The Billionaire’s Stand-in Wife

and dying summer heat through th

mboo stick. The marshmallows had dissolved into a sticky film on the surface. She checked her watch. Claud

at on her kn

reen l

the crackling

Unknown number. iMessage. No

apped

ked official, bearing a county seal in the corner. She s

ounty,

ge Cer

stopped

laudius

ivianne

ad it again. The names hadn't c

year

roses. That proposal wasn't really a proposal; he'd simply knelt in the snow, called

omach

tly that she had to grip her phone with both thumbs to steady the image. She zoomed in

s r

is

tang of copper. Her fingers twitched across the screen, scrolling, zooming, searc

th

crunched

loud and loos

ilhouetted against the distant glow of the main house. She knew thos

's inner

eet silent on the cool grass, and pressed herself into the thick shadow of

opped ten

ight. "Claudius is still playing house with that Powell girl,"

ing toward Charlie's hiding place. "Small pr

ried perfectly in the still air. "Two years she humiliated him. Thr

he little sister. Fucks her stupid. Makes her fall in lo

ard. Blood bloomed against h

e further. "Heard a rumor from the Hamptons

at clinic on 73rd? The one his cousin runs? One phone call. Per

orld

irt, knees drawn to her chest. Her hands found her stomach, still

omen, whispering about the future. His palm spread wid

e her want

snapped ben

racked like

oak. His eyes narrowed, scannin

she was sure they could hear it. She pressed her hands harder agai

ked from th

cking strays," he muttered. "

oices fading towa

weep until she was empty. But a cold, sharp thought cut through the panic: the baby. Her baby. The one they were talking about like a problem to be erased. The thought was a shard of ice in her g