Chapter 1

Olivia Hayes stared at the untouched dinner on the vast mahogany table.

Three years.

Three years married to Ethan Vanderbilt, and the silence in their Manhattan penthouse was still the loudest sound.

Their wedding was the event of the season, a merger of Hayes Industries' Chicago power and the Vanderbilts' New York banking dynasty.

But the marriage bed remained cold.

Ethan was always polite, always distant.

A ghost in their gilded cage.

Olivia had loved him since Chloe, her college roommate and supposed best friend, introduced them.

Seven years of adoration, now curdling into a quiet despair.

The Hamptons estate was meant to be a reprieve, but the air was thick with unspoken things.

Olivia wandered the manicured lawns, feeling more lost than ever.

She heard voices from the pool house, sharp and strained.

Ethan and Chloe.

"I only married Olivia because you begged me to," Ethan' s voice cracked. "To get Grandma off my back about finding a suitable wife."

Chloe was crying. "I know, Ethan, I know! But what else could we do? The scandal... it would destroy the Vanderbilt name, destroy me. I love you, but..."

"You know I've only ever loved you, Chloe!" Ethan' s cry was raw anguish. "Marrying Olivia was your idea to protect us! How can you ask me to... to be a husband to her? It would kill me!"

Olivia' s breath hitched.

The world tilted.

Each word was a shard of ice.

Later, she found Ethan by the ocean, staring at the waves.

His handsome face was a mask of indifference when he turned to her.

"Is it true?" Olivia' s voice was barely a whisper.

He didn' t flinch. "Yes."

No apology. No explanation beyond the brutal facts she' d overheard.

The seven years of her life, her love, felt like a fool' s errand.

Back in the city, Olivia called her lawyer first thing Monday.

"I want a divorce."

The words were surprisingly easy to say.

A week later, her phone rang. It was Ethan, his voice frantic.

"Chloe collapsed. Acute kidney failure. She needs a transplant, Liv, urgently."

Olivia felt a strange, cold calm.

He found her at her parents' Chicago home, where she' d sought refuge.

He looked broken, truly broken, for Chloe.

"They said you' re a perfect match, Olivia. The only one on such short notice. Please."

He was pleading, the great Ethan Vanderbilt, on his knees metaphorically.

A bitter laugh escaped Olivia. "Anything? Would you finally sleep with me if I save her?"

His eyes, haunted and desperate, met hers.

"Yes," he said, without a flicker of hesitation. "Anything."

The confirmation of his love for Chloe, so absolute, so transactional when it came to Olivia, was another nail in the coffin of her dead marriage.

Olivia signed the consent forms.

The surgery was a success.

For Chloe.

Olivia woke up groggy, a dull ache in her side.

Flowers arrived, expensive and impersonal, with a card signed by Ethan' s assistant.

A text message: "Chloe is doing well. Thank you. E."

During her slow recovery, she saw them.

Ethan at Chloe' s bedside, a constant, devoted presence.

He spoon-fed Chloe broth.

He read to her softly.

He held her hand, his thumb caressing her knuckles.

Olivia watched from the doorway during a painful walk down the hall, or caught glimpses when her own nurse checked on her.

The tenderness he showed Chloe was a universe away from the cool courtesy he' d always afforded Olivia.

Chloe was tearful when she visited Olivia' s room, leaning on Ethan for support.

"Oh, Liv, I don't know how to thank you. You saved my life."

Ethan stood by, his eyes only for Chloe, adjusting her robe.

Later, Olivia overheard Chloe on the phone with Ethan, her voice light.

"She' ll be fine, Ethan. Olivia' s strong. And she' d do anything for you, you know that. She still adores you."

Ethan' s reply was a low murmur, but the implication was clear.

Olivia was a known quantity, her love a given, easily dismissed.

Discharged, Olivia returned to the Manhattan penthouse.

The divorce papers were on her coffee table, sleek and final.

Ethan arrived that evening, looking for a fresh shirt. He was going back to the hospital to stay with Chloe.

He looked conflicted, then resolute. He walked towards the bedroom.

"Ethan."

He stopped.

"About your promise," Olivia said, her voice carefully neutral.

He approached her, his expression unreadable. He reached for her.

Olivia stepped back, a small, hollow laugh escaping her.

"It was a test, Ethan. A sick joke. I don' t want you like this."

His face registered confusion, then a dawning relief.

"My real request," Olivia continued, picking up the papers, "is for you to sign these."

She held out the divorce agreement.

Ethan' s eyes flickered to the documents, then back to her, relief washing over his features so clearly it was like a physical blow.

"Of course," he muttered, taking the pen she offered.

His phone buzzed. Chloe.

"I need to get back to her," he said, scribbling his name hastily.

He didn' t even glance at what he was signing.

He dropped the pen and was gone, the click of the door echoing in the sudden silence.

Olivia looked at the signed papers.

He never even read them.

A strange sense of lightness filled her.

It was done.

She was free.