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Three years after she remarried Rhys Romano, Camille Blake attended a low-key alumni fundraiser and overheard a secret she was never meant to hear. Isla Sutton, her words slurring slightly from champagne, was holding court during a game of truth or dare. Someone had asked her for the most thrilling thing she’d ever done. She swirled the bubbles in her glass, a smirk playing on her lips. “Sleeping with Rhys Romano behind his wife’s back, obviously.” “The best part is, his wife actually thinks we’re over.” “I gave him a son. I live in a condo he owns, I drive his Porsche, and I use his Centurion card. Even his household staff answers to me.” When she finished, the room fell silent. Every eye in the place turned to Camille, waiting for the explosion. Because she was Rhys’s wife. ... But Camille didn’t cry. She didn’t make a scene. When a waiter passed by to refill her glass, she simply murmured, “Thank you.” After the party, the changes in her were subtle at first, but soon, people started to notice. First, her Instagram. Every post featuring Rhys vanished. When Rhys came home late, the living room lamp she always left on for him was dark. A short time later, Camille canceled her IVF appointments at the fertility clinic. Five years ago, she and Rhys had been in a horrific car accident. When the impact came, she had thrown herself over him without thinking. Rhys walked away with minor injuries. Camille, however, was in a coma for three days. The doctors later told her that her chances of conceiving naturally were almost zero. For the heir the Romano family craved,and for the family she had once desperately wanted,she had pushed herself for years. She went to the clinic every month and endured countless injections. She held on to endless, heart-breaking hope that one day, she might have their child. After the party, she stopped managing the Romano family’s social calendar. She stopped attending S......

Three years after she remarried Rhys Romano, Camille Blake attended a low-key alumni fundraiser and overheard a secret she was never meant to hear. Isla Sutton, her words slurring slightly from champagne, was holding court during a game of truth or dare. Someone had asked her for the most thrilling thing she’d ever done. She swirled the bubbles in her glass, a smirk playing on her lips. “Sleeping with Rhys Romano behind his wife’s back, obviously.” “The best part is, his wife actually thinks we’re over.” “I gave him a son. I live in a condo he owns, I drive his Porsche, and I use his Centurion card. Even his household staff answers to me.” When she finished, the room fell silent. Every eye in the place turned to Camille, waiting for the explosion. Because she was Rhys’s wife. ... But Camille didn’t cry. She didn’t make a scene. When a waiter passed by to refill her glass, she simply murmured, “Thank you.” After the party, the changes in her were subtle at first, but soon, people started to notice. First, her Instagram. Every post featuring Rhys vanished. When Rhys came home late, the living room lamp she always left on for him was dark. A short time later, Camille canceled her IVF appointments at the fertility clinic. Five years ago, she and Rhys had been in a horrific car accident. When the impact came, she had thrown herself over him without thinking. Rhys walked away with minor injuries. Camille, however, was in a coma for three days. The doctors later told her that her chances of conceiving naturally were almost zero. For the heir the Romano family craved,and for the family she had once desperately wanted,she had pushed herself for years. She went to the clinic every month and endured countless injections. She held on to endless, heart-breaking hope that one day, she might have their child. After the party, she stopped managing the Romano family’s social calendar. She stopped attending S......

Three days before the wedding, my fiancé sold the house we'd spent three years building together. His crew exploded in the garage bar. "You've lost your goddamn mind, Derek. You sold the house because Tiffany wanted a purse? Does Savannah even know? Where's she supposed to live after the wedding—your pickup bed?" "Yeah, Savannah oversaw every inch of that renovation. She sanded and stained the wainscoting in the master bedroom herself. Planted every hydrangea in the garden. All of it, her work." Derek knocked back a glass of Blanton's, ice clanking against the glass with an impatient sound. "She loves me so much she almost died taking a knife for me. You really think she's gonna care about some beat-up house?" "Besides. She's always saying as long as she's with me, anywhere is home. Perfect time to see if she actually meant it." I stood in the hallway outside the tool room, a container of hangover soup from Whole Foods in my hand. Behind that door, not quite shut, his careless voice carried through. The hallway smelled like motor oil and old wood. I leaned against the cold drywall for a few seconds. Then I turned, still holding the cold soup, and walked out. The morning of the wedding, my phone buzzed like a death threat. Derek's photo flashed on the screen. "Savannah, where the hell are you? Jesus Christ, both families are in the church. Forty people waiting on you." I sat in a speeding Uber, watching the oak-lined street I knew with my eyes closed slide past the window. "I already signed the papers with someone else. I'm at home now." *** That house. A 1920s Colonial with a wide front porch and oak floors. From the first renovation sketch I ever drew, it took three full years of my life. Tiffany posted one tearful Instagram story. "I want this bag so bad, it's like starlight fell to earth." Derek turned my house into cash and bought her a Himalaya Birkin—Hermès's crown jewel. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars. Ne......

