wear anything so... so overt. So crimson.

She picked it up. The metal was still warm, as if it had been taken off only recently.

It was the proof.

It wasn't a "client gift." It wasn't "staff gossip." It was a ruby earring, left on his nightstand, in his bedroom, on the night before he was supposed to marry her.

It was an earring that perfectly matched the shade of Vanessa's lipstick.

Aurora's vision narrowed. The city lights outside blurred into a meaningless smear.

This was not a mistake. This was not an oversight. This was a statement. This was an act of profound, arrogant carelessness that told her everything she needed to know.

He hadn't just betrayed her. He didn't even respect her enough to hide it.

She closed her fingers around the earring. The sharp edges of the diamonds bit into her palm, a welcome, grounding pain.

She was not going to cry. Tears were a luxury she could no longer afford.

She stood up. She looked at the perfectly made bed, the cold, empty room. She looked at the Vale diamond she had left on her vanity, and at the ruby earring she held in her hand.

He's lying to me. He's lying to my father. He's marrying me to secure the merger, and he's going to keep her.

Her own thought from earlier, now confirmed.

She didn't put the earring back.

She slipped it into the pocket of her cashmere coat.

She was no longer praying she was wrong. She was no longer the hysterical bride.

She was the woman who held the proof. And she was the woman who would have to decide what to do with it.

She walked out of the penthouse, the lock clicking shut behind her with a sound of absolute, devastating finality.