Chapter 5

"Then why didn't you let me go sooner?" I asked.

"Because Grandmother would never have allowed it. The Sterling family would never have allowed it. And..." Charles hesitated.

His gaze drifted somewhere past my shoulder. "I believed you would leave on your own. I thought you would get tired of this life and walk away. But you never did. Three whole years. You stayed."

"So you were waiting for me to ask for a divorce."

Charles said nothing. His silence was answer enough.

A cold wave washed through me. Three years of enduring. Three years of waiting. Three years of…