"That's the price he pays for hurting Caleb."

"So what if he's some blue-blooded heir? Does that give him the right to bully a boy with no family, no connections? I'm making him taste the kind of suffering other people swallow every day. Maybe it'll teach him not to look down on everyone else."

Gwendolen Walker sighed.

"Vivienne, aren't you afraid Adrian will find out and drag you through a divorce?"

Vivienne's gaze turned sharp as a blade.

"Gwendolen. You didn't go soft and tell him, did you?"

Gwendolen shook her head and stared down at her teacup.

Vivienne's voice dropped, cold and deliberate.

"Don't ruin this for me. I've spent six months planning every detail."

"I promised Caleb I'd never let anyone else touch me. That his child would be my only heir. I won't let Caleb down."

Every word dripped with warning. She was terrified that even the smallest leak would collapse her scheme and break her precious Caleb's heart.

I thought of those humiliating nights. Crawling to her side of the bed. Mimicking techniques I'd found in online videos, desperate to arouse some response in her.

She'd lain there with her face flushed crimson, jaw clenched, forcing herself still.

I'd thought she was embarrassed. Overwhelmed by shyness.

She'd been gritting her teeth to stay faithful to her lover.

I stood outside that door, listening, and every word drove another shard of ice through my chest.

This wasn't just betrayal. This was cruelty with a blueprint.

Four years of whispered gossip in high society. Four years of pitying glances and veiled insults. I'd endured all of it with my teeth clenched shut.

My knees still bore the scars from kneeling on cold stone steps at that mountain shrine. Every time it rained, the old wounds ached.

I remembered draping the blessed charm I'd brought back around Vivienne's neck, reverent as a pilgrim.

And what had she been doing while I knelt and prayed?

Rolling around in bed with the boy we'd raised, lost in each other, laughing at how stupid I was. How pathetic.

Then she let her circle of friends look me over with those pitying, mocking eyes.

I wiped my tears, turned, and walked away. Then I canceled the specialist appointment I'd booked for Vivienne.

The receptionist on the other end of the line was baffled.

"Mr. Caldwell, you pulled every string you had to get Professor Kemistry on board. Why would you cancel now?"

I let out a bitter laugh.