Chapter 1 - The White Roses and White LiesEmma Hayes stood behind the double oak doors of St. Judeâs Cathedral, adjusting the delicate lace sleeves of her grandmotherâs vintage wedding gown.
She was eight months pregnant. Her hands rested gently over her prominent bump, feeling her baby girl kick softly against her palm. Outside the chapel doors, organ music chimed gently through the high ceilings, signaling the start of what three hundred high-society guests believed was Portlandâs wedding of the decade.
To the world, Emma was living a fairy tale.
Sixteen months ago, she was just an ordinary third-grade elementary school teacher living in a small studio apartment, driving a rusty sedan that sputtered every winter. She worked sixty hours a week, paid off her student loans penny by penny, and believed that quiet honesty was enough to live a good life.
Then Blake Donovan walked into her world.
Blake was handsome, thirty-two, charismatically charming, and heir to Donovan Global Enterprisesâa ten-billion-dollar real estate and logistics empire. When he bid ten thousand dollars at her schoolâs annual charity fundraiser just to win a home-cooked dinner with her, Emma believed fate had finally smiled upon her.
Six months later, they were engaged. Two months after that, she was pregnant.
Now, she stood inside a cathedral filled with ten thousand white imported roses, gold-trimmed chairs, and Portlandâs corporate elite.
Blake stood at the altar in a tailored grey suit, smiling like a prince in a storybook. His mother, Eleanor Donovan, sat in the front pew adjusting her pearl necklace, looking down her nose at the quiet teacher who had 'trapped' her son. Sitting three rows back, wearing a tight burgundy silk gown, was ChloeâBlakeâs 'private assistant.'
Everyone expected Emma to walk down the aisle, weep tears of joy, say her vows, and fade quietly into the background of the Donovan family dynasty.
They didn't know that three weeks ago, Emma had found something on Blakeâs laptop that destroyed her world forever.
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Emma took a deep, steadying breath. She didn't cry. She didn't tremble.
She reached into the hidden lace pocket of her wedding gown, pulled out her smartphone, and tapped the screen once.
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