Rivera sat in the coffee room, a book open on her lap, but she hadn’t turned a page in twenty minutes. It was still strange how quiet the mansion felt during the day; too large, too clean, too empty. Even the servants moved like shadows, careful not to intrude.
To the outside world, she was the luckiest woman alive; the wife of a titan, living in a palace of marble and gold. But she knew that what she really was to the Royce family was just another piece of expensive furniture to fill out the space in their lives. She wished she could be more than that.
When her phone vibrated on the side table, the sound was as loud as a gunshot in the stillness. Rivera snatched it up, her heart hammering. It was Lina.
A small, genuine smile broke through Rivera’s melancholy. Lina Scott was a whirlwind
