Suzanne’s smile was small, sharp.“Very well.Twenty years ago, when you and my son ran off like children and married, you forced our hands.That marriage could not stand.You were far too young, too foolish, and certainly mismatched.”
“We were in love,” Nicole said, her voice shaking but fierce.
Did the woman even have a heart, or had she traded it long ago for diamonds and social standing?Cold, detached, obsessed with things that meant nothing, Suzanne Masterson’s only true love had ever been wealth and status, and she worshiped them like gods.
And she’d sacrificed everyone else at their altar.
Suzanne’s lip curled.“Love doesn’t last.Reputation does.Future does.My husband, God rest his soul, saw it clearly.He drafted the annulment papers himself.Together, we arranged everything.”
Tripp’s jaw tightened.“What do you meanarranged?”
Nicole felt the tension rolling off Tripp, saw the anger tightening his jaw, and she squeezed his hand hard, a silent reminder of the promise they’d made—to stay calm, no matter what came out, no matter what truths they unearthed.But, God, she hadn’t realized how excruciating it would be to sit there and listen to the way their marriage had been deliberately sabotaged.
Suzanne looked at Tripp as though she were explaining something to a child.“We created the emails.Your father created yours, and Maria created Nicole’s.Both claiming you’d made a mistake.You each believed the other had walked away.”
Nicole’s stomach dropped.“No…”
She’d known her parents had a hand in it, but hearing the truth out loud and learning their part in this tragedy was a wound she hadn’t been prepared for.It cut deeper than she thought possible.
Her own mother had crafted the email to Tripp.
Maria’s sob broke the silence.“It’s true.”
Her father’s voice was low and rough.“They offered us money.Seventy-five thousand dollars.Enough to put you through college and even fix up the house.We told ourselves it was for the best.That you’d thank us someday.”
Nicole staggered to her feet, her throat burning.Tears filled her eyes.Tripp’s parents had offered money to end their marriage.Blood money to buy her out of his life.How could they?The realization drove into her like a knife to the chest, sharp and merciless, the betrayal cutting so deep she could hardly breathe.
The people she’d trusted had more than just deceived her.“You sold me.You sold my marriage for a check.”
Her father looked stricken.Her mother’s hands shook around her handkerchief.
Suzanne’s eyes glittered.“We did what had to be done.My husband handled the paperwork.We took Dustin to Europe until it was complete.By the time he returned, the annulment was final.Clean.Erased.”
For that witch, it had been nothing more than a tidy cleanup on aisle five.But it wasn’t spilled groceries she swept aside—it was Nicole and Tripp’s life.Their love.Their future.She’d swept it all into the trash without a second thought.
She hadn’t just meddled, she’d destroyed.
Did Tripp know what they’d done?
Nicole turned to Tripp, pain burning through her.“Did you know?”
His face was pale, fury trembling in his hands.“I knew nothing.”
Her knees weakened.Twenty years of silence, of heartbreak, explained in a handful of words.
They hadn’t failed each other, their parents had failed them.
Suzanne rose, her expression triumphant.“And now you’ve come crawling back to each other, thinking you can rewrite history.But nothing has changed.I will never accept you, Nicole.Not then.Not now.Not ever.”
“Mother—” Tripp’s voice broke.“Don’t say something you’ll regret.”
Nicole caught the way Tripp’s fist clenched at his side, anger radiating off him in waves as his mother’s venom dripped her name.Suzanne Masterson didn’t just disapprove—she wanted Nicole erased.Cast out.Not now, not ever.The words stung, sharp as glass, but Nicole lifted her chin.She’d been broken once by this woman’s contempt.Never again.
“No,” Suzanne snapped.“If you choose her, you go against me, against everything our family name stands for.She will always be beneath you, and I will never give her a place in this house.”
The woman hated her.
Tears stung Nicole’s eyes.Why would she ever want to tie herself to his family?No matter how deeply she loved Tripp, she would always be an outsider.Their children would be born unwanted, unloved, judged by the same cruel standards.How could she ever build happiness on a foundation that told her, again and again, she would never be enough?
