Morning came slowly, like my body was trying to delay the moment I had to wake up and face reality. I opened my eyes, but I didn’t move. And that was when I heard it — muffled voices coming from the guest room down the hall. I recognized them instantly.
Lewis and Victoria.
My blood froze.
“…I know,” Victoria hissed, voice sharp with frustration. “I get it. You needed to use your brother’s identity to be with me. Fine. I accepted that. But shouldn’t we end this? I’m tired of sneaking around. I want to date you as Lewis, not as Maxon.”
My stomach coiled, sick and tight.
Lewis replied with a low, annoyed sigh. “Victoria, relax. I told you—we’ll fix everything at Grandma’s birthday party.”
“Fix? How?”
Lewis chuckled, the same laugh that used to make me feel safe. Now that sound curdled my insides. “We’ll frame Nadine. Make it look like she cheated on me. Grandma adores her since our families have always been close—she’d never allow a divorce unless Nadine messed up. But if she thinks Nadine betrayed me? She’ll kick her out herself.”
I covered my mouth, tears burning hot behind my eyes.
Victoria scoffed. “And Maxon? He won’t agree to any of this. He’s unpredictable. What if he ruins it?”
Lewis laughed again. “He’ll agree because he’s too stupid not to. And if he doesn’t? Then we arrange it in a way that makes him look unaware. Maybe even betrayed. That’ll break him enough to cooperate on disposing Nadine.”
My entire body trembled. I thought they had reunited as brothers. I thought they had healed.
But no.
Lewis continued, colder now. “I never made peace with Maxon. I just like using him. And Nadine.” Then, with disgustingly casual confidence: “Both of them are tools.”
Something crashed inside me — the last fragile piece of hope.
Then Victoria whispered something I couldn’t hear, and Lewis groaned. Their voices grew softer, breathier, then dissolving into hungry moans that made bile rise in my throat.
I couldn’t listen anymore.
When I finally left the bedroom, eyes red but dry, I found Maxon in the kitchen. Pretending to be Lewis.
He was humming while setting plates on the table. When he saw me, his smile brightened. “Good morning, love. Did you sleep well?”
A lie wrapped in honey.
I stared at him, numb. “Fine.”
His brows pulled together, concerned. “You look pale. Are you feeling sick? Do you want me to take you to the doctor?”
I shook my head quickly. “No. I’m okay.”
Before he could ask anything more, the front door opened and in walked the monsters themselves — Lewis and Victoria. Laughing. Touching. Radiating happiness as if they hadn’t been plotting to destroy my life an hour ago.
“You two are early,” Maxon said lightly.
“We’ll be staying here for a bit,” Lewis answered, dropping a bag by the couch. “Family bonding and all.”
Victoria hooked her arm with Lewis’s and grinned. “Let’s make the place lively!”
I nodded quietly, swallowing down the scream clawing up my throat. There was no point exposing what I knew — not now. Not with the three of them circling me like wolves.
Later that day, Victoria found me alone in the living room. She sat beside me, too close, the smugness radiating from her like perfume.
“You look tired,” she said sweetly. “Is married life already dragging you down?”
I bit my tongue. She leaned in, voice dripping venom. “Or maybe Lewis is getting bored of you. He always said you were the… dull one.”
My palms trembled.
“And honestly?” she whispered. “You never deserved him. Or anything you have.”
Something inside me snapped.
“Shut up,” I said through clenched teeth.
Victoria smiled slowly, like she’d been waiting for this. “Make me.”
She shoved my shoulder — a weak, childish push meant to provoke — but I shoved her back. Harder. She staggered, let out a dramatic shriek, and intentionally crashed into a side table. The porcelain vase toppled and shattered into glittering shards.
Right on cue, Lewis stormed in.
“What happened?” he demanded, eyes darting between us.
Victoria ran straight into his arms, trembling like an abused kitten. “She pushed me!” she cried.
I stepped forward, heat flooding my face. “She started it—”
Lewis lifted his hand sharply — the gesture alone enough to cut my voice off. His eyes were glacial. “Nadine, what is wrong with you?”
Wrong… with me?
Victoria sniffed loudly and buried her face into his chest. “I think she hates me,” she whimpered. “Ever since my parents died and hers adopted me… she’s never liked me. She always bullied me. I tried so hard to be her sister, but she—she never wanted me.”
My jaw dropped.
That was a lie. I opened my mouth to defend myself, but Victoria pressed on, voice breaking at all the right places.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I just wanted to be part of the family. Maybe she thinks I stole her parents’ love… but I never tried to. I just… I just want to belong.”
Lewis tightened his hold on her, protectiveness flaring in his eyes. Not for me. Never for me.
“Victoria,” he murmured, brushing her hair. “It’s okay. I’ll protect you.”
I stared at them, speechless. My pulse pounded like it was trying to rip out of my skin.
“That’s not what happened,” I managed to whisper. “I never—”
Lewis turned to me with a look that could slice flesh.
“She’s pregnant,” he snapped before I could finish. “You should calm down. What if something happened to the baby? If anything happens to the baby, that’s on you.”
Victoria hid behind him, peeking over his shoulder with a look of victory so thinly veiled it made nausea crawl up my throat.
Lewis continued, voice filled with manufactured disappointment. “You should apologize. Victoria didn’t deserve that.”
Victoria clutched his arm. “It’s okay, Lewis… don’t blame her. She’s probably stressed. I know she doesn’t like me. I understand. Let’s just go.” They left.
I walked to the bedroom on shaking legs and started shoving my clothes into a suitcase. I didn’t care if they heard. I didn’t care if they stopped me.
They destroyed me.
But I’d be damned if I stayed here long enough for them to finish the job.
I left the house without a word.
At the first red light, I froze. A massive billboard towered above me — the face of Isaac Halt staring down, sharp jaw, cold blue eyes, confidence radiating from every angle.
Lewis’s enemy. Maxon’s rival. The man the twins hated more than anyone.
And suddenly, a smile curled on my lips.
Maybe I didn’t have to run. Maybe I could fight.
Fifteen minutes later, I strode into Halt Corporation’s marble lobby, hair messy, eyes swollen, emotions burning like wildfire.
The receptionist blinked. “Ma’am, do you have an appointment—”
“No,” I said, lifting my chin. “But tell Isaac Halt that Nadine Colton wants to see him. Now.”
They must’ve recognized my last name, after all Colton’s a rival family, because panic flashed across the receptionist’s face before she scrambled to the phone.
Minutes later, Isaac appeared — tall, severe, intimidating. His gaze swept over me, taking in everything.
He frowned. “And what’s my rival’s wife doing in my company? Did he send—”
“I need a husband,” I said.
His jaw tightened. “Excuse me?”
I met his eyes dead-on.
“Can you marry me?”
