He Chose A Fake Heir Over His True Wife

hday gala sat on the vanity l

dstock, the DeLuca crest em

tarina

identity and more like a co

Two weeks of Alex stumbling home at dawn, reeking of ch

ck of the closet and dialed the combi

ted t

ond Necklace st

ed in a lifetime. Alex had fastened it around my neck on our wedding day, his

lt cold and dead in my h

't put

to my purse. It landed with a dull th

om, where the fireplace cra

f us. Our wedding. Our honeymoon in Bali. The time we la

n the glossy prints. He l

s all

t made it worse-that he was capable of l

With trembling fingers, I slid the

fireplace and

m into th

hem. The smiles melted. The memories turned to ash. I watched them bur

the front d

walke

ooking devastatingly handsome. But then,

when he saw th

otos?" he asked,

my face a porce

med," I lied smoothly. "

ithout a second thought. He di

his watch. "We cannot be lat

of his cologne-and beneath it, the f

ways rea

in the penthouse o

er gowns, the air thick with the smell o

ccepted compliments on my dress with practiced grace. I let Ale

felt lik

e room w

slid open, and Ar

niform of the staff. She

vulgar imitation of the

soldier, but her dark eyes

iately, rippling through

is

s she

e Don. He i

d over to her an

oomed, his voice carryin

The Don never we

removed his hand from my back

ed towa

the center of the room, a que

her. I watched as he int

ousin," he s

e. It drifted to her lower back, li

rking his

I was the wife.

was in

ear me, their backs turned, unaw

one whispered,

oesn't

t?" the o

la in Lake Como. T

it me like a

the girl the

od ran

e C

about it for years-a sanctuary awa

ought it

across

he threw her head back and laughed, a vu

miled

e. It was a smile of pu

r. He was blinded by

hispers. He didn't

dn't

hing snap in

break. It wa

ding on to the hope that this was j

a woman who represented everything he

ver his

just a

s can be

eeling the hard, cold outline of

away from

d the exit, my

o cry. I wasn't

ng to mak

here, amidst the cha

eir more than anything in th

give him

him a legacy o