Chapter 4

He turned off the television.

The silence that followed was immediate and heavy.

"About what?"

I did not answer directly.

"We're going to the main house this weekend."

That was the Cole family rule.

First weekend of every month.

For three years it had felt like attending a funeral.

This time, I needed to go.

I needed the right opening.

At lunch the next day, Evelyn Cole finally raised the subject she always circled sooner or later.

"Mia, you've been married to Grayson for three years now. Why is there still no child? This family needs an heir."

Every relative at the table looked at me.

Sympathy. Curiosity. Mockery.

I looked only at my husband.

He lowered his head and drank his soup, as if his mother were speaking about the weather and not about his wife sitting three feet away.

That was Grayson.

Every time this family made me bleed, he chose silence.

Not a bystander.

An accomplice.

I smiled politely and said, "You're right. I haven't done well enough."

Evelyn seemed pleased by my obedience.

On the drive home, Grayson finally said, "Don't take what my mother says seriously."

I laughed.

"I don't. I just finally understood something. We need to talk. Properly this time."