Introduction

For forty years, I, Ethan Miller, lived a golden life with Olivia Hayes, my wife, a pillar of Denver society and owner of Rockies Brew Co.

As she lay dying, her shallow breaths broke the perfect illusion. "The boys," she whispered, "Liam. Noah. They're not yours, Ethan. They're Jake's."

My heart, already weak, hammered with ice-cold betrayal.

My "sons" walked in, their eyes scanning for inheritance, trailed by Jake Riley, her high school flame.

They were all complicit, here to claim everything I' d built.

"Get out!" I rasped, a foolish, wealthy man suffocating under decades of deceit.

The crushing weight of a wasted devotion shattered my chest, a searing pain, and I died heartbroken, alone, utterly betrayed.

Then, a jolt. Light. Laughter. The smell of beer and bratwurst.

I sat bolt upright amidst the familiar revelry of Denver Oktoberfest, years in the past.

Younger, stronger. Olivia Hayes, her eyes glinting with feigned vulnerability, reached for my hand.

"Ethan, will you marry me?"

The very words that began the lie. I was back. And this time, I wouldn't be a fool.