Chapter 1

"Don't bother returning if you can't make Walter come home tonight, Evangeline!"

It was New Year's Eve.

Every home was aglow, families embracing the joy of togetherness. Evangeline Rearden, however, was excluded from the glee. She raced her heavy motorcycle down Jetty Road, cutting through the biting cold wind on a mission to expose Walter's infidelity aboard a cruise ship.

The whole city buzzed with the news that her stay-away husband, Walter Gordon, has splurged on a cruise for his mistress, complete with a fireworks display.

Still ringing in her ears was the harsh ultimatum her mother-in-law, Aria Jones, delivered at the Gordon family's New Year's Eve feast.

"Evangeline, Walter is so averse to seeing you that he hasn't come home for the holidays in years! You're just warming the bench. If you can't give us a Gordon heir, call it quits early. Step aside and let a more fertile woman take your place as Mrs. Walter Gordon."

Three years into their marriage, all Evangeline could think of was having Walter's baby.

The Gordons were on her case, and so was Cole Foster, her maternal grandfather. She had exhausted every trick in the book to cement her status as Mrs. Walter Gordon.

Walter was a different man outside—voracious and wild. At home, however, he had been distant and disinterested.

Forget intimacy. She could have paraded naked in front of him and not even earned a blink.

All the heartache had boiled down to one bitter truth: Walter did not love her. She had never been the one he wanted to marry.

The cruise ship Walter rented had been ablaze with lights as the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, the air alive with celebration.

Evangeline stepped onto the cruise and swung open the door to the buzzing private room.

Walter, the seventh heir to Avalon City's elite Gordon family, had carved out his empire with Strata King Group at just 27 years old. In a mere three years, he shot to the top of the game, poised to take over the family's legacy.

There he was, oozing laid-back charm in his sleek black suit, coaching a woman in a tiny black skirt on her pool shot.

Just then, a voice cut through the buzz, "Mr. Walter Gordon, it's late. Aren't you heading home?"

"Not tonight," he shot back, and with a smooth move, he swept the pool table clean.

The women in the room could not peel their eyes away, green with envy at the lady by his side.

"Wow! That's impressive! You still have the magic touch, even after all these years!" someone exclaimed.

"So, Julia, don't you think Walter's even more of a catch than he was three years ago? If you don't snag him this time, you'll have some explaining to do, huh?"

At those words, the demure woman next to Walter turned a deep shade of red, gazing up at him with eyes full of worship and longing.

At that moment, Evangeline's gaze landed on the woman's face. It hit her like a ton of bricks.

She had expected just another fling, someone she could brush off without a second thought. However, that was not just anyone—it was Julia Rearden. Walter's ex-lover, the one he had been forced to leave, and her own half-sister.

Evangeline felt like her heart was stabbed.

She smoothed out her windblown hair and strutted across the threshold in her high heels, instantly dissolving the charged silence.

"She thinks she can just get married? She'll need my say-so for that!

"I was trying to figure out who was brazen enough to flirt with my husband tonight... Oh, it's the homecoming of the other woman's kid!

"No shocker that Walter's been pulling out all the stops with cruises and fireworks to woo you, strutting around like a show-off, not even bothering to come home for New Year's. He's not even scared of his grandfather giving him a piece of his mind!"

Three years had passed, but Julia's face still wore that same look of feigned innocence, her pretty features then tinged with an unhealthy paleness.

She blanched even more at the sight of Evangeline, tripping over her words in a rush to explain.

"Evangeline... It's not like that! Don't get it twisted... I just got back into town yesterday, and my friends wanted to throw me a little welcome bash. It was my idea to shoot some pool, and, uh... Walter was just showing me the ropes.!"

Evangeline's laugh was detached, her amusement clear.

She knew what was happening. She was no fool. Julia was trying to say that Walter's buddies were her buddies too, that she was part of the in-crowd that had grown up with them.

They were all on Julia's side, in a club Evangeline would never fit into.

However, back when Evangeline and Walter were promised to each other as kids, Julia was nothing more than a secret nobody was supposed to talk about.

There was an order to those things.

Even if Evangeline was over him, it was not Julia's place to step in.

"Is that so?" Evangeline's lashes fluttered, her smile soft but her eyes challenging. "If you're so keen on playing pool, why didn't you come to me? You might not realize, but I've got the kind of pool game that could land me on the national team."

"Are you for real..." Julia's skepticism was written on her face. She was convinced Evangeline was just boasting.

A sneer barely concealed itself as Julia continued, "This game's tough to learn, and I've barely sunk a few balls myself. You lived out in the sticks before you got hitched, and afterward, you were practically a shut-in, never venturing out. How could you be so good at this? Walter, however, he's got some serious games."

Evangeline let out a chilling laugh and laid it bare, "You're not focused on the game because you're too busy trying to snag your brother-in-law. No wonder you can't learn!" Her words cut deep, leaving no room for dignity for Julia.

The girls who had been green with envy over Julia were speechless in shock.

"Who is she? How can she speak to Julia like that, and Julia seems so scared of her!"

"You're out of the loop? She's Julia's half-sister, the same dad but a different mom, the secret wife on Mr. Walter Gordon's marriage certificate. She's the one who played dirty to break up Mr. Walter Gordon and Julia before they married into the Gordon family! Before she got into the Gordon family, she was just a village girl, raised in the boonies, growing up with her grandpa."

"She's got some nerve, bragging about making the national team in the pool! A bumpkin who's probably never even held a cue stick. How dare she pick on Julia in front of everyone? Mr. Walter Gordon is going to kick her to the curb, right?"

The crowd buzzed with gossip.

Julia's eyes brimmed with tears, and she looked at Evangeline with reddened eyes. "Evangeline, can't you ease up on the hostility? I mean, Walt and I grew up together. Even if he's married, he's still allowed to have friends, isn't he?"

She turned to Walter with eyes that silently pleaded, 'Please talk some sense into her, Walt. If my return is upsetting you both, I'd rather stay away forever. Please, don't fight over me!'

Walter nonchalantly flicked his lighter and took a drag on his cigarette before sinking into the plush leather sofa.

At her words, he cracked a mocking smile and barely opened his eyes to say, "Why bother explaining?"

He knocked the ash off his cigarette and glanced at Evangeline.

Their eyes locked in a silent standoff.

"Do you really think you belong here?" His voice was icy, cutting through the air like the chill of a winter's night.

Julia pulled at his sleeve, pleading, "Don't be so mean to her!"

However, Walter ignored Julia, his gaze fixed on Evangeline.

"Are you going to walk out on your own, or do I need to have you thrown off this ship?"