Chapter 3

Elena Salinas POV:

I hung up the phone with Cooper, my hand still shaking. The dam burst. Tears, hot and stinging, poured down my face, blurring the opulent bedroom around me. Five years. Five years of this gilded cage, this loveless marriage.

I sank to the floor, my back against the cold, velvet headboard. The memory of Julian, on one knee, proposing to me, flashed in my mind. He had been so insistent, so charming. His parents, old money and cold eyes, had vehemently opposed our union. "She's from nothing, Julian," his mother had sneered. "A common girl. Not fit to be a Blanchard."

The titans of industry, his peers, had whispered their disapproval. It was a scandal, Julian Blanchard, the city's golden boy, choosing a girl with no pedigree. But he had bulldozed through it all, throwing me the most extravagant wedding New York had ever seen. The media had cooed about our fairy-tale romance, praising his devotion, my beauty. Everyone thought I was the luckiest woman alive.

I had been so naive. I truly believed he loved me, that I was special. I thought I had found my protector, my champion. But even then, a tiny, insidious doubt had gnawed at me. Julian wasn't just mine. He was desired by everyone, admired by all.

Our wedding night. The night that should have been the beginning of forever. We stood in our lavish suite, champagne flutes in hand, the city lights twinkling below. The phone rang. It was late, past midnight. Julian picked it up, his face hardening as he listened.

"I have to go," he said, his voice clipped. "A business emergency."

He left. He didn't come back.

I sat there, in my pristine wedding gown, watching the dawn break over the city. The pale light seeped into the room, revealing the untouched champagne, the wilting flowers. My heart, once soaring, plummeted to my stomach. It was cold, heavy, and already bruised.

He finally returned when the city was fully awake, the sun high in the sky. He was disheveled, reeking of alcohol. But his eyes were clear, almost unnervingly so.

"Elena," he said, his voice calm, as if nothing had happened. He walked over, touching my cheek. It was a hollow gesture. "You're a sensible woman. You understand how things are, don't you?"

He patted my head approvingly. "My family needs a wife who can hold her own, look presentable, and not cause trouble. Someone the public adores, a symbol of stability. That's you, Elena. Don't ruin it by being clingy."

His words, delivered with such detached precision, extinguished the last embers of my hope. The anger I felt, the searing pain of betrayal, was doused by a cold, hard dose of reality. I wasn't his wife; I was his accessory. A beautiful, silent prop.

From that day on, I learned to be agreeable. To not ask questions. To be the perfect trophy wife, smiling serenely at galas while Julian flaunted his mistresses. I became an expert at playing my part, a silent, beautiful statue. My heart, once so full of love for him, retreated into a frozen cavern.

But Julian's latest affair was different. It wasn't just another model, another actress. It was Aubrey. My half-sister. The one person I hated with every fiber of my being. The one person I blamed for my mother's death.

The memory of that day still haunted my nightmares. I was a child, barely thirteen. My father, David Lucas, a man who had always been weak and easily swayed, brought her home. Aubrey Good. His illegitimate daughter, a few years younger than me, wide-eyed and innocent-looking.

My mother, a woman of fierce dignity and quiet strength, had stood in the living room, her face pale but resolute. "You can choose, David," she had said, her voice steady despite the tremor in her hands. "Her, or us."

My father had hesitated. He had looked between my mother and Aubrey, his face a mask of indecision. He spent the entire night pacing, arguing with my mother in hushed tones behind closed doors.

The next morning, the world shattered. I remember the sound, a sickening thud from below. I remember rushing to the balcony, my heart seizing in my chest. My mother. She lay broken on the pavement below, her lifeblood staining the concrete. The rain, a sudden, torrential downpour, began to fall, washing away the blood, washing away everything.

Julian, then my boyfriend, had rushed to me, holding me tight as I screamed. I fought him, clawing at his arms, desperate to get to my mother. He held me, murmuring comforting words, promising me he would take care of everything. He would find out what happened. He would get justice.

I believed him. I believed him with every shattered piece of my heart. His promises, his embrace, were the only things that kept me sane in those dark days. He was my rock, my savior. And now, he was with Aubrey. The woman who stood on that balcony with my mother moments before she fell. The woman I knew, deep in my soul, was responsible.

The pain, raw and savage, clawed at my throat. Julian, my husband, was now with the very person who had taken everything from me. It was a betrayal so profound, it stole my breath.