Chapter 3

Evie recognized the diamond instantly.

Years earlier, Ethan had sent her a picture of it from Europe and said,

This stone would suit you.

She had waited for months.

Now it was on someone else's hand.

"Finished showing off?" Evie asked quietly.

She tried to leave.

Sophia grabbed her wrist.

"As long as I'm here, you'll never have a good life."

Then, with perfect timing, Sophia screamed.

"Evie! What are you doing?"

She let herself fall backward over the deck rail and into the heated pool below.

The splash was enormous.

"Sophia!"

Ethan's roar came from behind Evie.

He jumped into the water, dragged Sophia out, and cradled her against him while she trembled and cried and pointed at Evie.

"I only wanted to talk to her. Why would she push me?"

The crowd gathered at once.

Whispers spread.

Ethan crossed the deck in three strides and slapped Evie so hard she hit the ground.

Blood filled her mouth.

"I didn't push her," she said, hand pressed to her swollen cheek. "She jumped."

"Shut up. Sophia can't even swim. You think she'd risk her life just to frame you?"

Ten years of attachment lost to one tear from another woman.

He ordered his guards to drag her away.

"Put her in the cold storage room. Let her cool off."

It was the ship's frozen supply compartment.

The metal door slammed shut behind her.

The freezing air cut through her thin dress at once.

Curled in the corner, shaking, she remembered something Ethan had once told her when she was ten and half-frozen in the snow.

As long as I'm here, you'll never be cold again.

So vows expired too.

By the time her breathing turned shallow and her consciousness started slipping, the heavy steel door exploded open.

A tall silhouette stood in the flood of light beyond.