Chapter 1

The champagne glass shattered on the pristine white marble of our Hamptons patio.

My half-sister, Brooke, stood with her hand outstretched, a single, perfect red line welling up on her palm.

"Cass, how could you?" she sobbed, her voice trembling for the audience of donors and socialites.

My husband, Ethan Hayes, rushed to her side. He cradled her hand like it was a wounded bird. His face, the one he used for political ads, was a mask of cold fury directed at me.

"What is wrong with you?" he hissed, his voice low but carrying across the suddenly silent party.

I stood frozen, my own glass still in my hand. I hadn' t moved. I hadn' t done anything.

Brooke had walked past me, her hip bumping my arm just hard enough. The rest was a performance. A very good one.

"I just asked if she was feeling okay," Brooke cried into Ethan' s custom-tailored suit. "She' s been so on edge lately."

Ethan looked at me, his eyes devoid of the love he' d sworn in this very spot five years ago. Now, they held only disappointment and calculation.

"She needs help," he announced to the crowd. "My wife… she' s not well. Her jealousy is becoming instability."

He was speaking about me as if I wasn' t there. He was erasing me in front of everyone who mattered for his career.

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but no sound came out. The shock was a physical weight in my throat.

He didn' t wait for my denial. He guided a weeping Brooke toward the house, his arm protectively around her.

"The party' s over," he called out. "My apologies. We have a private family matter to attend to."

That night, two men in discreet medical uniforms came to our bedroom. Ethan stood in the doorway, his arms crossed.

"It' s for the best, Cass," he said, his tone final. "A retreat. In Montana. A place to help you with your… issues."

He made it sound like a spa.

"You' ll thank me for this," he added. "We can' t have these outbursts. Not with the campaign starting."

They led me out of my home. I didn' t fight. I was too stunned. As they put me in the back of a black SUV, I saw Brooke watching from an upstairs window.

A small, triumphant smile was on her face.