Chapter 1

The day Mason cheated on me, I took the Swiss Army knife he had gifted me and slashed my stepsister’s face open.

After I went to prison, our marriage was automatically annulled. He finally gave my stepsister the grand, lavish wedding of her dreams.

Three years later, I was released.

Mason hired twenty security guards to keep a constant, paranoid watch on her.

He set up fifty traps, desperate to throw me back behind bars.

He even used a hundred middle managers to pass along a message: I could name any price, as long as I promised never to hurt Amber again.

But he was overthinking it.

Like a single drop of water merging into the ocean, I simply vanished from his life.

Our next meeting was at my auto repair shop.

I spit out the gum I was chewing, popped open the hood of his car with grease-stained fingers, and asked calmly,

"How old is this ride?"

He clenched his jaw so hard I could hear it. He squeezed the words out of his throat:

"Valerie, this car was the very first gift you ever bought me."