Chapter 1 1

The rain at the cemetery was not a drizzle. It was a deluge, a vertical sheet of gray water that turned the manicured grass of the private burial ground into a slick, treacherous mud pit. Eliana Heath stood at the very edge of the gathering. The heels of her black pumps sank into the softened earth, anchoring her in place like a statue forgotten by its sculptor.

She held her black umbrella with both hands. Her knuckles were white, the skin stretched tight over the bone. The wind tugged at the canopy, threatening to invert it, but she did not adjust her grip. She did not move. She watched the mahogany casket of Harrison Vargas being lowered into the ground.

Around her, the whispers of New York's elite were louder than the rain.

She heard them. She always heard them.

Poor thing.

Just a trophy.

Look at her, standing there like a mannequin while her husband holds another woman.

Eliana's eyes shifted. Ten feet away, under the shelter of a massive tent reserved for the immediate family, stood Hayes Vargas. He was not looking at the grave of his father. He was looking down at the woman weeping against his chest.

Felicity Branch.

Felicity looked fragile. She wore a black dress that was tastefully modest yet perfectly tailored to suggest vulnerability. Her blonde hair was damp, plastered to her cheeks in artful disarray. She sobbed into the lapel of Hayes's expensive suit, her small hands clutching the fabric as if he were the only solid thing left in the world.

Hayes's arm was wrapped securely around her waist. His hand rubbed her back in slow, soothing circles. He whispered something into her hair, his expression etched with a pain and tenderness that Eliana had not seen directed at herself in three years of marriage.

Eliana felt a physical coldness that had nothing to do with the weather. It started in her stomach, a heavy, leaden weight that pulled her internal organs downward. It spread to her fingertips, making them numb.

She was the wife. She was Mrs. Vargas. Yet she stood in the rain, unshielded, while her husband comforted his childhood sweetheart, a woman who was not just a friend, but family. Felicity was the widow of Hayes's older brother, William, who had died in a boating accident only months prior. No one talked about that today, though. Today was about Felicity's grief for her "second father," Harrison. The tragic widow, losing both husband and father-in-law in one year. It was a narrative the tabloids loved, and Hayes was playing his part as the protective surviving brother a little too well.

The service ended. The priest closed his bible. The crowd began to disperse, a sea of black umbrellas moving toward the line of waiting limousines.

Hayes guided Felicity toward the lead car, the extended Lincoln with the Vargas family crest on the door. He shielded her head with his hand, ignoring the rain soaking his own shoulders.

The driver, a man named Thomas who had always been kind to Eliana, opened the rear door. Hayes helped Felicity inside. He leaned in, ensuring she was settled, before straightening up.

He looked around then, as if suddenly remembering he had brought someone else.

His eyes found Eliana.

He gestured vaguely for her to come. It was the kind of gesture one used for a trailing pet.

Eliana closed her umbrella. The mechanism clicked, a sharp sound that seemed to sever something inside her chest. She walked to the car. Thomas held the door open, his eyes downcast, embarrassed on her behalf.

Eliana did not get in the back.

She saw Felicity sprawled across the leather seat, occupying the center, dabbing her eyes with Hayes's handkerchief. Hayes was already climbing in beside her.

Eliana opened the front passenger door.

"Mrs. Vargas?" Thomas asked, surprised.

"I prefer the view," Eliana said. Her voice was steady. Flat.

She slid into the front seat and closed the door. The interior of the car smelled of wet wool and Felicity's cloying, floral perfume. It was suffocating.

The partition between the front and back was open. Eliana could hear Felicity's hitched breathing.

"Oh, Hayes, I don't know what I'm going to do," Felicity whimpered. "Leo is going to be so lost without Grandpa Harrison. First William, now this... he has no male figures left."

Hayes's voice was low, a rumble that vibrated through the seat frame. "You aren't alone, Felicity. I promised William, and I promised you. I am here. I'm not going anywhere."

Eliana stared at the rain streaking the windshield. The wipers slapped back and forth. Slap. Slap. Slap. A rhythmic countdown.

