Chapter 1

My husband told me he had to work through the New Year holiday.

He said the Moretti family had business in Sicily and that he needed to stay behind to handle some paperwork.

So I decided to surprise him.

I bought the next flight to Palermo without telling him.

Unfortunately, only business-class seats were left.

I stared at the five-figure price for a long time before finally gritting my teeth and paying.

Nearly an entire year's savings disappeared in one click.

I told myself it was worth it.

Carl had been working so hard lately. Maybe seeing me would make him happy.

Then I got on the plane and immediately embarrassed myself.

I couldn't even figure out how to pull out the tray table.

The elegant woman beside me gave a quiet laugh.

"First time flying business class?"

My face heated.

"Is it that obvious?"

I forced an awkward smile and glanced at her designer coat and diamond earrings.

"You look like you're used to this. Are you some kind of boss?"

"Me?"

She waved one perfectly manicured hand.

"No. But the man keeping me is."

I blinked.

"Keeping you?"

"My sugar daddy."

She said it casually.

"If business class is full, he sends one of the family's private jets for me."

A private jet?

That wasn't ordinary rich.

In Kingsbury, that kind of money usually belonged to old families, politicians, or men connected to the underworld.

"Sounds difficult to meet someone like that," I said.

"Not really."

She smiled.

"I work for him."

Something in my chest tightened.

"I handle accounts for one of his clubs. I make mistakes all the time. Expensive ones too."

"And he doesn't fire you?"

She laughed.

"He calls me into his office and scolds me until I cry."

Her smile turned suggestive.

"Then he feels bad."

I understood immediately.

A chill crept down my spine.

"What a coincidence," I said slowly. "My husband also works for the Moretti organization. He has a female subordinate who keeps making mistakes."

The woman turned toward me.

"You're married?"

"Six years."

She looked me over.

"My man has a wife too."

My fingers tightened around my glass.

"She's around your age, actually."

She examined her nails.

"But he says he's been tired of her for years."

My stomach sank.

"He told me touching her feels dull."

She flipped her hair over one shoulder.

"Said watching me do this is more exciting."

I suddenly felt sick.

She kept talking.

"I told him I wanted to spend New Year's with him."

Her lips curved.

"So he told his wife he had to work."

My breath caught.

Then she reached for her champagne.

And I saw the ring on her finger.

A diamond set into a platinum band.

My entire body went rigid.

I knew that ring.

It was identical to the wedding ring I'd lost months ago.

No.

Not identical.

It was mine.

I stared at her hand, my mind racing.

Carl Stephens had always told me he was just a low-level employee working for one of the Moretti family's companies.

So why did his mistress have private jets?

Why could she lose huge amounts of money without being fired?

And why was she wearing my wedding ring?

My heart began to pound.

Wait.

Carl wasn't some ordinary employee.

So what exactly was my husband doing inside the Moretti family?

……

My eyes stayed fixed on the ring on Roberta's finger.

"But that ring..."

My voice sounded strangely distant.

"That's a wedding ring, isn't it?"

I forced myself to look at her.

"Did you marry him?"

"This?"

Roberta Delgado lifted her hand and admired the diamond under the cabin lights.

Then she laughed.

"Of course not. I made him take it from his wife."

For a second, I forgot how to breathe.

Roberta didn't notice.

"I wasn't even planning to make things difficult for her," she said. "But last year, on my birthday, that woman suddenly had a miscarriage."

Her lips twisted.

"He dropped everything and rushed to the hospital."

She gave an annoyed little sigh.

"I had to spend my birthday alone."

My hand instinctively moved toward my stomach.

Last winter.

The memory came back so sharply that my fingers went cold.

I'd been three months pregnant.

The streets were covered in black ice that day. Carl had always told me his salary from the Moretti shipping company was barely enough to cover our expenses, so we lived as carefully as we could.

We couldn't even justify buying a car.

I'd gone grocery shopping alone.

On the way home, I slipped.

By the time I saw the blood soaking through my clothes, it was already too late.

Our baby was gone.

Carl had rushed to the hospital the moment he heard.

For three days and three nights, he barely left my bedside.

When I finally woke properly, my wedding ring was missing too.

Carl had held me tightly while I cried.

"It's okay," he'd whispered. "We'll have another baby."

Then he'd kissed my forehead.

"And the ring doesn't matter. I'll buy you a new one."

I'd shaken my head immediately.

"Didn't you say the company might cut staff?"

I still remembered how worried I'd been for him.

"We need the money. When you get promoted someday, you can buy me another one."

His eyes had turned red.

"I'm sorry," he'd said. "I'm sorry I can't give you a better life."

Back then, I'd actually comforted him.

Now that same ring glittered on another woman's hand.

"So..."

I swallowed against the tightness in my throat.

"You really made him give you his wife's wedding ring?"

Roberta shrugged.

"He didn't want to at first."

She turned her wrist, watching the diamond catch the light.

"He offered to buy me something much more expensive."

"But his wife annoyed me."

My nails dug into my palm.

Roberta smiled.

"She acts like being his wife makes her special. Sometimes a woman needs to be reminded of her place."

I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood.

"Besides, this thing isn't even worth much compared to everything else he's given me."

She tapped the diamond.

"But that's not the point."

Her smile widened.

"It's her wedding ring."

My chest hurt so badly I almost laughed.

Roberta looked at me with mock sympathy.

"Honestly, if a woman lets her husband treat her like that, there's no saving her."

I tightened my grip on my sleeve.

Then I forced myself to smile.

"If your man is really that generous..."

I paused.

"He must give his wife plenty of money too, right? Especially if he's paying her to ignore what he does."

Roberta burst out laughing.

She leaned closer, lowering her voice as though she were about to share the funniest secret in the world.

Her perfume made my stomach turn.

"Oh, that's the best part."

I stared at her.

Roberta smiled.

"That pathetic woman doesn't even know who her husband really is."

My heartbeat slowed.

"What do you mean?"

"She thinks he's some nobody working accounts for a Moretti shipping company."

Roberta covered her mouth, laughing.

"But Carl Stephens isn't some low-level employee."

She leaned back in her seat.

"He's one of the men running the Moretti family's legitimate businesses."

Her eyes gleamed with pride.

"And that's only the part outsiders are allowed to know."

My fingers went completely numb.

For six years, my husband had counted every grocery bill with me.

He'd told me we couldn't afford a car.

He'd watched me save every dollar.

He'd even cried because he supposedly couldn't afford to replace my wedding ring.

And all this time...

Carl Stephens had been one of the most powerful men in the Moretti organization.