Chapter 1
When I caught my fiancé in bed with his mistress, my world shattered like the Paris snow globe at my feet. Another woman straddled Dominic in our bed.
“Oh honey,” she purred, “the only mistake was thinking he actually loved you.”
That’s when I discovered the truth about the property transfer papers I’d signed last week, and how six years of love had been nothing but an elaborate
con.
As I collapsed against the wall, my fiancé’s mask finally slipped, revealing the cold stranger beneath.
Six years of love and trust evaporated in six minutes of horror, leaving me trapped between a man I never really knew and his mistress, with nothing but my name to call my own.
I stood frozen, my hand still gripping the doorknob. The Eiffel Tower snow globe I’d picked up in Paris slipped from my other hand, shattering against the hardwood floor. Glass and glitter scattered around my feet, but I barely registered it.
My vision tunneled to our king–sized bed – the one we’d picked out together at that boutique store in Milan. The Egyptian cotton sheets twisted around their bodies. Their bodies. Not just his anymore.
“Camilla…” Dominic’s voice cut through the air like a blade. The platinum blonde straddling him whipped her head around, ice–blue eyes widening at the sight of me.
The room spun. The Cartier love bracelet he’d given me last Christmas felt like it was burning into my wrist. Six years. Six years of memories crashed down around me like that broken snow globe.
“Val-” Dominic scrambled up, pushing the woman – Camilla – off him. “You’re supposed to be in Paris.”
I tried to speak but my throat closed up. The air felt too thick to breathe. The scent of her perfume – something expensive and cloying – mixed with the familiar notes of Dominic’s cologne made my stomach turn.
“Surprise,” I whispered, the word tasting like ash in my mouth. A tear rolled down my cheek, then another. I watched them fall, creating dark spots on my
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cream silk blouse – the one he’d said made me look beautiful last month.
The woman – Camilla – didn’t even try to cover herself. She just sat there, a cat–like smile playing at the corners of her perfectly painted lips. Like she’d won something. Like she’d been waiting for this moment.
My engagement ring caught the light as I gripped the doorframe to steady myself. One year. We were supposed to celebrate one year of being engaged today.
“Baby, let me explain-” Dominic reached for his robe, stumbling toward me. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
I backed away, shaking my head. This couldn’t be real. We had plans. A future. The villa in Tuscany we’d toured last month. The spring wedding we’d been planning.
“No, no…” My back hit the hallway wall. “There has to be some mistake.”
Camilla’s laugh pierced through my spiral of denial. “Oh honey, the only mistake was thinking he actually loved you.”
“Shut up,” Dominic snapped at her, but she just stretched across our bed – our bed – like a satisfied cat.
“Why keep up the charade, darling?” She examined her manicured nails. “You already got what you wanted. The transfer went through yesterday, didn’t it?”
My knees buckled. “Transfer?”
“The properties your parents left you.” Camilla’s eyes gleamed. “The ones you so trustingly signed over to your beloved fiancé last week. That was the whole point, wasn’t it, Dom?”
The room tilted sideways. The lawyer’s office. The documents. Dominic’s insistence that combining our assets would make things easier once we were married.
“Tell her she’s lying,” I pleaded, but Dominic wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Tell me this isn’t true.”
His silence crushed what was left of my heart.
“Six million in real estate.” Camilla slid off the bed, wrapping herself in my favorite cashmere throw. “Not bad for a year’s work, though I must say you dragged it out longer than necessary.”
My parents‘ legacy. Everything they’d worked for, everything they’d left to
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secure my future. Gone.
“I trusted you.” The words came out broken, barely a whisper.
“Val-”
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“Don’t.” I pressed my hands against my ears, but couldn’t block out Camilla’s satisfied laughter or the sound of my world crumbling around me.
“You know…” Camilla’s voice dripped honey–coated poison. “Since we’re having this lovely moment of truth, why don’t you ask your dear fiancé about your parents‘ accident?”
My blood turned to ice. The room tilted, memories of that rainy night flooding back – the phone call, the crash, the funeral.
“What?” The word scraped my throat.
“Go ahead.” Camilla’s eyes glittered. “Ask him if it really was black ice that sent their car off that cliff.”
I snapped my head toward Dominic, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might shatter my ribcage. “No…”
His face transformed. The mask of contrition melted away, replaced by something cold and unfamiliar. Something that had always been there, hidden beneath the surface.
“Did you-” I couldn’t finish the question. My tongue felt like lead.
“Did I what?” He cocked his head, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. “Order the brake lines cut?”
The casual shrug of his shoulders drove the knife deeper into my heart. “Had to be done. Your parents weren’t exactly keen on the idea of us together. And those properties…” He clicked his tongue. “Well, they weren’t going to sign them over willingly.”
My legs gave out. I slid down the wall, the world spinning around me. Mom’s last call. Dad’s concerns about Dominic. The way they’d begged me to wait, to think things through.
“You killed them.” The words came out as a broken whisper. “You murdered my parents.”
“Yes, I did.” Dominic stepped closer, his expression hardening. The man I thought I loved vanished, replaced by a stranger with empty eyes. “And if you’re thinking of running to the police with this touching revelation-” He traced a finger down my tear–stained cheek. “Well, accidents do tend to run in families,
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don’t they?”
I jerked away from his touch, bile rising in my throat.
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“You really should be more careful, Val.” He crouched down beside me, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Especially given your… history of mental instability.”
My head snapped up. “What?”
Camilla’s laughter echoed through the room. “Oh, you didn’t know? There’s quite a paper trail documenting your declining mental state. Therapist notes, prescription records, concerned emails from friends…” She examined her nails. “It’s amazing what money can buy these days.”
“No one would believe-”
“Everyone already does.” Dominic’s fingers dug into my arm. “Who do you think they’ll trust? The grieving, unstable daughter who never accepted her parents‘ tragic accident? Or the successful businessman who’s been trying so hard to help his poor, troubled fiancée?”
The walls closed in. Every dinner party, every sympathetic glance, every concerned question about my “well–being” – it had all been part of their plan.
“Face it, sweetie.” Camilla draped herself across Dominic’s shoulders. “You’ve already lost. The smart thing would be to take the generous settlement we’re offering and disappear.”
I stared at them both, these monsters wearing human skin. My entire life had been a carefully constructed lie, and I’d walked right into their trap.
“Of course,” Dominic’s grip tightened until I winced, “if you choose to be difficult about this…” His other hand wrapped around my throat, not squeezing, just resting there.
“I’ll send you to your parents.”
