Chapter 3

My phone lights up.

A text from Asher: Get some sleep.

I stare at those three words and almost laugh.

He's never sent me anything like that. Not once in three years.

But tonight? Tonight he sends it.

Because Jace is still in my room?

Because the great Asher Vance is finally starting to wonder if his prudish little wife might actually go through with it this time?

I don't reply.

Outside, the last lights in the estate flick off. The whole house goes still.

Chloe's moved in. Jace has moved in. This place finally looks like what it is.

A trash can.

Stuffed with whatever anyone feels like dumping in.

Including me.

I turn off the lamp. There's a smile on my mouth I can't even see.

He thinks I'm still the old Scarlett.

He thinks I won't.

He thinks I never could.

He thinks my so-called purity will hold the line forever.

He's wrong.

---

The next morning, my lower back still aches from a night of bad sleep.

Jace is in the kitchen helping Maria, our housekeeper. When he sees me coming down the stairs, the spatula nearly slips out of his hand.

I smile at him.

Where's all that smoldering eye contact from last night, kid?

I've barely sat down when Asher strolls into the dining room.

"You're up early." He drops into the chair across from me, smirking like he knows a punchline I don't. "How was your night?"

Before I can answer, the front door bangs open.

Tyler Brooks comes barreling in first. "Ash! Ash, who won? Who won?!"

"I bet twenty grand she folded before noon!"

"I bet she kicked him out before midnight! Three to one odds, Ash, you're holding the pot—"

He stops dead when he sees me at the table.

Three grown men, all suddenly very interested in their shoes.

"Scarlett. Hey. Morning."

Asher picks up his coffee. Takes a slow, satisfied sip. Like the bet his buddies just placed on his marriage is some kind of trophy.

"Sit down, boys. Breakfast is ready."

I stand up and walk toward the kitchen.

"You should head to class," I tell Jace.

He blinks, unties the apron, and slips out the front door without a word.

The door clicks shut.

Two seconds of silence in the dining room. Then Tyler stage-whispers, "See? Told you. Sent him packing first thing in the morning."

Big Ron laughs. "What, you doubted Asher? That man can read his wife like a goddamn paperback."

"That's why Asher's the king," Tyler says, all worship. "You wanna marry one of these, boys? Find one who knows her place."

Asher leans back in his chair, eggs already gone, that smirk still hanging on his lips. Drinking it in.

I exhale slowly and walk back into the dining room.

Asher and I open our mouths at the exact same second—

"Have dinner at my parents' place tonight—"

"Two o'clock. Courthouse. Be there."