Chapter 1 - THE HOUSEKEEPER IN HER OWN HOME
“Of course. She trusts me.”
Those four words changed everything.
I stood behind the cleaning cart, listening to my husband promise another woman that I would sign away something I hadn't even bothered to read.
For eleven years, I'd believed Ethan Caldwell was the one person in the world who would never deliberately hurt me.
Now I was beginning to understand that he hadn't simply betrayed my marriage.
He'd been planning something.
And I was standing in the middle of it.
Upstairs, the woman laughed.
“Baby, you're sure the house will be mine?”
Ethan's answer came immediately.
“Everything will be yours.”
I stared at the marble floor.
Everything.
The house my grandmother had left me.
The furniture I'd chosen.
The paintings my mother had collected.
The company shares I'd inherited before Ethan and I married.
Everything.
Grace appeared beside me.
“Mrs. Caldwell,” she whispered.
I shook my head.
“Not here.”
She glanced toward the staircase.
“Please. We need to leave.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
Her face had gone pale.
“Because I heard something yesterday.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
She swallowed.
“Mr. Caldwell was talking to someone in his study.”
I waited.
Grace leaned closer.
“He said that after you signed the papers, there wouldn't be any reason to keep pretending.”
A cold sensation moved through my chest.
“Pretending what?”
She looked toward the stairs.
Then whispered:
“That he loved you.”
I closed my eyes.
The words hurt.
But they didn't surprise me anymore.
What surprised me was the next thing Grace said.
“He also asked whether the insurance policy would still pay if you died overseas.”
For a moment, the entire room seemed to tilt.
I gripped the cleaning cart.
“What insurance policy?”
Grace shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Upstairs, Ethan laughed.
The sound made my skin crawl.
I looked at the staircase.
Then at Grace.
“We're leaving.”
She nodded.
But as we turned toward the servants' entrance, I heard Ethan call from above.
“Hey! You!”
I froze.
He was looking directly at me.
“Come upstairs.”
My heart stopped.
“I need you to clean something.”
May you like
And suddenly, I realized I wasn't finished pretending.
Not yet.
