Chapter 10: The Bargain

I felt, suddenly, like the Caleb I’d loved was gone—maybe he’d never been real to begin with. This man was a stranger, his face both familiar and cold.

He strode over, reached out, and yanked a gold hairpin from my hair. "These things are too flashy. You look best natural—unadorned."

He took my hand, pressed it to his chest. His heart thudded beneath the crisp shirt, hot and steady.

"Aubrey, I didn’t want to lie to you. I just… couldn’t help myself. Can’t you see how much I care?"

He tried to make me believe it, tried to will me back into the life he’d crafted for us. But I pulled away, chin high, voice icy.

"Caleb, I will not be your mistress."

He flinched, the mask slipping for a second before he sighed, defeated.

"Aubrey, don’t make this harder than it has to be. I’m doing what I can for you. Lillian’s father is State Treasurer, her mother’s a senator’s daughter. You can’t compete. Letting you stay here is already a kindness. Don’t worry—once I pass the bar, my mother says you’ll become an official mistress."

I’d heard the stories—families with old money had as many ranks of mistresses as they had crystal vases. The favored mistress was recorded in the family ledger, untouchable. The live-in was little more than hired help. I’d never dreamed I’d be offered a place on that ladder.

Why should I settle for so little, just because I once believed in him?