Chapter 1

In the third year of being Lucas Hartwell's mistress, he asked me to serve Stella Renee, his first love who had just returned from abroad.

To earn money for my sister's treatment, I gritted my teeth and went.

Stella found me an eyesore and sent me into the room of some Italian businessman.

I called Lucas in tears, begging him to help. He told me to get lost.

That night, my sister died in the hospital.

Later, I was working as a painter in a small town when he showed up outside my studio, one arm in a cast, and just stood there. For three months.

From autumn into winter.

"I'm sorry. I'll spend the rest of my life making it right."

I never expected that the man who had once used me as a stand-in would spend the second half of his life atoning for it, inch by inch.

Until the moment I closed my eyes, he held my hand.

"Wendy, in the next life, let me be the one who loves you first."

Wendy's POV

The day Stella Renee came back, the whole New York elite lit up.

At the welcome dinner, she was the princess everyone fawned over. Draped in couture, smiling as she held Lucas's arm.

And me? I was Lucas's "kept woman" of three years. Like a creature that couldn't stand the light, I hid in the darkest corner of the banquet hall, knocking back glass after glass of ice water.

My stomach cramped violently. Cold sweat broke out all over me.

But I couldn't leave. Lucas hadn't said I could go, so I had to stay and wait - ready to be wallpaper, or a shield, for this golden couple at a moment's notice.

Midway through the evening, a message from Lucas appeared on my phone.

"Come to the terrace."

Four words. No room for argument.

I took a deep breath, set down my glass, and dragged my unsteady legs toward the terrace.

I pushed open the glass door. The night wind hit me, sharp and cold.

Lucas stood with his back to me. A half-burned cigarette rested between his fingers, its ember flickering red in the dark.

He heard my footsteps but didn't turn around. His voice was flat.

"Stella's heading to Milan for fashion week. She needs an assistant."

A sinking feeling settled in my chest.

"You know how it is - she just got back, and I'm not comfortable with her being alone."

He turned around. His gaze landed on me, cool and detached.

"Go with her. Take care of her for three months."

Take care of her?

That was a nice way to put it.

Stella Renee was Lucas's everything. His untouchable first love, a girl who'd been spoiled her entire life. And I was the thorn in her side, the woman she blamed for stealing her place.

Sending me to be her assistant was like throwing me to the wolves.

"I'm not going."

I clutched the hem of my dress.

Lucas seemed to have expected this. He flicked the ash off his cigarette, unhurried, his tone impossible to read.

"Wendy. Think carefully."

He paused, then stepped toward me - slow, deliberate - until his tall frame loomed over me completely.

"Lily's targeted medication is due for renewal next month, isn't it? Three hundred thousand a course. Self-pay, if I remember right."

My head snapped up. I stared at him.

Lily. My little sister. My only weakness.

Lucas knew it well. For Lily, I would give up anything - even the last scrap of dignity I had left.

"You're using Lily to threaten me?"

I kept my eyes on his.

"It's a deal."

He reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair from my face. His fingertips were ice-cold.

"You take good care of Stella. Make sure she comes home happy. I'll cover Lily's medication."

"And if I don't go?"

"Then stay here and figure out how much you can scrape together on your own."

He dropped his hand. The corner of his mouth curved into something cruel.

"Wendy, you're a smart girl. You know what to choose."

The night wind cut right through me.

I stared at the face I had loved for three years, and felt nothing but a deep, unfamiliar strangeness.

For that woman, he could push me out without blinking. He could use my little sister - the only person I had left - as a bargaining chip.

"Fine."

It took me a long time to answer.

"I'll go."

Lucas smiled. But his eyes held no warmth at all.

"Good girl."

He crushed out the cigarette, turned, and walked back toward the glittering lights of the party.

He left me alone in the dark.

I sank slowly to the ground, wrapped my arms around myself, and tried to stop shaking.