Chapter 1

Edward Grant and my brother, Charles Shea, were political enemies.

But I had spent two years sneaking into Edward's bed, seduced by his charm and swept up in every stolen night we shared.

When the pregnancy test came back positive, my heart nearly burst with joy. I asked him when he was going to propose.

He lay sprawled across the couch, didn't even glance my way, and let a lazy smirk curl at the corner of his mouth.

He drawled, "Sophia, does Charles have any idea what his little sister's become?"

The blood drained from my face in an instant.

Edward's eyes locked onto mine, cold and mocking, as he enunciated every word.

He said, "No ring, no vows, and you still crawled into my bed. You know what that makes you, Sophia? A whore. And a whore deserves to be paraded through the streets."

*****

A cold wave washed through my entire body, and I dug my nails into my palms to stay conscious. "So these past two years, everything you said to me was a lie?"

Edward laughed, casual and careless, as if none of it had ever mattered.

The man who once made my heart sing at the mere thought of him was now saying the cruelest words I had ever heard.

"Sophia, why would I ever love my enemy's sister? When Charles destroyed my sister's life, did he stop to think about what would come back around?"

His eyes glittered with malice. "Imagine if everyone in high society found out that the Shea family's precious daughter was this shameless, and that she was worse in bed than a common whore."

He tilted his head. "How do you think Charles would take that?"

The blood drained from my face, and a cold numbness spread from the top of my skull all the way down to my feet.

My ears rang, and my vision flickered black at the edges.

All those nights I believed we shared something real had been nothing but ammunition for his revenge against the Sheas.

I bit down hard on my lower lip and tasted blood.

The man who once couldn't stand to see me so much as frown now looked at me with nothing in his eyes but the thrill of vengeance.

Edward said, "Sophia, if you want into the Grant family, there might be a way."

He held my gaze, and his eyes were ice.

"Have Charles kneel at my sister's grave and grovel a hundred times over. Make him say he's lower than a dog." His voice didn't waver. "Then you can join the Grant family as a mistress."

The pain cut through me with absolute clarity. Edward was doing this for revenge, nothing more.

The Shea family had been pillars of high society for generations, our name built on honor and integrity.

He wanted to humiliate Charles and drag the Shea name through the mud, and I was simply the weapon he'd chosen.

I shook my head. "Never."

I would never be his mistress, and Charles would never grovel at his feet.

Edward's expression shifted, his eyes turning cold.

"Sophia, who else would have you now? Who's going to marry a woman who gave herself away before the wedding?"

He leaned back with a look of lazy certainty.

In Edward's mind, I had already given myself to him. My only option was to submit quietly and take my place as his mistress in the Grant household. There was no other path.

I turned and walked toward the door, my steps unsteady. My foot caught on the threshold, and I grabbed the doorframe to keep from falling.

Edward's voice followed me out. "Sophia, I'll give you two weeks. If Charles doesn't come to me on his knees, every street in this city will know exactly how desperate a Shea woman can be in bed."

*****

The moment I stepped outside Grant Manor, the tears came and wouldn't stop.

I didn't remember how I made it home.

I pushed the door open, and there was my maid, Wendy, beaming as she held up two swatches of white satin, comparing them side by side.

"Ms. Shea, look! The one on the left has a much richer sheen. It would make a beautiful wedding gown."

I lowered myself onto the stool without a word. My gaze drifted over the two pieces of satin, and something tightened in my chest.

"Wendy." My voice came out strained, barely above a whisper. "You told me once that women in your village used something to end a pregnancy. I need you to get me some."

Wendy went still. "Miss?"

The tears came before I could stop them.

"Edward doesn't want to marry me. He's only doing this to get back at the Shea family."

Wendy stepped closer. "Miss, you can't take that. In our village, six out of ten women who used it didn't make it."

I lowered my head and pressed my palm flat against my stomach. "I can't keep this baby."

I wiped the tears from my face and willed myself to be calm. "Charles can't find out."

But his name alone brought fresh tears spilling down my cheeks.

Our parents had died when I was young, and Charles was more than ten years my senior. He had raised me on his own, filling the roles of both father and mother.

Years ago, he had begun setting aside everything for my wedding and swore he wouldn't rest until he found me the finest husband there was.

I couldn't bear to imagine the look on his face if he ever learned that Edward had taken advantage of me and that I was carrying a child before any wedding.

"Wendy." I looked her straight in the eye. "This stays between you and me. No one else can ever know."