Chapter 2

The lights at the charity gala were blinding.

On stage, the auctioneer was holding up a crystal angel statue, his voice booming through the microphone: "Six million dollars! Offered by Mrs. Claire Jian! Do I hear any higher bids?"

I held up my paddle, my expression calm.

Julian had been staring at this angel statue in the catalog for days. He told me his mother had been suffering from terrible migraines lately,

and he wanted to win the auction to give it to her as a peace offering to soothe her mind.

In our seven years of marriage, Julian had treated me incredibly well. His only flaw was his diagnosed male infertility.

To make up for this regret, his love for me was almost pathologically obsessive. And because I loved him, I went out of my way to be the perfect daughter-in-law.

I didn't even blink when paying the hundreds of thousands of dollars for his mother Beatrice's annual "wellness spa retreats."

"Buzz!"

The moment the gavel fell, my phone vibrated violently inside my clutch.

It was an unknown number.

I lifted my gown and walked out to the terrace of the banquet hall to answer it.

"Hello, is this Claire Jian?" a sharp, anxious female voice demanded over the line. "This is the Royal Swan Ballet Academy! Your daughter, Lily Sterling, pushed the lead dancer off the stage during rehearsal! The other girl has a broken leg, and her parents have already called the cops. You and Julian Sterling need to get here right now!"

The early autumn night wind blew over me, but I felt like I had been plunged straight into an ice bath.

"You have the wrong number," I said, my fingers gripping the phone so hard they turned white. "I don’t have a daughter."

"That’s impossible!" The woman immediately read off a list of information.

"Lily Sterling, seven years old. Father: Julian Sterling. Mother: Evelyn Ward. The emergency contact listed under your name, Claire Jian, with this exact phone number! Mrs. Jian, your kid caused a massive accident. Playing dumb won't get you out of this!"

Julian Sterling.

Evelyn Ward.

These two names were like poison-tipped nails driven violently into my eardrums.

Evelyn was Julian’s college sweetheart. Seven years ago, when Julian proposed to me, he deleted all her contact info right in front of me and swore they would never see each other again.

But now, not only were they seeing each other, they had a seven-year-old daughter?

"Mrs. Jian? Are you still there?!"

"Send me the address."

I hung up. The cold wind against my back made me shiver, but my mind was suddenly incredibly clear.

Without even picking up the angel statue I had just won, I stepped into my high heels and walked straight into the dark night.