Chapter 2

Three months earlier

I was in the kitchen, humming while I arranged white roses in our crystal vase. Tomorrow would mark five years since Alex slipped that platinum band on my finger, and I wanted everything to be special.

"Eva?" Alex's voice came from behind me, unusually quiet.

I turned, expecting to see his usual warm smile. Instead, his face was serious, almost grim. He'd put his phone down on the counter—something he never did during his evening calls.

"What's wrong?" I asked, immediately worried. "Did something happen with the Singapore deal?"

"Sit down." He pulled out a chair. "We need to talk."

The roses suddenly felt heavy in my hands. "Alex, you're scaring me."

"There's something I need to tell you about my family. About the trust."

I sat, my heart starting to race. Alex never talked about family business. The Whitmores had money older than most countries, but the details were always kept locked away.

"You know about the fifteen billion dollar family trust," he said, not really asking.

Of course I knew. It was impossible to be married to a Whitmore and not know about the money that would eventually be ours. But Alex always said we didn't need to worry about it until we were older.

"There are... conditions," Alex continued. "Rules that have to be followed."

"What kind of rules?"

He rubbed his face, looking exhausted. "The family has this thing called a loyalty test. It happens after five years of marriage. The idea is to make sure spouses aren't just in it for the money."

I blinked. "A test?"

"It's archaic, I know. But it's been in place for generations. Both spouses have to prove their commitment can survive anything." Alex reached for my hand. "The husband has to create a crisis. A big one. And the wife has to stay loyal through it all."

"What kind of crisis?" My voice came out smaller than I intended.

"Usually infidelity. Or the appearance of it." Alex's thumb traced across my knuckles. "For twelve months, I would have to... act like I'm having an affair. And you would have to endure it without fighting back, without leaving, without telling anyone it's fake."

The words hit me like ice water. "Twelve months?"

"If we pass the test, we inherit everything. The full fifteen billion. If we don't..." He shrugged. "We get nothing."

I stared at him. "And if I can't do it? If I leave?"

"Then we're cut off completely." Alex's grip tightened on my hand. "Eva, I need that money. The business is in trouble. Real trouble. I made some investments that went bad, and without the trust fund, we could lose everything."

"How bad is it?"

"Bad enough that I might go to prison if I can't pay back what I owe."

The room spun a little. Alex, my steady, successful husband, was telling me our entire life was built on borrowed time.

"There has to be another way," I whispered.

"There isn't." His voice was firm. "This is our only shot. But Eva, I can't do this without you. You have to understand—none of it would be real. Every cruel word, every time I ignore you, every moment it looks like I don't love you... it would all be an act."

I pulled my hands free and walked to the window. Outside, the city sparkled like it always did, but everything felt different now.

"Who would you... who would be the other woman?"

Alex was quiet for a long moment. "Victoria Sterling."

My stomach dropped. Victoria. Beautiful, sophisticated Victoria, who'd dated Alex through college before she moved to Paris for her art career. The woman Alex's mother still asked about at family dinners.

"Why her?"

"Because it has to be believable," Alex said. "The family lawyers will be watching. If it doesn't look real, if it doesn't truly test you, then we fail automatically."

I wrapped my arms around myself. "And Victoria agreed to this?"

"She knows it's just business. She's being well compensated for her time."

Business. He was talking about destroying our marriage like it was a corporate merger.

"I can't," I said. "Alex, I can't watch you with another woman for a year. I can't pretend not to care while you—"

"While I what? Eva, look at me." He stood and walked over, turning me to face him. "I would never actually cheat on you. This is all just for show. You know I love you."

"Do I?"

"We've been together for seven years. Married for five. You're the only woman I've ever wanted to build a life with." His hands framed my face. "But if we don't do this, we'll lose everything. Our home, our future, our security. Is that what you want?"

I closed my eyes, feeling trapped. "How long do I have to decide?"

"Victoria's flying back from Paris next week. If we're going to do this, it has to start soon."

That night, I barely slept. I kept thinking about the life Alex and I had built, about the future we'd planned. Children, a house in the Hamptons, the security that came with being part of one of America's oldest families.

By morning, I'd made my decision.

"Okay," I told him over breakfast. "I'll do it."

Alex's relief was visible. "You're sure?"

"I'm sure. But Alex—" I reached across the table for his hand. "Promise me this is really just a test. Promise me you still love me."

"I love you more than anything," he said, and his voice sounded so sincere I almost believed nothing bad could come from this.

Two weeks later, Victoria arrived in New York.

Three weeks after that, I found out I was pregnant.

I remember staring at the test, joy flooding through me. Alex and I had been trying for over a year, and finally, finally, it was happening. I could already picture telling him, watching his face light up, planning the nursery.

Instead, when I told him that evening, his face went pale.

"Eva, no. Not now."

"What do you mean, not now?" I was still holding the pregnancy test, my hands shaking with excitement. "Alex, we're going to have a baby."

"We can't. Not during the test." He started pacing. "Don't you see? If you're pregnant, if there's a baby involved, it changes everything. The emotions become too real, too complicated."

"It's already real," I said. "This is our child."

"It's a cluster of cells," Alex said harshly. "Eva, you have to get rid of it."