Chapter 1
Lottie Cummings’s husband’s older brother’s wife-Esther Berry-was furious again.
Why? Because Lottie kissed her own husband at their wedding party. That one kiss sent Esther into a sobbing melt- down, and she ended up turning the whole celebration into chaos.
After throwing a dramatic fit, she locked herself in a room and went on a hunger strike.
Lottie’s husband, Nigel Mathis, left the party to chase after her-after Esther.
He brought her back to their home to comfort her.
They lived together. He treated her like she was his wife.
He even held a wedding ceremony for her.
“My brother died young. She just wanted a wedding, that’s all. I’ll give you one later,” he told Lottie.
She didn’t say a word. She simply packed her things and walked out.
Their marriage dragged on in silence for three years. In the third year, Nigel finally called to apologize.
Lottie decided to give him another chance. She planned a surprise and flew to the city where he was on a business trip-only to overhear a conversation between him and two of his buddies.
“Nigel, if you don’t love Lottie, just divorce her. Why keep living apart like this?”
Nigel gave a cold laugh. “You think I want to? It’s Esther’s call. You probably won’t believe this-she even gave me permission to sleep with Lottie.”
The friend who had been standing up for Lottie snapped. “Are you out of your damn mind, Nigel? You’re still dating Esther? What if she ends up pregnant with baby number two and you’re still not divorced? That’s cheating, man-full- on cheating. Lottie and her family aren’t going to just let that go.”
“They won’t do anything,” Nigel said, casually rubbing his fingers. “Her family cut ties with her after she married me. They’ve been blocked on WhatsApp for three years.”
Outside the private room, Lottie walked away steadily, her expression calm-but her fingertips trembled, just barely.
She’d always known Nigel had someone else in his heart.
She’d asked around, again and again, but no one ever told her who it was.
She’d imagined countless possibilities.
But never this one.
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Chapter 1
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Never Esther.
The woman she’d been close for three whole years.
It was unbearable.
When she stepped out of the club, the rain was coming down in sheets. She didn’t even flinch-just let it soak her through.
That same night, she boarded a red-eye flight back to Asrark.
The moment she got home, she collapsed with a high fever.
She was down for two full days. Just as she started to feel better, tragedy struck-her older brother, Greg Mathis, was in an accident.
Seven days later, his funeral was held in Asrark.
She’d barely gotten two or three hours of sleep each night at the family home. After the service, walking out of the cemetery, she felt like her body was moving forward-but her soul was trailing behind.
The chauffeur was already waiting by the gate with the car.
As soon as Lottie got in the car, she closed her eyes. “Chester, take me home.”
“Not going back to the old house?”
“No.”
The funeral was over, but the drama in the Mathis family was just beginning.
Greg had been the eldest son and first grandson-the one everyone adored since he was a child.
His death had been a tragic accident. Esther had pestered him into going skydiving. The equipment failed. He fell from the sky and died on impact.
By the time they got him to the hospital, it wasn’t for emergency treatment.
It was to stitch up the body.
The Mathis family’s anger toward Esther hadn’t even begun to cool.
Lottie didn’t want to watch Nigel defend another woman-not again. She had her own life to get back to.
But just as the car started to move, the rear door swung open.
Nigel climbed in. He was dressed in a tailored black suit, tall and composed as ever. His handsome face-usually un- readable-carried an unusual flicker of discomfort. “Lottie, heading home?
