Chapter 1

After my rich best friend's family went bankrupt.

To pay off the debts, her stepmother wanted to sell her off to some company boss past fifty.

The same day I got her call, my husband and I wired every liquid asset we had straight to her family's company.

When I saw her again, she was like a shattered porcelain doll.

"Kathy, my life is over. I can't do anything."

I comforted her, my heart aching for her.

"I'll take care of you. Come work at my company."

Beside us, Ervin Dickerson gave her a helpless look.

"You're coming to work, not to play the pampered heiress."

From the day Agnes Coleman joined Ervin's company, not a single day passed without him complaining about her.

The fifth time Agnes got the numbers wrong on a report.

Ervin all but begged me.

"She causes more trouble than a kid. Can I get rid of this third wheel?"

Everything stayed this calm, until the day I got a call from my secretary.

Ervin had left our biggest client waiting all afternoon and then vanished. No one could reach him.

We had a huge fight, and he refused to say where he'd been.

My best friend, pale and trembling, walked toward me.

"Kathy, yesterday he went to Ashford to pick me up."

...

My mind went blank. I could barely breathe.

Holding back a sob, I asked,

"You're saying Ervin drove three hundred miles to Ashford yesterday to pick you up, right?"

Agnes grabbed my hand, desperate to explain something to me.

"Kathy, I'm sorry. Ervin was worried about me."

"Yesterday I went to meet a client, and the client put his hands all over me..."

Before she could finish, I shook off her hand and looked at Ervin.

He was catching Agnes, who'd stumbled from my shove, his face full of concern.

Then he took her by the arm and shielded her behind him.

"Kathy, it's all my fault. I'm the one who fell in love with Agnes, and I'm the one who insisted on going to get her. Don't blame her."

It hit me like lightning. My heart clenched, again and again.

"Why... her? How could it be her?"

I pressed a hand to my chest, the pain so sharp I nearly fainted.

By reflex, Ervin pulled the fast-acting heart pills from his inner suit pocket.

"Kathy, breathe deep, don't get worked up, breathe deep."

The instant his hand touched me.

I shoved him away in disgust. The bottle shattered, and the pills scattered across the floor.

Agnes dropped to her knees in a panic, gathering them up.

Sobbing, she held them out to me.

"Kathy, take your medicine, please. Say whatever you want after."

As she bent down, I saw the kiss marks standing out plainly on her chest.

How many times had they done this behind my back? Last Friday when Ervin said he was staying out overnight for a client, or the day before when he said he had a business trip.

Images of them together rose up in my mind on their own, and I couldn't stop myself from retching.

"Disgusting."

With that, I turned and went back to our room.

The tears wouldn't stop. I raised my hand to wipe them, but no matter how I tried, they wouldn't come clean.

Just like the marks they'd left on my life, so sickening.

On my wrist I wore the bracelet and ring Ervin had given me.

On the vanity sat the ceramic piece Agnes had made with her own hands, and there were photos of us on the picture wall.

Every single thing reminded me that I had lost love and friendship at once.

I smashed everything that had to do with them like a woman gone mad.

The crash brought them running.

Agnes pounded on my door, crying.

"Kathy, open the door. Your heart isn't good. I'm worried about you."

After a long while, once I'd pulled myself together, I opened the door.

I went straight for Agnes, meaning to take back the necklace I'd given her.

But before my hand could reach her.

Ervin shielded Agnes behind him and stepped forward to grip my wrist.

"If you want to hit someone, hit me. It's all my fault."

I gave him an ugly smile.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't dirty my own hands."

Instead I reached past him and ripped the necklace right off Agnes's neck.

"Agnes, this is where you and I end. Now I need to talk about the divorce with him. You can go."

Agnes's big eyes filled with tears, her lips working as if she still wanted to say something.

Ervin patted her shoulder gently and soothed her.

"I've got this. I'll handle it. Go on first."

The huge room was left to the two of us. Ervin tugged at his tie.

"The house and my shares in the company are yours. I'll walk out with nothing."

Fighting down the heaving in my chest, I mocked him.

"Is your love worth so much? I, Kathy Swanson, don't want a single bit of this. I can earn it all on my own."

He froze for a moment, then looked at me, helpless.

"Kathy, you always act like the one on top. I'm not your business partner."

I waved a hand and let out a scornful laugh.

"As a husband and as a partner, you fail on both counts. The client you lost, I'll take from you. Better hurry back and get your plan B ready."

Ervin frowned, looked at me, and said nothing more.

He turned and walked away without looking back.

Leaving me alone in this home that belonged to the two of us.

Right now I was like a puppet with its soul pulled out, sitting dazed on the floor.

My heart hurt so much.