Chapter 3

The night of the Sterling Corporation gala, I wore a custom emerald gown and the pearl bracelet Logan gave me.

When I came downstairs, Sienna was already waiting in the foyer.

She wore a red dress—backless, floor-length, dripping with elegance. The diamond bracelet sparkled on her wrist. Her hair cascaded over bare shoulders in soft waves.

She looked like the woman of the house. I looked like the guest.

Logan walked out of his study, adjusting his cufflinks. His eyes swept over both of us—and lingered on Sienna.

"You look great," he said.

He was looking at her.

"Thanks," Sienna whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Logan finally turned to me. "Ready?"

No compliment. No second glance. Just—ready?

"Yes," I said.

In the car, Sienna sat in the front passenger seat. I didn't fight it. I had learned that fighting only made me the unreasonable one.

At the gala, everything went smoothly—until the charity auction.

I was on stage, hosting the final bid for a rare sapphire necklace. The room was electric with energy. Bids flew back and forth.

"Five hundred thousand from Table Seven! Do I hear six—"

"One million."

The room gasped. Every head turned.

Logan stood up at Table One, paddle raised. One million dollars for the sapphire necklace.

My heart leaped. Was this his way of making it up to me? A grand, public gesture?

"Sold! To Mr. Sterling for one million dollars!"

The crowd erupted in applause. I smiled, genuinely, for the first time in weeks.

Logan walked to the stage. He took the necklace box from my hands—and turned around.

He walked straight to Sienna.

He opened the box, lifted the sapphire necklace, and clasped it around her neck in front of three hundred guests, his business partners, and his own parents.

"You always loved sapphires," he said softly—but the microphone on the table caught every word.

The ballroom went dead silent.

I stood on that stage, empty-handed, smile frozen, while every eye in the room bounced between me and the woman now wearing a million-dollar necklace my husband had just bought.

Sienna touched the sapphire, tears glistening. "Logan, you didn't have to—"

"You deserve it."

Whispers erupted like wildfire.

"Isn't that his ex-girlfriend?"

"His wife is literally standing right there."

"Oh my God, the humiliation."

I don't remember walking off the stage. I don't remember how I made it to the bathroom. I only remember locking the stall door and pressing both hands over my mouth so no one would hear me break.

The door opened. Heels clicked on marble.

"Elara?" Sienna's voice, dripping with fake concern. "Are you okay? I told Logan it was too much. I tried to refuse, I really did."

I said nothing.

She waited a beat, then added—her voice dropping to a whisper only I could hear:

"But between us? He never looked at you the way he looks at me. And deep down, you already know that."

The bathroom door clicked shut. She was gone.

I sat on the cold tile floor in my emerald gown, hand pressed to my stomach, and made a decision.

Tomorrow morning, I would call my lawyer.