Chapter 1

My ex-husband, Andrew Lewis, who had been missing for twenty years, and Yahya Langley, my younger brother, showed up together at the company entrance.

It turned out that they'd planned to run off together with my best friend, Sophie Lawson. Now that both our parents were getting older, they'd returned to take over the family business.

Andrew said if I promised not to make a scene, he would marry me again, giving Sophie to Yahya. If I played along, I could have occasional nights with him, but we couldn't have any children. Everything he had would go to Sophie's kids.

What they didn't know was that I had already remarried to the richest man in Grovenwich.

Moreover, just the year after they disappeared, I urged both families to have a third child. There was no place left for them in our lives anymore.

*****

"Ms. Langley, the security office just called. There are two people at the company entrance. One claims to be your husband, the other your brother. They're causing a commotion, insisting on seeing you," the assistant said.

I frowned and snapped, "You're reporting this to me? Pretending to be dead people? What a lame trick. Throw them out and call the cops."

I kept skimming through the documents in my hand, not even bothering to pay attention to this little drama.

I worked straight through to noon, and before I could even grab a bite, my phone rang.

"Is this Ms. Langley? This is the Grovenwich Police Department. We have two men here claiming to be your missing husband and brother.

"We've pulled their DNA from the database, but the comparison will take some time. Could you come to the station to confirm their identities?" the officer said.

"Sorry, I'm swamped. I don't have time for these scammers. Just let them go back to wherever they came from," I replied.

"Officer, let me talk to her," a voice said.

A somewhat unfamiliar voice came through the phone.

"Hey, Jayleen, it's me, Yahya. Come pick me up from the station, will you? I came to see you this morning, and those damn security guards called the cops and got me arrested," he said.

I kept eating without missing a beat as I hung up the phone.

Twenty years had passed, and I had long forgotten what Yahya's voice sounded like. For all I knew, this could have been some out-of-town scammer using such an outdated trick, pretending to be two people whose identities I had already canceled long ago.

I'd got way too much going on every day to waste time on this nonsense, so I just put it out of my mind and moved on.

Just as I was getting out of work, the Lewis residence called, mumbling and stammering, asking me to drop by.

I didn't suspect anything and headed over. When I arrived, the whole villa was lit up like it was the middle of the day. It was already past ten. I was surprised everyone was still up and about at this hour.

As soon as I stepped inside, a metal ornament whizzed past my scalp and slammed into the door with a loud bang.

I felt something warm trickling down, and when I wiped it away, there was blood on my fingertips.

Before I could even get mad, someone reeking of fish rushed over to me.

"Jayleen, are you okay? Yahya, how could you throw an ornament at your own sister?" the person said.

Staring at her, something about her face rang a bell, and suddenly a name popped into my head.

My bestie, Sophie, she'd been with me from junior high all the way through college.

She bailed on her own wedding.

Just now, Yahya, whom she had called out to, actually hit me.

Thinking back to those scammers from this morning, it all started to make sense. The guy who threw that thing was really my brother, Yahya. But he did vanish at sea with my ex-husband.

Everything was hitting me at once. I just stood there, totally spaced out, while Sophie scrambled around looking for a first aid kit to bandage me up.

Sophie dragged me onto the couch, and right across from us sat two men I barely recognized. They looked like they'd been through hell, faces lined and sun-browned, probably in their fifties or sixties.

Their clothes hung off them, way too baggy, the cuffs faded from too many washes. As I got closer, a wave of salty, fishy stink hit me so hard I almost gagged.

I dug through my memories, desperately trying to put names to those faces. After a long, shaky moment, I finally managed to recognize them, my voice trembling as I spoke.

"Andrew? Yahya? You're supposed to be dead," I stammered.

Yahya grabbed the glass of water in front of him and splashed it right in my face.

"Jayleen, have you lost your damn mind? I told you to come get me from the station this afternoon. Why didn't you show up? And now you're cursing Andrew and me, wishing us dead? What the hell are you playing at?" he barked.

I had no idea how to deal with him, so I just asked where Shawn and Vanessa were.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lewis got so worked up, they passed out," the maid whispered.

I let out a long sigh and told the maids to head out.

"Rosalie, grab the first aid kit and a towel for me. Mindy, whip up some snacks. Everyone else, call it a night.

"Sophie, sit down and tell me what's really going on," I said.

Sophie settled beside me and gently took my hand.

"Back then, the relationship between the three of us was something society just couldn't accept. So we decided to leave everything behind and find a quiet place to spend our lives together.

"That's why I ran away from my wedding, and Andrew and Yahya pretended to be dead so they could join me. Honestly, we were so happy," she said.

She finished and shared a nostalgic smile with the two men, clearly lost in those memories. But I was so disgusted I couldn't even get a word out.

I quickly pulled my hand away and moved to an armchair off to the side, putting some distance between us.

Sophie stared at her empty hand, and her tears broke loose all at once.

"Jayleen, do you really hate me?" she sobbed.

I clamped a hand over my nose, unable to get a word out, fighting the urge to throw up. But I couldn't hold it back and ended up retching out loud.

Sophie just cried even harder. Andrew slid over and hugged her, trying to calm her down. Yahya grabbed a crystal bottle off the coffee tray and aimed it right at my head.

"Jayleen, who do you think you are, acting all high and mighty? You're not even worthy to kiss Sophie's feet, and you dare look down on her? I'll teach you right now how to show Sophie some respect," he snarled.

Just as the bottle was about to crash into my head, someone shouted from the doorway.

"Stop right there."