Chapter 15

• Ester stood in the opulent living room of the apartment she shared with Damien, a glass of sparkling water in hand as she absentmindedly tapped her manicured fingers against the crystal. She gazed out at the Paris skyline, the sun dipping low and casting a golden hue over the city she called home. Most days, she felt on top of the world as she prepared for her upcoming wedding, but today, a nagging feeling of unease had settled in.
• For weeks now, she had noticed subtle things—Damien’s distracted demeanor, the way he sometimes seemed lost in thought. It didn’t take much to connect the dots; he was often preoccupied with work, and she had initially brushed it off as wedding nerves. Yet there was something more, something beneath the surface that felt unsettling. And it all circled back to Charlotte Sinclair.
• Ester had learned that Charlotte was not just any jeweler; she was someone from Damien’s past, someone he seemingly couldn’t fully let go of. It infuriated her. To be marrying a man with unfinished business was a liability she could not ignore.