Chapter 1 - Trick or Treat
My fiancé laughed at the ghost standing on his front porch.
He had no idea the woman beneath that white sheet was me.
And he certainly didn't know I was holding the real $85,000 diamond ring he had secretly replaced with a cheap imitation.
It was Halloween night.
Adrian Blackwood stood beneath the glowing jack-o'-lanterns, looking handsome in his black tuxedo and vampire cape. Beside him was a beautiful brunette wearing a revealing black cat costume.
Her hand rested comfortably against his chest.
Too comfortably.
"Is that thing real?" Adrian asked, pointing at the enormous diamond sparkling through the ghost costume.
The brunette giggled.
Adrian leaned closer, studying the ring.
"Fake," he said with a smug smile. "She'll never know."
The woman in cat ears laughed.
"You're terrible, Adrian. Your fiancée really believes you gave her your grandmother's diamond?"
"Of course she does. That's what makes this so easy."
Beneath the sheet, my fingers tightened.
Three years.
Three years of loving this man, defending him, helping him build his company, and believing every promise he made.
And now he was laughing about deceiving me with another woman.
But Adrian had made one enormous mistake.
He thought I was still in Chicago on a business trip.
He didn't know I had returned six hours early.
He didn't know I'd visited a jewelry appraiser that afternoon.
And he had absolutely no idea what else I'd discovered.
Slowly, I raised my hand.
The real diamond caught the orange porch light.
Adrian's smile faltered.
I pulled the white ghost sheet over my head.
My blonde curls tumbled over the shoulders of my fitted red dress.
"Trick," I whispered.
The brunette stumbled backward.
Adrian went completely pale.
"Evelyn?"
I smiled.
Then I removed the diamond ring and dropped it into the glass Halloween candy bowl.
The sharp clink silenced them both.
"Treat."
I turned and walked through the front door without looking back.
"EVELYN! WAIT!" Adrian shouted.
But I wasn't leaving.
Not yet.
Because the diamond wasn't the only thing he'd lied about.
That afternoon, I'd discovered a second bank account, a forged signature, and a property transfer worth more than $12 million.
Every document carried Adrian's name.
But one document carried another name, too.
A woman's name.
A woman Adrian had told me died five years ago.
As I entered the dark hallway, my phone vibrated.
An unknown number had sent me a photograph.
It showed Adrian standing beside the brunette in cat ears.
They were holding a marriage certificate.
The date was three months before Adrian proposed to me.
Then another message appeared.
"Evelyn, don't confront him about the house. You still don't know what happened to his first wife."
I stared at the screen.
Behind me, the front door slowly opened.
And a woman's unfamiliar voice whispered:
May you like
"You're finally asking the right questions."
