Chapter 4

The wrought-iron gates of the Carter family estate swung open with the same quiet authority they'd possessed throughout my childhood. As our car wound up the familiar cobblestone drive, I pressed my face against the window, watching the manicured gardens blur past. Three years. It had been three years since I'd last come home, too ashamed to face my parents with the truth of what my marriage had become.

The mansion rose before us like a monument to everything I'd abandoned—cream limestone walls, towering columns, and windows that caught the afternoon sun like diamonds. Home. The word felt foreign on…