Free From Three Years of Cruelty

Synopsis

The Hamptons air felt different than Manhattan—cleaner, saltier, weighted with old money and older judgments. I stepped out of the sleek black limousine, smoothing down my simple navy sundress that suddenly felt painfully inadequate among the designer resort wear surrounding me. The annual Whitmore family retreat: three days of carefully orchestrated torture disguised as leisure at the most exclusive resort on the eastern seaboard. Sebastian emerged from the second car, his tall frame unfolding with the practiced grace of someone born to command attention. My husband. The word still felt foreign after three years. His hand extended not toward me but behind him, where Charlotte Hayes appeared like a vision in flowing white linen, her honey-blonde hair catching the sunlight. "Darling, careful of the step," Sebastian murmured, his voice tender in a way I'd never heard directed at me. I lowered my eyes and moved toward the entrance, maintaining the precise distance I'd learned to keep—close enough to fulfill my duty as his wife, far enough to avoid his contempt. The weight of stares from the Whitmore inner circle pressed against my back. Three years, and I was still the interloper, the opportunist who'd somehow manipulated dear Grandmother into forcing precious