Chapter 1 — The Departures Board

Sebastian kissed me beneath the airport departures board and promised he’d be back from London in a week.

Then he walked away carrying the briefcase I’d given him for our tenth anniversary.

Two hours later, my own flight was canceled. The airline waved me toward the first-class lounge to wait for the next departure, and the moment I stepped inside, my suitcase clipped my ankle, because I stopped that suddenly.

Sebastian was sitting by the windows.

Chapter 2 — The Secret Family

His hand rested on the knee of a younger woman in expensive clothes. A diamond bracelet circled her wrist — the same one I’d once queried on our credit-card statement, the one Sebastian swore had been a gift for an important client.

A little boy climbed into his lap.

“Daddy, are we going to our London house?”

Sebastian kissed his hair. “Soon, Theo.”

I stepped behind a marble partition before any of them could see me. Through a narrow gap, I watched the woman slide a blue folder across the table.

“Once Helena signs this,” she said, “her shares become yours.” My name was on the document.

Sebastian smiled. “She signs anything I put in front of her. She still thinks the company’s barely surviving.”

The woman laughed.