Chapter 1
Ivy Walker's POV:
I'd picked out the silk sheets on the jumbo bed in our primary bedroom just last week, especially for our fourth anniversary.
Two small rows of initials were embroidered along the edge.
Adrian had come out of his study and idly brushed the ends of my hair.
"As long as you like them. Just don't get that lilac color Sylvia hates."
For 4 years, even replacing a box of tissues in this house had depended on whether Sylvia would approve.
Standing beside the bed, I gripped a corner of the sheet with both hands and yanked it up.
The sound of tearing fabric rang out sharply in the empty room.
I didn't fold it or put it away. I balled up the entire brand-new bedding set and stuffed it into the black trash bag behind the door.
In its place, I put on the bed the plain white linen the housekeeper had dug out of the basement storage room.
Sylvia was a little obsessive about cleanliness. She would only sleep on pure white fabric without any smell of dye.
The doorbell suddenly rang.
I brushed the dust off my hands and went downstairs.
When I opened the front door, Adrian's coat was still damp with Fairhaven's chilly early-winter air.
Sylvia stood behind him.
She wore a camel-colored cashmere coat, her long hair falling in loose waves. The long flight had left her looking tired, but her chin was still lifted, like a peacock surveying its old territory.
"Ivy," Sylvia said first, a familiar smile curling her lips, "it's been 4 years. Why do you still dress so plainly? Is Adrian cutting your allowance?"
As she spoke, she held out her handbag with practiced ease.
Just as she'd done countless times when we were children, she took it for granted that I was there to carry her things.
I didn't reach for it.
The bag brushed my fingertips and fell to the marble floor. Its metal clasp hit the stone with a sharp clink.
Sylvia froze, then frowned.
Adrian bent down to pick up her handbag and brushed the dust off it.
Then he looked at me.
There was the usual hint of displeasure in his eyes, but his movements were restrained. He simply stepped closer and tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear.
"Ivy, don't be childish. Sylvia just got off a plane. She has a terrible headache."
His fingers were cold. A chill ran over my skin where they touched me.
I took a small step back, avoiding his hand.
His hand hung in midair for a second before he slipped it into his coat pocket as though nothing had happened.
"Did you change the sheets?" he asked.
"Yes. Plain white," I said.
Sylvia walked past me in her stilettos without so much as a glance and headed straight for the stairs.
"Adrian, that painting on the landing is hideous. Replace it. And I can smell roasted almonds. It's too bitter. I don't like it."
Adrian immediately turned toward the kitchen, his frown deepening.
"Ivy, did you roast nuts today?"
I looked at him.
Today was supposed to be our prenatal appointment.
For 4 years, I'd prepared a small handful of crushed roasted nuts every morning and mixed them into oatmeal for his troublesome stomach.
He should have remembered.
"They're for your breakfast tomorrow," I answered calmly.
Adrian's expression briefly faltered.
He'd clearly remembered his stomach problems. A trace of tenderness flickered in his eyes as he looked at me.
But Sylvia's petulant voice drifted down from upstairs. "Adrian, my suitcase is too heavy. Come help me!"
That moment of hesitation vanished instantly.
"Throw them out." He took off his coat and handed it to me, already turning toward the stairs. "Don't make anything with nuts for the next few days. Wait until she's settled in."
I stood there holding his cold coat, listening to the argument upstairs. They'd deliberately lowered their voices, but the familiar rhythm of their bickering was unmistakable.
"Sylvia, how much longer are you going to keep this up?"
"Me? Who insisted I sign that goddamn prenup the day before our wedding? Adrian, do you think I give a damn about your money?"
"I was protecting us from those old men on the board! You ripped up your wedding dress and ran off to Valenne. Do you have any idea how humiliating that was?"
"Humiliating? So you turned around and married my sister? Adrian, you disgust me."
"What was I supposed to do? Let all of Fairhaven laugh at both our families? She's obedient. She's reasonable. Unlike you, she doesn't turn everything into a fight."
At the stairway landing, I dropped his coat into the dry-cleaning basket.
Obedient. Reasonable.
So that was all I was worth to him.
'What if I stop being obedient and reasonable?'
