06/05/2026
https://eng.moboreader.com/1IHOeT/885192
"The diamond was cold and heavy on her finger.
Chloe Hampton turned her hand, letting the afternoon light from the floor—to—ceiling windows catch in the facets. It splintered into a thousand tiny rainbows across the white marble floor of her apartment. It was a perfect stone, a symbol of a perfect union between two of New York's most powerful families.
Her phone screen glowed on the table beside her, the wallpaper a photo from last night's engagement party. She and Carter Sterling, smiling. Him, impossibly handsome in his custom tuxedo; her, in a white dress that had cost more than a car, looking happier than she could ever remember being. The headlines were already calling it the merger of the decade.
She picked up the phone, her thumb hovering over Carter's name. A simple text. Are you alive? Hope the hangover isn't too bad. Something light, something a fiancée would send.
Before she could type, a notification slid down from the top of the screen. An unknown number.
Her heart gave a strange, sharp little thump. She tapped it open.
It was a photo.
The air left her lungs in a silent rush. It felt like being punched in the stomach, a deep, sickening jolt that made the room tilt. In the photo, Carter was kissing someone. Not a polite, social kiss. It was deep, hungry. His hands were tangled in the woman's blonde hair. And the woman... the woman was Paige Vance. Her friend since childhood.
Chloe's fingers, suddenly numb and clumsy, swiped down. There was a second photo."