Chapter 3

Elara POV:

The next morning, Brendan was all smiles and casual arrogance over breakfast. He sat across from me at the head of the long mahogany table, playing the part of the doting husband to perfection.

"You look tired, mia regina," he said, smirking as he buttered a piece of toast. "Bad dreams?"

I just sipped my coffee.

"Something like that."

He reached across the table, his fingers brushing mine. I had to fight the instinct to recoil.

"You'd never leave me, would you, Elara? You know you're the only one who truly understands this world."

I met his gaze, schooling my expression into a perfect mask of calm. "I have a business meeting this morning," I said, rising from the table. "A new charity initiative."

His smile widened. "Of course. My brilliant, generous wife."

I drove myself. Not in one of the black armored sedans the Family used, but in my personal convertible, the one Brendan had bought me for our anniversary.

I took it to the city's underbelly, to a discreet shop tucked away in a grimy alley called "Documents & Duplicates."

The forger was a whisper in the underworld-the best there was. I commissioned a flawless new identity: "June Bennett." New birth certificate, social security number, passport.

I paid in cash from a private account Brendan knew nothing about.

That afternoon, I met Evans in his sterile, white lab. The air smelled of antiseptic and ozone.

I laid out the details of Brendan's betrayal with Kiya, my voice clinical and detached, as if I were describing a business acquisition gone wrong.

"He did this in our home," I finished. "With my protégée. There is no coming back from that."

Evans listened, his face grim. He didn't argue. He didn't try to reason with me. He saw the steel in my spine, the absolute finality in my eyes. He knew there was no talking me out of it.

"The Null Serum," he said quietly. "It's a two-part compound. The final component is unstable. It will arrive in three days."

Three days. Brendan's birthday.

The irony was so potent it was a bitter taste on my tongue.

"I'll book the flight," I said.

When I returned to the estate, Brendan was in the grand foyer, pacing like a caged tiger. The moment he saw me, relief washed over his face, quickly followed by suspicion.

"Where have you been?" he demanded, his voice tight. "Your security detail said you gave them the slip."

His eyes darted past me to the entryway, where two large boxes of my clothes were waiting to be picked up.

"Just cleaning out my closet," I lied smoothly, not missing a beat. "For the charity drive I told you about."

He bought it. The anxiety drained from his face, replaced by a cloying tenderness.

He pulled me into his arms, burying his face in my hair. "Don't ever do that again," he murmured. "Don't ever scare me like that. Promise me you'll never leave me."

I stood perfectly still in his embrace, my body rigid.

"I promise," I said to the man whose memory I was about to obliterate.

The next day, I took my wedding ring to a jeweler known for his discretion. The diamond was a massive, flawless stone, a symbol of his power and my position.

"I want the platinum band melted down," I told the jeweler. "I'll keep the stone."

I left with a small, velvet-lined box. Inside was the loose diamond and a shapeless, ugly lump of gray metal.

Pulling up to the estate's main gate, I saw two of the Family's black sedans parked just inside. Brendan was talking to two of his Soldiers, his expression tense.

When he saw my car, his shoulders relaxed. He walked over as I got out, his eyes immediately fixing on the small black box in my hand.

"What's that?" he asked, curiosity sharpening his tone.