loria knew nothing about any of this.
She stood before a rack of formal dresses, caught in that familiar first–date anxiety. Though her father had arranged this engagement, she still hadn’t met her fiancé since arriving in London. Her recovery had kept her homebound for weeks.
He’d sent thoughul gifts during her convalescence, but this would be their actual first meeting. A photo could only tell you so much about a person.
Given the stakes, Gloria wasn’t taking any chances. After trying on half her wardrobe, she settled on an elegant off–shoulder A–line dress in soft pink that hit just below the knee. She pinned her long hair up with a simple jade clip her grandmother had given her.
When she entered the private dining room, she immediately spotted him standing by the tall windows overlooking the Thames.
Where Elijah had been winter frost, Lucas Hayes radiated spring warmth.
She’d been skeptical when her father sang his praises. Who actually prioritized their wife these days, especially in a family as complicated as the Hayes clan? Her pre–date research had left her wary.
The Hayes family tree was messy, to put it mildly. While Lucas’s direct line supposedly valued fidelity, the extended family was a tabloid writer’s dream–affairs, love children, the works. With Lucas living in the family compound alongside his half–brothers, she’d doubted he’d escaped the
influence.
Today proved her wrong.
After she sat down, Lucas introduced himself without pretension, then handed her a folder addressing all her concerns with surprising transparency. Throughout their conversation, he showed genuine attentiveness–making sure her water was filled, checking if she needed anything, actually listening when she spoke.
The entire lunch left Gloria feeling unexpectedly comfortable. As she studied him–yes, also ten years her senior–she realized that a life with someone like him might actually bring happiness.
After their meal, Lucas drove her home himself rather than sending a car.
Perhaps too caught up in their conversation, Gloria missed the dark sedan parked among the trees across from her family estate. Behind tinted windows, intense eyes tracked her as she approached her front door.
After three months of searching, Elijah had found her.
Since discovering the truth, he’d needed a full week just to process it all. The woman he’d despised had been framed. The woman he’d worshipped was a killer.
Initially, he just couldn’t accept it. How could his childhood sweetheart–his perfect, pure Jenna–secretly be so ruthless?
After losing the baby and waking in the hospital, Jenna had knelt beside him, sobbing. Faced with undeniable evidence, she couldn’t keep denying her
actions.
Her only defense was that familiar, twisted logic: she’d done everything out of love for him. All those women she’d hurt–it was because she couldn’t stand anyone else wanting him. She had to remove them herself.
Evil.
That was the only word Elijah could think after hearing her confession.
For a moment, he wondered if this stranger was really Jenna–if the innocent girl from his memories had ever existed at all.
