His Tamed Wife, The Wild Heiress

pte

D

p that still burned my palms through the insulated container. The hallway of Ec

iss Amber," Adina's voice filtered through

bly cost more than my entire wardrobe. I'd tried befriending her once, during the first month of

ice replied, cold and dismissive. "I don't w

rd that. But my feet remained rooted to the plush carpet, and my heart-that stupid, desperate th

laughed. "Your wife isn't that bad. Sh

follows me around like a lost puppy, agrees to everything I say, and has absolute

against the wall, hidden by the decorative column, my brea

d to Kieran, Damien's childhood friend. I'd me

pathetic, always showing up wherever I was, looking at me with those desperate eyes. I figured she was an orphan with nothing going f

now that Amber's back," Adina chimed in, her voi

our marriage. The woman who looked eerily similar to me-same dark hair, same petite frame, same wid

fool I'

ftening in a way it never had when he spoke to me. "She left for

sion," Marcus interrupted with another

ars. I'd waited sixteen years

d, but I remembered the feel of cool water on my cracked lips, gentle hands checking my pulse, and a voice-young but steady-telling me I'd be okay. Before he left

," I'd whispered in my del

ce found me, he was gone. The authorities assumed he was another street kid, impossible to trace. My parents had bee

lly bumped into him, my latte splashing across his expensive suit. I'd been stammering apologies wh

. My promis

irritation on his face or hear his sharp words about the stain. I o

same gym, volunteered at charity events his company sponsored. People called me obsessed. My friend Maya called me insane. But how could

d cried. When he proposed after only eight months-a rushed, practical proposal in his of

when he wanted compliance. I'd buried Adriana Salvadore, secret heiress to the Salvadore empire, and become

boy who'

e wasn't

ay?" Kieran's question pierced through my spiral

art s

e, what, two years ago? Said it made me look more sophisticated

tilted. Or

ing a borrowed for two

pet with a muffled thud. Soup seeped through the l

g I'd endured. Every piece of myself

and a man who'd never