Chapter 1

On our fifth wedding anniversary, the first thing I got wasn’t a gift. It was a video.

My husband, Hudson Hayes, was in some expensive hotel room, laughing and sleeping with another woman like I didn’t even exist. And it wasn’t just any woman. It was Amber Fenwick, his first love.

I watched the whole thing without blinking while waiting for him at the restaurant. I just sat there, ate my food, and smiled.

When I got home, I didn’t cry either. I picked up my phone and called my lawyer.

“Attorney, I sent you the divorce papers. The one Hudson and I signed on our wedding day five years ago. Did you see anything wrong with it?”

I stood by the window when I said it, staring at my own reflection instead of the city outside. My fingers kept rubbing the edge of my phone like I was trying to peel something off it. Maybe I was just trying to feel something.

“Ms. Hereford, I’ve reviewed everything,” the lawyer said, calm and distant. “There’s no issue. You’ve got one month left before the five year term ends. Once it’s up, the agreement takes effect automatically. You can go down to the county clerk’s office and file for the divorce.”

One month.

Just one more month.

“…Okay. Thank you.”

I hung up and didn’t move for a while.

Then my eyes drifted up.

The wedding photo was still hanging there, right where it had always been. Like nothing had changed. Like everything hadn’t already rotted from the inside.

I walked closer without thinking.

In the picture, I was smiling so brightly. God, I looked stupid. My dress was pure white, my eyes curved like I believed in forever.

And Hudson…

He stood beside me in that perfect suit, tall and untouchable. Handsome like something carved out of stone. But his face was cold. No smile. Not even a fake one.

Anyone could see it.

He never loved me.

“…It’s almost over,” I whispered, my fingers brushing against his face in the photo. Cold glass. That was all he’d ever been to me. “You must be happy, huh?”

Or was that just me trying to convince myself?

The sound of the door unlocking snapped me out of it.

I pulled my hand back like I’d been caught doing something wrong and turned around quickly.

“You’re back.”

My voice came out softer than I wanted.

He walked in like he owned the world. Like the air itself moved out of his way. Hudson always had that presence. Heavy. Dangerous. The kind of man people lowered their eyes around.

A mafia boss. A king in the dark.

I took his suit jacket as he shrugged it off and hung it up carefully. Then I knelt in front of him and helped him change into his slippers. My hands moved on their own. I didn’t even have to think.

I’d done this too many times.

Hudson loosened his tie, irritation already written all over his face. “Next month’s the Hayes Global anniversary banquet,” he said. “You’re coming with me.”

My hands paused for a second.

Then I finished adjusting his slippers and stood up slowly. “I can’t go.”

His head snapped toward me. “What the hell do you mean you can’t go?”

I opened my mouth but nothing came out at first.

Should I tell him? That his woman send their videos to me? Would it even matter?

Before I could say anything, his expression darkened like he already had his own answer.

“…Don’t tell me this is about Amber again.” His voice dropped, colder now, sharper. “I told you from day one I had someone else. You said you wouldn’t interfere. Or were you just talking shit back then?”

The words hit like they always did. Clean. Precise. Like a blade he knew exactly how to use.

My chest tightened and it hurt so bad I almost laughed.

Yeah. What kind of husband said that on his wedding day?

What kind of wife agreed?

“I’m not…” I stopped, swallowing hard. “It’s not that.”

But wasn’t it?

Or was I just too tired to fight anymore?

He scoffed, running a hand through his hair. “Then what’s your problem? It’s just a damn banquet. You’ve done it before. Stand there, smile, play the part. That’s all I’m asking.”

Just stand there.

Just smile.

Just pretend like I wasn’t slowly breaking apart inside. I looked at him and for a second, I wanted to ask.

Did you ever feel even a little guilty? Did you ever look at me and think I was your wife? But the words died before they could leave my mouth.

Because I already knew the answer.

Five years ago, when our families announced the marriage, I thought I’d been given everything. I’d liked him for so long. Longer than I wanted to admit. So when I heard I was going to marry Hudson Hayes, I thought… maybe this was fate.

Maybe he’d learn to love me.

I was so stupid.

That night, in that same house, still in my wedding dress, he handed me a contract instead of touching me.

“I’ve got someone I like,” he said, like he was talking about the weather. Cold. Detached. “She’s not from the right background, and my family won’t accept her. But give me five years.”

I remember just staring at him, my hands shaking as I held the paper.

Five years?

“For these five years, you stay as my wife in name,” he continued. “I’ll take control of the Hayes family, and when I do, no one will dare say shit about who I choose. After that…” He looked at me like I was nothing more than a business deal. “We divorce. Clean. Simple.”

That night, I signed the papers like he wanted. My hands didn’t even feel like mine when I wrote my name. It was just… done. Like I’d already lost before anything even started.

Then I locked myself in the bathroom and cried until morning. No sound, just shaking and choking on it, biting my sleeve so no one would hear. Like that would change anything.

Less than three months into the marriage, Amber disappeared. Just… gone. I heard they had a huge fight before that, but no one told me details. I didn’t need them. I saw what it did to him.

Hudson went crazy. He used every connection he had, every man under him, every dirty favor. A mafia boss like him, someone who could find anyone in this world… and still, he couldn’t find her.

I watched him break.

He stopped coming home most nights. And when he did, he smelled like alcohol and smoke and something darker. His eyes were always heavy, like he hadn’t slept in days. I wanted to ask if he was okay. I never did. What right did I have?

Then one night, he came back drunk. Really drunk. The kind where he could barely stand straight but still walked like he owned everything.

Before I could even say anything, he grabbed me.

“Hudson…” I tried, my voice shaking.

He didn’t answer.

He pushed me onto the bed like I weighed nothing. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would tear out of my chest. Was this… happening? Did he finally…?

But then his lips crashed onto mine and I froze. It tasted like alcohol. Bitter. Suffocating.

“…Amber…” his voice broke, rough and desperate against my skin. “Why the hell did you leave me, huh? Why’d you run off with that guy? You think I wouldn’t come for you? You don’t trust me that much?”

Everything inside me just stopped. My body went stiff under him. So he found her. But she left him anyway. And I was just, here. A substitute. A shadow. Something he could hold when the real one was gone.