A photo of me straddling the hottest male singer in the country tore through Washington society overnight. The comments on social media wouldn't stop climbing. [Oh my God, isn’t that General Walker’s wife?] When my friend burst in, I was leaning back on the sofa, a cigarette smoldering between my fingers. Her voice was strained. “Are you insane? Aren’t you afraid Lowell will kill you?” I crushed the cigarette out on the leather sofa. “Afraid of what? The divorce papers are already in effect.” Before she could answer, the door was kicked open. Lowell stood in the doorway, his hair slightly disheveled. “Had enough fun?” I looked up at him and smiled. “Can’t handle it, General? I put up with it for five years.” Lowell needed a respectable general’s wife. My father, concerned with the interests of both our families, arranged the marriage in a hurry. In five years, we barely saw each other. Every conversation felt like speaking to a stranger. Even our son, Leo, had been taken by Lowell to the base in Quantico. He said he wanted to handle his upbringing personally. I used to think he just wanted our son to adapt to his world early. Until our son’s fourth birthday, when he looked at me and said, very seriously, “Mom, my birthday wish is for you and Dad to get divorced, so Aunt Claire can be my new mom.” That was when I finally understood. What Lowell meant by “handle his upbringing personally” was letting our son, right alongside him, welcome Claire into the space where our family should have been. I laughed and took out the divorce papers I had prepared long ago. “Fine. I’ll grant his wish.” ... I pushed the signed divorce agreement across the desk to Lowell, my tone calm. “I’m granting Leo’s birthday wish. I don’t want custody. I don’t want alimony, either.” “Our joint accounts and property can all go into a trust under Leo’s name. Consider it his inheritance from me.” Not a muscle moved in Lowell’s face. It wasn’t until I tapped my fingers on the desk that he finally looked up at me. “What did you just say?” I glanced at the Department of Defense files spread open in front of him and understood at once. He hadn’t heard a single word. That familiar wave of helplessness washed over me. For five years of marriage, it was as if I was invisible to him. I even suspected he’d never truly registered my name when people said it. I’d had enough of this life. I turned the divorce agreement to the last page and slid it in front of him. “Just sign.”Lowell frowned, about to lower his head to read it. A rush of footsteps came from upstairs, and Leo ran down. “Dad! Aunt Claire said she’s taking me to the shooting range today!” Claire was the creative director for the Army’s performance troupe and an old friend of the Walker family. The moment Lowell heard her name, his eyes softened. He closed the file and started to stand. I pressed a hand on his wrist and put the pen in his hand. “Sign. It won’t make you late to take your son to see her.” Lowell finally looked at me properly. A flicker of surprise crossed his face. He probably hadn’t expected that the woman who had once chopped off her hair and deleted her Instagram after a single, “That’s an order,” from him would speak to him like this. “Dad!” Leo bounced anxiously. “Hurry up! Aunt Claire will be upset if we keep her waiting.” “Fine.” Lowell immediately picked up the pen and signed his name without even reading the document. I watched father and son leave, then wrote my name beside his signature. In this life, our names had appeared side-by-side only twice. The first time was at the County Clerk’s office in Virginia. That day, right after he signed, an emergency call had summoned him back to the Pentagon. The second time was now. He still left quickly, without a single look back. A tear fell onto the paper. I wiped it away at once, sealed the do......