Chapter 2

Connan rolled his eyes. “What choice do I have?” he scoffed. “Sneaking around was getting fucking exhausting.”

He leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other.

“That little blonde came up with the whole prison idea. Smart girl.” He laughed under his breath. “While Gisille was locked away, I got to spend ten carefree years with the woman I actually wanted without anybody questioning a damn thing.”

The men laughed with him.

“I got my fun,” Connan continued with a careless shrug. “Now Giselle is out, the family's satisfied, the loyalty test's over, and she's finally qualified to be Mrs. Hawksley. Guess it's time to play the devoted husband again.”

Someone raised a glass. “So you're done screwing around?”

Connan clinked his glass against his friend's. “Yeah. I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to her. Buy her whatever she wants. Love her. Spoil her. Heal every scar she got in prison.” He laughed.

“She'll never know the truth anyway.”

The room filled with laughter again and something inside me shattered completely.

The wedding. The blood. The prison cell. The beatings. The humiliation. The nights I begged God to let me die.

Every second I'd suffered...

It had all been part of Connan's sick little game.

Not because he loved me, not because the family forced him. Because he wanted both women.

He wanted a wife with the perfect family name.

And a mistress he could fuck without guilt.

I covered my mouth to keep myself from making a sound.

My whole body was shaking.

So...

That was the truth.

The man I'd spent ten years mourning had been alive the whole time.

While I was being beaten until I couldn't stand, he was drinking whiskey, laughing with his friends, and sleeping with another woman in our bed.

I turned around before anyone saw me.

Every step back to the master bedroom felt heavier than the last.

The room was dark when I closed the door behind me.

I looked at our wedding photo on the nightstand.

“A loyalty test?” I whispered with a quiet laugh.

I looked at the ring on my finger. “You wanted to see how much I loved you.” I slowly slipped off my wedding ring. “Well...” Tears rolled down my face.

“I passed your test.”

I set the ring on the bedside table.

“But you failed mine... You don't deserve to be my husband anymore.”

That same night, I called the lawyer who'd defended me ten years ago.

She answered almost immediately. “Ms. Powell?”

“I need to know something,” I said quietly. “How do I divorce Connan Hawksley?”

There was a long silence.

Then she spoke. “Actually... because Don Hawksley was legally declared dead ten years ago, his legal status still hasn't been restored. On paper, your husband is still deceased.”

I froze.

“What does that mean?”

“It means,” she said carefully, “that legally, you're already a widow. Once we obtain his official death certificate, there won't be any divorce process. You'll be completely free, and you'll also have every legal right to manage your late husband's estate.”

My fingers tightened around my phone.

“How long?”

“If everything goes smoothly, three days. Five at the most.”

I closed my eyes. “Please do it as fast as you can.”

After ending the call, I slowly looked around the mansion I'd once called home.

It didn't feel like home anymore. It felt like a prison with prettier walls.

Barefoot, I walked through every room.

This time... I wasn't looking for memories. I was looking for her.

The blonde girl.

Before long, I found strands of long blonde hair on the living room sofa. More under our bed. More scattered across the floor of the walk in closet.

The hair was soft, healthy, and carefully cared for.

Nothing like my own dry, brittle black hair after ten years behind bars.

I stared at it until my vision blurred.

How many times had she been here? How many nights had they slept together in our bed?

While I was lying on a freezing prison floor, bruised, bleeding, and praying to survive one more night… She was wrapped in my husband's arms.

…

I kept searching the master bedroom until I reached the bottom drawer of Connan's bedside table.

Hidden beneath a stack of old documents was a thick pile of bank transfer receipts.

At first, I didn't understand what I was looking at.

Then I saw the recipient's name.

My hands started shaking.

It was the woman who'd ruled my prison cell.

The inmate who'd made my life a living hell for ten years.

Every month.

Fifty thousand dollars.

Without missing a single payment.

The transfers had started the exact month I was sent to prison and continued every single month until now.

I couldn't breathe.

The slaps. The punches. The freezing cold showers. Being forced to scrub the floor with a toothbrush before licking it clean while everyone laughed. Being starved until my stomach twisted in pain, then being thrown spoiled food like I was an animal.

It wasn't random.

It wasn't bad luck.

Connan had paid for all of it.

I put the receipts back and stumbled into the bathroom before dropping to my knees over the toilet.

Why?

Violent sobs tore out of my throat as I vomited until there was nothing left in my stomach.

I pressed a hand against my stomach as the familiar ache spread through it.

The prison had left me with severe stomach ulcers from years of hunger and rotten food.

Even now, the pain never really went away.

Fifty thousand dollars.

Every month.

For ten years.

He'd spent millions just to make sure every single day of my life felt like hell.

My legs gave out.

I slowly slid down until I was sitting on the cold floor.

Why...? Why would he do this to me? Wasn't I the woman he said he loved?

Before all of this, Connan couldn't even stay away from me for two hours.

If he had a business trip, I'd go with him.

If he had a meeting at Hawksley Empire Holdings, he'd find an excuse to have lunch with me.

Everyone around us used to joke that I was Connan Hawksley's emotional stabilizer.

“As long as Gissi is around, the Don never loses his temper.”

I used to smile every time I heard that.

Now it just made me sick.

How could the same man leave me in prison for ten years and never once wonder if I was still alive?

He hadn't always been like this.

The first time we met, he was being hunted by a rival Mafia family.

Gunshots echoed through the abandoned warehouse while his men fought to buy him time.

I had no idea who he was back then. I only saw a man bleeding to death.

Without thinking, I ran through the crossfire and dragged him behind a concrete wall.

Blood soaked my hands as I pressed my scarf against the gunshot wound in his shoulder.

“Stay with me,” I kept telling him, my hands trembling. “I've already called an ambulance. Please don't close your eyes.”

Under the flashing police lights, he looked up at me. His eyes never left my face and that was the beginning of everything.

After he recovered, Connan chased me like a man completely in love.

People said I was after his money. Said I wasn't good enough for him.

Every single time, Connan stood in front of me.

“I don't care what anyone says,” he'd tell me while holding my hand. “You're the only woman I'll ever love, Giss. I'll spend the rest of my life proving it.”

He fought his family. He ignored the gossip. And he gave me the wedding every woman dreams about.

I really believed I'd found a love that could survive anything.

What an idiot I was!

The love I treasured with my whole heart was nothing but another game to him.