The December wind howled against the heavy mahogany doors of the Dre estate in Greenwich, Connecticut, but inside, the air was thick with the scent of pine, burning cedar, and the expensive perfume of sixty of the wealthiest people in the region.

The December wind howled against the heavy mahogany doors of the Dre estate in Greenwich, Connecticut, but inside, the air was thick with the scent of pine, burning cedar, and the expensive perfume of sixty of the wealthiest people in the region. Bankers, developers, and old-money attorneys mingled beneath an eighteen-foot Christmas tree adorned with vintage silver ornaments. A string quartet played a melancholic melody near the grand staircase while servers moved like ghosts through rooms draped in burgundy velvet and evergreen.

Serena Paige stood by the marble fireplace. She had been standing there for forty-three minutes.

At thirty-two weeks pregnant, her lower back ached with a dull, persistent throb, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the hollow, freezing sensation spreading outward from her chest. Her husband, Matthias Dre, had just walked through the front doors of his family’s annual Christmas party with another woman holding his arm.

The woman was Fiona Vale.

Fiona wore an ivory silk evening gown beneath an open cashmere overcoat, her dark blond hair pinned elegantly above a diamond choker that flashed brilliantly under the chandelier light. It was the exact diamond necklace Serena had seen on a hotel receipt hidden inside the lining of Matthias’s winter coat three weeks ago.

For three seconds, Serena forgot how to breathe. Not because she was surprised—she had known about the affair since she found the confirmation suite in New Haven—but because some betrayals hurt differently when they finally stopped pretending to be secrets.

Matthias spotted her across the room. His expression lasted less than a second: calculation, not guilt. That hurt more than the infidelity itself. He murmured something to Fiona, left her near the entrance, and crossed the marble floor toward his wife.

“Serena,” he said, kissing her cheek with practiced coolness. “You made it.”

“I drove myself,” she replied, her voice dangerously quiet.

His eyes flickered. “I was going to call.”

“You said you were picking me up.”

“There was a situation downtown.”

Serena looked past his shoulder. Fiona had already accepted a glass of champagne from a passing tray, her eyes scanning the room with the easy confidence of a woman who believed she had already won.

“She seems like an expensive situation,” Serena said.

Matthias’s jaw tightened. “Keep your voice down.”

“My voice is down.”

“You’re standing too long. There’s a chair near the—”

“Who did you bring to our family Christmas party, Matthias?”

Several feet away, Matthias’s mother laughed loudly at something an investor had said. Matthias lowered his voice further, his eyes narrowing into cold slits.

“Fiona is handling communications for the Hensley acquisition. Several people here tonight are involved. It made sense for her to attend.”

“At Christmas?”

“It’s business.”

“Is the necklace business too?”

His face changed. Barely. But Serena had spent nine years as a trauma nurse in a busy Chicago emergency room. She noticed changes other people missed—the tightening around a patient’s mouth before pain surged, the tremor in a hand before blood pressure crashed, the half-second hesitation before a frightened person lied. Matthias had just given her the emotional equivalent of a failing monitor.

“What necklace?” he asked.

Serena almost admired him. Almost. Instead, a tight, humorless smile touched her lips.

“Never mind.”

“Serena—”

“Tonight needs to go smoothly, right?” she interrupted.

“Yes.”

“There are investors here.”

“Yes.”

“Your parents. Your board chairman.”

His eyes locked onto hers, a shadow of genuine unease finally breaking through his armor. “What are you doing?”

She rubbed her stomach slowly, feeling her daughter kick in sharp, rhythmic protest against the tension in the air.

“Making sure tonight goes smoothly,” Serena whispered, her gaze dropping to the floor for a fraction of a second before meeting his eyes again. “Since you brought someone, I brought someone too.”