"On my wedding night, I hid under the bed to surprise my husband, but I recorded his mother and pregnant mistress planning to steal the house they never knew I owned."
CHAPTER 1
On my wedding night, I hid beneath the bed to surprise my new husband.
Instead, I heard his mother plan the end of my life.
Dust tickled my nose as I lay flat beneath the king-size bed in the bridal suite of a luxury hotel in downtown Chicago. My wedding dress was bunched around my legs, the lace catching on the carved wooden frame. I pressed one hand over my mouth, trying not to laugh.
I imagined Ethan walking in, calling my name, pretending to search the room.
Then I would jump out, still in my dress, and we would laugh about it for years.
Two hours earlier, he had stood in front of our family and friends, held both of my hands, and promised to love me until his last breath.
Then the suite door opened.
I smiled.
But the footsteps were not his.
Silver heels crossed the carpet.
Vanessa.
My new mother-in-law.
She tossed her phone onto the bed above me and switched it to speaker.
“I’m in the suite already,” she said. “Ethan’s still downstairs. That girl is probably in the bathroom washing off her cheap makeup.”
My smile disappeared.
Just hours earlier, Vanessa had kissed my cheek and called me her daughter.
Another woman’s voice came through the speaker.
“So everything went according to plan?”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“Of course. The marriage certificate is signed. The ring is on her finger. That house will belong to us soon enough.”
My body went cold.
The house.
The beautiful Chicago home Ethan and I had “bought together” before the wedding.
Except we had not bought it together.
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I had paid for every dollar.
And Ethan had no idea.