She watched her own reflection in the side mirror. She looked perfect. Not a hair out of place, her makeup sealed with setting spray, her expression vacuous. The perfect doll Hayes believed he had married.

"Hayes," Eliana said.

She did not turn around. She spoke to the windshield.

The murmuring in the back stopped.

"What is it, Eliana?" Hayes asked. His tone shifted instantly. The tenderness evaporated, replaced by the weary impatience of a man dealing with a tedious obligation.

"The funeral is over," she said. "We need to discuss the divorce."

The car swerved slightly. Thomas corrected the wheel, his hands tightening on the leather.

Silence filled the cabin. It was heavy, pressurized silence.

Then, Felicity let out a small, shocked gasp.

Hayes let out a short, incredulous laugh.

"Eliana, seriously? Now?" He sounded disgusted. "My father is barely in the ground. Felicity is having a panic attack. And you choose this moment to pull one of your stunts for attention?"

Eliana watched a droplet of water trace a path down the glass. It wasn't a stunt.

"I am not playing games, Hayes. I am serious. Your father passed. The merger is secure. Your responsibility is back."

She could hear the rustle of fabric as Hayes shifted, likely leaning forward to glare at the back of her head.

"My responsibility? You mean Felicity?" Hayes's voice rose. "Have some respect. She is grieving. She is my brother's widow. You have everything you could possibly want. You live in a mansion, you have an unlimited allowance, you do nothing all day but shop and plan parties. Do not threaten me with leaving. We both know you can't survive a day without the Vargas trust fund."

Eliana looked down at her hands. They were resting on her lap, still and composed. He really believed that. He believed she was a parasite.

She didn't correct him. She didn't scream that she had three patents pending under a pseudonym. She didn't tell him that her "shopping trips" were meetings with pharmaceutical developers.

She just nodded.

"Fine," she said.

The word hung there.

"See?" Hayes said to Felicity, his voice dropping back to that soothing register. "She's just upset because I didn't hold her hand. She'll get over it."

The car turned through the massive wrought-iron gates of the Vargas estate. The gravel crunched under the tires.

When the car stopped, the front door of the mansion opened. Martha, the head housekeeper, stood there with two maids.

Hayes got out first. He turned and extended a hand to Felicity, helping her descend from the vehicle as if she were made of spun glass.

Leo, Felicity's five-year-old son, ran out of the house. He was dressed in a miniature suit, holding a toy airplane.

"Daddy!" Leo shouted.

He slammed into Hayes's legs.

Hayes did not correct the boy. He never did. He reached down and scooped the child up, balancing him on his hip.

"Hey, buddy," Hayes said, kissing the boy's cheek.

Eliana got out of the front seat. She opened a large black umbrella again, though the walk to the porch was short. She stood at the bottom of the stone steps, looking up at them.

The handsome billionaire. The beautiful, grieving widow. The adorable child.

It was a perfect family portrait.

Eliana was just the smudge on the lens.

"Martha," Hayes called out, walking up the steps with Leo in his arms and Felicity clinging to his elbow. "Have the staff prepare the East Wing master suite. Felicity and Leo will be staying there for the foreseeable future. She needs support right now."

Martha froze. Her eyes darted to Eliana.

"But... sir," Martha stammered. "The East Wing? That's... that's the primary guest suite next to your..."

"Just do it, Martha," Hayes snapped. "Eliana has been sleeping in the West Wing guest room for three years. It's not like it interferes with her space."

He didn't even look back at his wife. He walked through the double doors, carrying his new family into Eliana's home.

Eliana stood in the rain. The water splashed against her ankles.

She felt a strange sensation in her chest. It wasn't pain. It was the snapping of a tether. The final thread that had bound her to this farce of a marriage had just been cut.

She looked at Martha, who was staring at her with pity.

"Mrs. Vargas?" Martha asked softly.

Eliana closed her umbrella and shook off the water. She walked up the steps, her spine straight, her chin high.

"It's fine, Martha," Eliana said. "Do as he says."

She walked past the housekeeper and into the foyer. She didn't look at the grand staircase where Hayes had disappeared. She turned left, toward the West Wing, toward the exit.

"Whatever you say," she whispered to the empty hallway.