“Ethan,” Caleb said quietly, “you’ve got it all wrong. Aurora said there’s no chance of you two getting back together.”
“Shut up, Caleb. You’re still a kid.”
“I’m about to graduate from college. You still treat me like a child. I know you already divorced Aurora, and you were the one who initiated it.”
Ethan’s face went red. “Caleb, I’m your older brother. How can you side with an outsider?”
I set down my spoon. “Enough. For that Stella Bao who left you four years ago, you casually divorced Aurora. Did you ever discuss it with your parents? How has Aurora treated you these past four years? Can that be measured in money?”
Ethan’s mother started crying. “Ethan, it’s been four years. Do you really have no feelings for Aurora at all?”
“Mom, no matter how good Aurora is, she was just a replacement for Stella. The only one I’ve ever loved is Stella.”
His father stood so fast his chair fell over. “You ungrateful son, you don’t even deserve Aurora’s kindness. If you insist on being with that woman, then don’t ever set foot in our family home again.”
“Dad, you hit me—over Aurora?”
“If that’s how you’re going to be, then I might as well consider that the Key family has no son like you. Caleb is graduating from university soon. I’ll have Caleb marry Aurora and let her stay as our daughter-in-law.”
Caleb choked on his water. “Dad, what are you talking about?”
“Dad,” I said calmly, “I’ve always seen Caleb as my own younger brother.”
Ethan stood, knocking over his wine glass. Red bled across the white tablecloth. “Aurora, you’ve got some nerve using my parents to force me back into marriage with you. Let me tell you—not a chance.”
I didn’t answer. I picked up my gloves, slipped them back on, and walked out.
The ring mark wasn’t gone because I’d moved on. It was gone because I’d burned the past off my skin.
—
Ryan found me in the parking lot, leaning against his car. “That sounded ugly.”
“It was.” I looked up at the Key mansion’s lit windows. “He still doesn’t believe I’m Aurora Wen.”
“He will. Give it time.” Ryan opened the passenger door. “In the meantime, we have forty million reasons to make him believe.”
—
The next morning, I woke to forty-seven missed calls. Twenty-nine were from Ethan. Eighteen were from Stella.
I blocked both numbers and went to work.
The Zenith Group’s Vidia office was a glass tower on the waterfront. My desk faced the bay, and Ryan brought me coffee exactly the way I’d taught him—one sugar, no cream. He’d learned fast.
“Ethan’s been calling the front desk since six AM,” Ryan said. “He wants a meeting.”
“Tell him I’m booked for six months.”
“He says he’ll wait.”
