Chapter 1

My father' s funeral was two days ago. Today, I married his killer.

Of course, I didn' t know it then.

I stood in the judge's chambers at the Travis County Courthouse, my hand in Ethan' s. His thumb rubbed gentle circles on my knuckles. He was my rock, my savior. The only good thing left.

"I do," I whispered. My voice was raw from crying for a week straight.

Ethan' s voice was firm, protective. "I do."

Five years ago, I was engaged to someone else. Dylan. A brash, new-money crypto millionaire who wanted to tear down Austin' s history and build glass towers. My father owned a small, iconic music venue on a piece of land Dylan wanted.

My father said no. He would never sell.

A month later, the venue was bankrupt. A series of perfectly timed, anonymous complaints, supplier issues, and a sudden tax audit crushed him. The debt was massive. The shock of losing everything, his life' s work, triggered a fatal heart attack.

Dylan broke our engagement the day after the funeral. He said he couldn' t marry into that kind of financial ruin.

I was drowning in grief and hospital bills. Then Ethan appeared. My childhood friend. He paid for everything. The medical debt, the funeral. He held me while I sobbed. He told me he would always take care of me.

He saved me. So when he asked me to marry him, I said yes. It was a decision born from gratitude, from grief, from a desperate need for safety. I thought I loved him.

For five years, he was the perfect husband. He supported my filmmaking, even if he gently called it a "hobby." He was patient, kind, and steady. He was everything Dylan wasn't.

Our life was a quiet, comfortable lie. And I was about to learn the truth.