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Prologue

Cade

I didn’t lift h I’d heard my wife come into the room She shut the door with a firm click

“What do you want, Christine?”

“I want you to fucking look at me”

I put ure I had just studied toHer cheeks were flushed Her bee stung lips were tre and her fists were clenched at her sides with teirl whose latest whied

We stared at each other She bore little reseo Then she had been laughing, fresh faced, head over heels in love with me Even her face was completely different Since then she had allowed a slew of plastic surgeons to work on it Pu bits Until she looked like a parody of herself

“What do you want, Christine?” I repeated

“A man tried to pick me up on the street today”

“Did you go?”

“Fuck you,” she screamed “Why can’t you be normal? Why can’t you be like other husbands They care if other men want to fuck their wives Show some jealousy Show me you still care” She took a step forward “You used to think I was beautiful”

“You are beautiful,” I said Not to me, but no doubt to a lot of other men

“I want to be beautiful to you All I want is a bit of attention, Cade Once you wanted ood enough for you to marry me”

“I nant,” I reminded coldly

“And aren’t you glad you did Because of me you have Aria and Arron? Or would you rather I had an abortion?”

My finger lifted off the nue Sometimes I wished my ould never speak to me, because every tie of my innocent twins flashed into my mind “What moth

er in her rightlike that about her own children?”

“A mother who is desperate for some love from her husband,” she cried

“I don’t love you, Christine I never have and never will You can go out and pretend to the world that you are the beloved wife of Cade Motenson and the et to pretend that I owe you a daain with the devil when you decided to trick e”

“You know I did it because I loved you I still love you,” she declared passionately

“Don’t waste your love on me I’d kill it, if I were you”

“You’re a heartless monster, Cade Heartless But I’ll teach you I’ll teach you to feel pain” She whirled around and flew out of my study

I found the nu down the stats for the Transcorp deal It orth over a billion dollars A billion I did not need, but I enjoyed the process of acquiring it I was a confirmed workaholic Type A personality The only rush I had left in life was fro

Even before the sound of my unhappy wife’s stilettos had died away in the corridor I had already forgotten about her threat But she had not

She ood on her proined

Katrina

youtubecom/watch?v=yTCDVfMz15M

(You gotta get up and try, try, try)

“Hey, girl!” a man’s voice called

Instantly on guard, I turned and saw a man stand fro towards wood Pass I’d stopped for a bottle of soda and a packet of cookies at the roadside convenience store in the valley

He slapped his thigh, as if unable to contain his exciteain”

I could smell he’d just smoked a blunt

“Chuck, Chuck Pearson,” he supplied with a broad grin

I frowned and looked at him blankly I still couldn’t place the face, the name, or connect the enthusiasm with a remote friendship or co “Oh, um …”

“You’re a long way fro around these parts? Not living down here now, are you?” He was firing questions at me faster than I could answer

I took a backward step “No, I’h”