Cara

“Lola, I’ll love you for the rest of my life. If I ever break this promise, may heaven strike me down with thunder!”
The vows Ethan Jones made to me ten years ago still rang in my ears.
Yet ten years later, our daughter Lucy was standing in front of me, holding his hand—and the hand of his mistress, Alice.
“I don’t want you, you old, frumpy woman, as my mom. Alice is my mom!”
Not only did Ethan fail to stop Lucy’s cruel words, he looked at Alice with nothing but tenderness in his eyes.
Alice, too, showed no restraint. Right in front of me, she gently stroked Lucy’s little head and smiled.
“Of course. I’m your mom.”
In that moment, I finally understood something clearly—
In this family, I was nothing but an extra.

The moment Darren Gellar walked into the conference room, I felt the blood in my veins freeze.
The new chief, broad-shouldered beneath his badge and radiating cold restraint, was the very man who had been gasping beneath me last night.
My so-called “escort.”
Last night, in the dim hotel hallway, his body had been burning hot. His shirt collar was open, his eyes unfocused and thick with desire.
Now, those same eyes were sharp as knives as he inspected every officer in the room.
“Attention!” Chief Bob’s booming voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
Darren’s gaze swept across the crowd like a searchlight. I lowered my head as fast as I could, wishing I could shove it straight into my scuffed police boots.
God, please don’t let him recognize me.
Because last night, I didn’t just sleep with him. I also…
Memories exploded in my mind like shrapnel.