After My Son's Fatal Betrayal, I Chose Love Over Kin

Synopsis

The grandfather clock in the hallway chimed midnight as I stood at the edge of the Anderson estate's grand ballroom. My birthday celebration was in full swing—champagne flowing, string quartet playing, and New York's elite mingling in their finery. I smoothed down my emerald dress, the one Mathias had once said brought out the gold flecks in my eyes. "Quite the turnout," Eleanor Anderson, my mother-in-law, remarked as she passed me, her smile never reaching her eyes. "Though I wonder if it's the company or the promise of that white mink stole that's drawn such a crowd." I touched my wedding ring reflexively, a habit I'd developed whenever anxiety crept in. "Mathias mentioned it would be a surprise," I