She Saved Her Brother, And Lost Her Husband Forever

River has been married to Isabella Moore for three years, a union the world calls a fairy tale of pure love. She keeps him at arm's length, allowing only embraces and shared sleep, insisting that true love means resisting temptation. Then, at his own birthday party, he finds her pressed against a sink with her foster brother, Dash, whispering that her heart has always belonged to him and that River was merely a shield.

He tells Vincent Moore that the three years are up and asks to leave. Vincent agrees to arrange his departure in half a month, on the condition that Isabella never learns of it. As River packs her suitcase for a sudden month-long business trip, a sketch slips free: the design of the ring he wears, hiding the letters DI. Dash designed it. The marriage, the tenderness, the gifts, all of it was a performance.

He says nothing, smiles through her questions, and counts the days until he can take back the heart he gave her.