Chapter 1 1

The phone vibrated against the hard surface of the makeup table, a harsh, mechanical buzz that cut through the low hum of the studio. Elle Allison stared at the screen. The name Carlyn flashed urgently.

She didn't want to look. Her stomach gave a sharp, warning twist, the kind that usually preceded bad news or a missed meal. She slid her finger across the glass.

The photo was grainy, clearly taken with a high zoom from a dark corner, but the subjects were unmistakable. Hunt Noble sat in a leather booth at the Polo Club. He was leaning in, his posture relaxed, dangerously intimate. A woman with blonde hair and a dress that cost more than a mid-sized sedan was whispering into his ear.

Elle focused on Hunt's mouth. The corner of his lip was quirked upward.

He was smiling.

Her fingers tightened around the phone until the edges bit into her skin. Her knuckles turned the color of old bone. It wasn't the woman. There were always women. It was the smile. He hadn't smiled at her like that in six months.

"Five minutes to set, Ms. Allison!"

The makeup artist pushed through the door, sponges and brushes in hand.

Elle shoved the phone face down. She forced her facial muscles to relax, pulling her lips into the vacant, sweet curve the world expected from her. The mask slid into place. It felt heavy today.

"Ready," she said. Her voice was light, airy, and completely fake.

Three hours later, the shoot wrapped. Elle didn't go home. She drove her Audi toward Fifth Avenue, navigating the late afternoon traffic with a kind of numb precision.

The interior of the jewelry store smelled of expensive perfume and old money. The clerk, a man with a suit that fit too perfectly, brought out the velvet box with reverent hands.

"The custom sapphires, Ms. Allison. As requested."

Elle opened the box. The blue stones caught the light, cold and brilliant. Engraved on the back of the platinum setting were the initials H.N.

Three months. She had ordered these three months ago to mark their three-year anniversary. She ran her thumb over the engraving. It felt sharp.

"They're perfect," she said, though the words tasted like ash.

The penthouse was dark when she arrived. The silence in Hunt's apartment wasn't peaceful; it was oppressive. It felt like a vacuum waiting to suck the air out of her lungs.

Elle turned on the single light in the foyer. She placed the velvet box on the console table, right in the center, where it couldn't be missed. Then she sat on the sofa.

She waited.

Time moved like thick syrup. Midnight came and went. One a.m. Two a.m. Her stomach cramped, a physical knot of hunger and anxiety that made her nauseous.

The elevator chimed.

The doors slid open, and Hunt Noble walked in. He brought the cold November air with him, mixed with the scent of scotch and a perfume that wasn't hers.

He didn't look at her. He didn't look at the clock. His eyes swept over the console table, registering the velvet box for a fraction of a second before dismissing it. He loosened his tie, pulling the silk strip from his neck and tossing it onto the armchair.

"You're up," he said. It wasn't a question. It was an accusation.

Elle stood. Her legs felt stiff. She walked toward him, reaching out to take his coat, a habit ingrained over three years of trying to be useful.

"Let me-"

Hunt side-stepped her. The movement was fluid, practiced. He walked past her outstretched hand to the bar cart and poured two fingers of whiskey.

Elle's hand hovered in the empty air. She slowly lowered it, her fingers curling into a fist at her side.

"Is the news true?" she asked. Her voice was quiet, barely carrying across the expansive room.

Hunt took a sip of the amber liquid. He didn't turn around. "Since when do you read the tabloids, Elle?"

"Since my friends started sending me pictures of my boyfriend with other women."

He turned then. His face was a mask of boredom. "It was a business meeting. Don't start."

"At two in the morning? At the Polo Club?"

"I don't answer to you." The ice in his voice cracked something inside her chest. "I provide for you. There is a difference."

Elle looked at him. Really looked at him. He was beautiful in a cruel, sharp way, but tonight he looked like a stranger.

She turned and walked back to the foyer. She picked up the velvet box.

Hunt watched her, his brow furrowing slightly. "What are you doing?"

Elle walked into the kitchen. The marble island was cold under her palms. She moved to the sink and flipped the switch for the garbage disposal.

The machine roared to life, a mechanical growl.

She held the box over the drain.

"Elle," Hunt warned. He set his glass down.

She dropped it.

The sound was horrific. Metal grinding against metal, the crunch of velvet and platinum being chewed apart. It shrieked through the silent apartment like a dying animal.

Hunt moved. He crossed the distance between them in three long strides, his hand clamping around her wrist. He slammed his other hand onto the switch, killing the noise.

Silence rushed back in, ringing in her ears.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" His voice was low, vibrating with suppressed rage.

Elle looked up at him. Her eyes burned, hot and dry. She wouldn't cry. Not now.

"Celebrating," she whispered. "We're done."

Hunt's grip on her wrist tightened until she could feel her pulse thumping against his fingers. He laughed, a short, humorless sound.

"Done?" He leaned down, his face inches from hers. "You don't go anywhere without my permission. You think you can just walk out?"

"Watch me."

He shoved her back against the marble island. The stone bit into her lower back. He pressed his body against hers, trapping her. It wasn't an embrace. It was a cage.

"I hate it when you get that look in your eyes," he muttered. "Like you're a million miles away. Like you're not even here."

He kissed her. It was punishing. Hard teeth, bruising pressure. There was no affection in it, only a raw, desperate need to assert control. To prove she was still his.

Elle didn't fight him. She went limp, her arms hanging at her sides. She closed her eyes and let the darkness behind her eyelids swallow the room.

When he was finished, he pulled away, breathing hard. He adjusted his shirt, buttoning the cuffs with shaking hands. He didn't look at her face. He couldn't.

He walked to the master bathroom. The door clicked shut. Then the shower started running.

Elle slid down the cabinets to the cold tile floor. She pulled her torn blouse together. She sat there in the dark, listening to the water wash him clean of her, wondering how she was going to survive the morning.