Chapter 1

The news that Ryan Lester was back in Austin hit the high-society gossip circuit like a shockwave. My phone buzzed nonstop with texts from friends I hadn' t spoken to in months, all asking if I was going to his welcome-home party.

I ignored them. Instead, I drove my black G-Wagon through the manicured streets of my gated community, my knuckles white on the steering wheel.

A knot of unease tightened in my stomach. I knew what Ryan' s return meant to his sycophantic friends, the ones who had always orbited him like desperate planets. They saw him as their golden ticket, and they saw his illegitimate half-brother, Ethan, as a stain to be scrubbed out.

As I pulled up to my sprawling mansion, the sight that greeted me confirmed my worst fears.

Ethan Lester was standing at my gate, drenched by the sprinklers that had just turned on. His cheap t-shirt clung to his lean frame, and a fresh, ugly bruise was blooming on his cheekbone. His eyes, the same startling blue as Ryan' s but filled with a fire Ryan could never possess, were fixed on me.

He looked broken.

He took a shaky step forward as I got out of the car, his voice trembling.

"Madisyn."

He swallowed hard, tears welling up.

"Now that the real deal is back, I guess it' s time for the stand-in to disappear, right?"

His words were a punch to the gut. All these years, all the support, the tutoring, the late-night talks, the slow-burning affection I felt for him... and he thought he was just a substitute. A placeholder for his polished, cruel half-brother.

I strode over to him, my heels clicking angrily on the pavement. I didn' t care about the water soaking the hem of my designer dress. I reached out and gently touched the bruise on his face.

He flinched.

"Don' t you ever say that again," I said, my voice low and fierce. "You are not a stand-in for anyone. Ryan is nothing compared to you."

He just stared at me, confusion and pain warring in his eyes. He didn't believe me. Not yet.

But he would. I would make sure of it.