Chapter 1 - The Golden Lie
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The Cartier watch caught the light of the crystal chandelier, flashing like a brilliant, expensive lie.
Lena lay at the bottom of the grand marble staircase, the taste of copper thick on her tongue. A scream was lodged violently in her throat, trapped behind her clenched teeth. She stared up at her husband, Grant Caldwell, who was descending the stairs one slow, deliberate step at a time. He wasn't rushing. He wasn't panicked. He merely looked irritated, as if her broken, bleeding body on the pristine black-and-white tiles was a spill he would have to pay the maid to mop up.
"Get up," Grant ordered, his voice cold and flat.
Lena tried to push herself off the floor, but her palms slipped against the polished marble. Her right leg was bent at an agonizing, unnatural angle. A blinding, white-hot bolt of pain shot from her shattered ankle straight up to her hip. The world tilted violently. The twenty-foot ceiling blurred above her.
Just ten minutes ago, she had walked through the front door of their San Diego mansion, returning early from a business trip to surprise him for their anniversary. She had seen the unfamiliar silver stilettos in the entryway. She had smelled the sickeningly sweet designer perfume.
And she had opened the door to their master bedroom.
Standing halfway up the staircase, clutching Lena’s own silk robe to her chest, was Veronica Pike. Veronica—Lena’s college roommate. Her maid of honor. The woman who had sworn they were sisters. Veronica’s eyes were wide with a theatrical display of horror, but Lena could see the sick, triumphant spark beneath it.
Grant kicked Lena’s broken leg with the toe of his leather loafer.
The scream finally tore free. It ripped through the foyer, an animalistic sound of pure agony that bounced off the walls and the framed photographs of their perfect, fraudulent marriage.
"Grant!" Veronica gasped, putting a manicured hand over her mouth. "Stop it. Her leg is—"
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"Broken?" Grant snapped, not taking his eyes off his wife. "Good. Maybe now she’ll stop acting like she owns this house. Maybe now she’ll remember she’s a nobody."
He grabbed Lena by the hair, ignoring her cries, and began dragging her across the floor.
