Chapter 1
It was our fifth year of marriage.
And for the third time, my husband asked if he could make his “one true love” his second wife.
The first time he brought it up, I lost it. Smashed up the entire Holloway estate.
The second time, I slapped him so hard my hand stung for hours.
Then I packed a bag and disappeared for a week.
He didn’t even try to find me.
Instead, he ripped out all the lilies of the valley from our garden–my favorite–and planted her beloved white lilies in their place.
The third time, I said yes.
He smiled, relieved, said I’d finally come around.
He didn’t know I had already packed my bags for good.
Didn’t know I’d traded the life debt I once shared with First Lady Margaret for a legal separation.
I wasn’t accepting her.
I was choosing to let go of them both.
After I stamped the Holloway family seal onto the final ledger, Richard’s smile widened.
“Sophia’s always been better at this than you,” he said.
“You should spend more time learning how to be a proper woman from her.”
The words cut deep, but I didn’t let it show.
This wasn’t the first time he said he wanted to marry Sophia Reynolds.
It was just the first time I accepted it quietly.
No screaming. No begging.
I handed over the finances, every account, every ledger.
Richard was surprised at first, then immediately anxious I might change my mind and hurt Sophia’s delicate little heart.
Funny, he never worried about hurting mine.
When we first got married, people in D.C. couldn’t stop talking about how much Richard Holloway adored his wife.
Back then, I believed I was the luckiest woman alive.
He’d rescued me from a backwoods militia on horseback, of all things.
That night, when I couldn’t sleep, terrified and trembling, he sang lullabies to calm me until morning.
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From Mafia Mistress to Billionaire’s Wife–Same Day, Different Groom
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Chapter 1
My parents didn’t want me marrying into the disgraced Holloway name.
So Richard knelt outside our house for three days and nights, refusing to leave.
Later, to win me over completely, he walked away from his trust fund and enlisted-
Just so he could earn the Medal of Valor and get a personal commendation from the President, which he then used to secure White House blessing for our wedding.
Everyone said I’d landed the kind of man you only meet once in a lifetime.
No one guessed that same man would carry on a secret ten–year affair with another woman.
Every month we were married, he wrote her a love letter.
Every birthday gift he gave me was something Sophia didn’t want.
Even when he was deployed, he found a way to keep her close.
And on our wedding day?
Sophia showed up–in red.
Not as a guest, but as someone else claiming a piece of him.
When I found out, I felt like the punchline in someone else’s tragic joke.
I wanted to confront him.
But all Richard Holloway said was,
“Every man in Washington’s got a wife and a mistress.”
“What’s the big deal?”
“Sophia and I grew up together. We were always meant to be.”
“Just play your part and stop making a fuss.”
Always meant to be?
Then what the hell were these five years to me?
What about the fortune I funneled into the Holloways to rebuild their name?
The sacrifices I made so he could serve, worry–free, on the frontlines?
I’d cried so much I didn’t even have tears left.
Not even pain. Just empty.
I tucked the notarized divorce papers into my bag and headed for the Capitol,
But divorcing a White House–approved marriage? Not so simple.
First Lady Margaret looked torn when I brought it up.
So I rolled up my skirt and showed her the scar on my left thigh.
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Chapter 1
The one I got saving her life years ago.
The same scar that made me believe Richard was the only man who’d ever love me.
In D.C., looks are everything–and a woman with a scar is damaged goods.
My father offered the biggest dowry you could imagine, and still, no one wanted me.
Only Richard said the scar didn’t matter.
Said my parents‘ status didn’t matter either.
He fought like hell to marry me.
So now, I’ll use this scar to buy my freedom.
To make sure Richard Holloway and I never share the same air again–for this lifetime, or any other.
