Prologue
Alejandro
Queenstown, New Zealand; February 2027
I scanned the crowded event, my heart pounding at the fact I’d lost sight of her. I knew Ryder would have eyes on her if I didn’t, but still—she wasmywife.
Well, not really mine. Not legally. But try telling that to my heart, soul, and brain. They’d teamed up and bought the lie around my finger like it was the gospel truth.
There you are.My entire body relaxed the second I found her.
Of course she’d drifted closer to the orchestra. The sax solo had lured Audrey in, her hand at her side, fingers moving as if she were playing along on some invisible piano. She was locked in and completely mesmerized by the music, just like I was with her.
I lifted my bourbon for a sip, needing to steady my pulse, but the band on my finger caught my eye. Clinging to me like it belonged there, representing a false sense of forever with my best friend’s sister.
And here I am, trying to remind myself we didn’t actually exchange vows.While in truth, I was already in so deep with her, I might as well have been standing at the earth’s core.
Then she turned. Swept the skirt of her dress aside to find me. And I rose. Not just to the surface, but to the top of the entire damn world.
Her blonde hair was pinned up, a few loose strands framing her face the same way my hands had not too long ago. Her hair softened the line of her jaw, pulling my attention to the delicate curve of her neck. Then down to the perfect slope of her shoulders, and to the black dress that looked like it’d been painted on her body. The memory of where my hands had been earlier hit me all over again.
Not really my wife.That reminder ghosted over my skin, tightening the collar of my shirt, crawling across my shoulders, slipping down my spine.
I lowered my tumbler to my side, letting it rest against the leg of my tailored Italian slacks as I remembered what had happened in the honeymoon suite tonight.
She finally looked away, but I didn’t. Icouldn’t.
I only wished I could make everyone vanish, right along with our problems.
At the feeling of being watched by someone else, I pivoted. Delta One’s eyes were on me. Audrey’s brother. My friend of fifteen years.
I made love to your sister tonight. Broke my promise.
I wished I could blame it on walking in on her half dressed, standing there in wedding-white lace. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen her naked, but tonight had been different.
Tonight, after I’d slid the wedding band on her finger, she didn’t just feel like my wife. She felt like my forever. And when she’d whispered orders to herself to stop touching me, given what was at stake, her fingers kept moving. Kept unbuttoning my white dress shirt. Mine didn’t follow my own commands to shut it down, either.
At Ryder’s continued stare, I cleared my throat, forcing my head back into the game. I gave him a subtle nod, one I hoped he’d read asI’m fine.
That was far from the truth. And he’d know it. No way was he fine, not with what was about to go down any minute.
But it would be over soon.
So would this role as Audrey’s husband.
After all, we were here because Audrey’s reality shattered a year ago, when her son’s stepfather’s plane went down.
But in this world, nothing stayed buried.
Not lies.
Not the truth.
And apparently, not even the dead.
Chapter One
Audrey
