Chapter 1

The heavy walnut doors of the master bedroom pushed open without a knock.

Ada sat on the velvet sofa, her hands resting protectively over her eight-month pregnant belly. She looked up from the baby nursery catalog.

Jacklyn stepped into the room. She wore a crimson haute couture gown that screamed for attention, the fabric clinging to her perfectly manicured figure.

Jacklyn walked to the door and with a deliberate click, turned the deadbolt, locking them inside.

"Jacklyn?" Ada frowned, her fingers instinctively tightening against her swollen stomach. "Why didn't you knock?"

The warm, best-friend smile Jacklyn usually wore vanished. Her eyes turned flat and cold. She walked slowly toward the sofa, her heels sinking into the thick carpet, until she stood looming over Ada.

Jacklyn stared down at Ada's stomach.

A sudden, irrational spike of panic hit Ada's chest. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She shifted her weight, trying to sit up straighter.

Jacklyn opened her Hermes Birkin bag. She pulled out a glossy, black-and-white piece of medical paper and threw it onto the glass coffee table.

The paper slid and stopped right in front of Ada.

Ada looked down. It was an ultrasound photo. The grainy image of a developing fetus was unmistakable.

"Whose is this?" Ada asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Jacklyn's lips curled into a vicious smirk. Her fingers reached up to touch the diamond necklace resting on her collarbone. "It's mine, Ada. Mine and Desmond's."

The air left Ada's lungs in a sharp hiss. Her brain went entirely blank. A high-pitched ringing started in her ears, drowning out the ambient hum of the Manhattan traffic outside the window.

Her hands trembled violently as she reached out and picked up the photo. She stared at the date printed in the corner. It was recent.

Jacklyn leaned down, her face inches from Ada's ear. "He likes it when I wear his dress shirts," Jacklyn whispered. "In the penthouse. On the kitchen counter. He says I taste better than you ever did."

"And do you want to know the best part?" Jacklyn continued, her breath hot and venomous against Ada's skin. "He saw the photos I planted in your email, Ada. He thinks that bastard in your belly belongs to your precious Kael. He believes you betrayed him first."

A violent wave of nausea hit Ada. Her stomach churned so hard she tasted metallic bile in the back of her throat.

She stood up abruptly. The sudden movement sent a sharp, tearing pain shooting across her lower abdomen. She gasped, grabbing her stomach with one hand and pointing to the door with the other.

"Get out," Ada choked out, her breathing shallow and erratic. "Get out of my room."

Jacklyn didn't move. She took a step closer. "You are the extra one here, Ada. You always have been."

Jacklyn tilted her head, her eyes gleaming with malice. "Do you really think your family's company went bankrupt by accident? Desmond orchestrated the tax crisis. He destroyed your father."

Ada's legs lost all their strength. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed heavily back onto the velvet sofa. Her chest heaved as she struggled to pull oxygen into her lungs.

She reached out with shaking fingers and grabbed the landline phone on the end table. She had to call Desmond. She had to hear him deny it.

Before she could dial a single digit, Jacklyn snatched the cord and yanked it violently from the wall socket. She slammed the receiver onto the marble floor.

The plastic shattered into pieces.

The sharp sound broke the last of Ada's control. Hot tears spilled over her eyelashes, burning her cold cheeks.

"You're so naive," Jacklyn laughed, a cruel, grating sound. "Desmond only married you to punish you. He blames you for Carmen's death. He always has."

Carmen.

The name hit Ada like a physical blow to the head. Extreme confusion and self-doubt spiraled through her mind. Carmen's car crash was an accident. Why would Desmond blame her?

Anger finally burned through the thick layer of despair. Ada forced herself to her feet. She shoved Jacklyn's shoulder hard. "Stop lying!"

Jacklyn stumbled back two steps. A dark, calculated thrill flashed in her eyes.

Suddenly, Jacklyn lunged forward. Her hand clamped around Ada's wrist with a bone-crushing grip.

"Let go of me!" Ada cried out, trying to pull her arm back.

Jacklyn ignored her. She dragged Ada by the wrist, pulling her toward the locked bedroom door, heading straight for the second-floor hallway.