Chapter 4

He'd grown a hide thicker than a fortress wall a long time ago. Expecting him to confess was like waiting for the sun to rise in the west.

The GPS on the cab isn't fake, but the man driving it is. If you want the truth, go see for yourself.

All eighteen of those bathhouses are properties he bought, but they're registered under his mistress's name.

One more thing to remember: the five million he used to buy the house came from your parents.

The rest I could stomach. It was that last line that broke me.

My parents died in a car accident, and Vincent handled everything afterward.

I was drowning in grief back then, so I only asked once about the driver who caused it.

"The guy who hit them is dead broke. Whatever the insurance pays out, that's what we take."

That's what he told me at the time, and I just believed him.

"All right, all right, I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed."

Vincent pulled me in and kissed me, then turned and headed for the bedroom.

"Get some sleep too. You've got to take our son to school in the morning."

Watching him walk away, I scrubbed the kiss off my face and felt, for the first time, that my own husband was a stranger.

I've known Vincent for almost twenty years.

From middle school on, he followed me everywhere, shadowing me all the way to the altar.

To everyone around us, we were the perfect high-school couple, one of the few truly happy families.

Your husband holds a grudge like no one else. When you were kids, your dad beat him once for stealing fruit, and he's held onto it for twenty years.

From the moment he got close to you until now, he's had one goal: to destroy your whole family.

The most important thing right now is to call your brother and stop him from putting in that million.

The warnings from Morgan cut through my memories. I picked up my phone and sent a text to my brother, Hudson Gilbert.

Something urgent came up. Don't touch that million yet. This is bigger than anything.

In under a minute, Hudson wrote back.

What happened, sis?

A call came right after the text, but I rejected it outright.

Can't get into it right now. Wait for me at your office tomorrow. And remember, don't touch that money right now.

Got it, but what's actually going on?

Hudson called again, and again I hung up.

The next morning, after waving my son off at the school gate, I rode my scooter over to Hudson's company.

"Sis, what were you talking about yesterday? What actually happened? Is it my nephew, or is it Vincent?"

Hudson stood downstairs, worry all over his face.

I parked the scooter and shook my head at him.

"Let's talk in your office."

Hudson might be reckless and rash, but there's one thing about him: he really listens to me.

I walked into his office and locked the door behind me.

"What are you even looking at? What is going on?"

Seeing all this, Hudson looked more lost than ever.

"I want to ask you something, and you're going to tell me the truth."

"This project you're working on now, who exactly introduced it to you?"

When I didn't mention my husband or my son, Hudson visibly relaxed.

"I thought it was something serious. You nearly scared me to death."

"I already told you about this project, didn't I? A really good buddy of mine set it up—"

I waved a hand, cutting him off before he could finish, my voice turning harder.

"Swear to me right now. If you're lying to me today, then don't ever call me sis again, and you're no longer my brother."