Chapter 1 - The Eyes Behind the Lie
Four hours after Thea Lindquist became Mrs. Lachlan Voss, she discovered the first truth of her marriage.
Her husband could see.
Not shadows. Not vague shapes. Not the soft outline of a person standing near a window.
He could see her.
Thea was nineteen years old, still wearing the heavy white gown she had borrowed for the wedding, and she had married Lachlan because the Voss family had promised to cover the surgery her seriously ill mother desperately needed. She had entered the arrangement believing Lachlan was blind.
Now his dark glasses rested neatly on the table beside him.
And his gray-blue eyes followed her hand.
Thea froze.
The bridal suite suddenly felt too small.
Outside the tall windows, the last orange streaks of an August sunset faded over the trees surrounding the Voss estate. Gardenias from the wedding arrangements filled the room with a sweetness that had become almost suffocating.
Lachlan sat in a leather chair near the window, still wearing his black wedding suit.
Calm.
Controlled.
Watching her.
Thea lifted one trembling hand.
His eyes followed it.
She moved it to the other side.
Again.
His gaze moved perfectly.
“You can see.”
Lachlan did not answer immediately.
That frightened her more than a denial would have.
“You can see me,” she repeated.
“Yes.”
One word.
Quiet.
Certain.
Thea stared at him.
Her mind rushed backward through the last three weeks.
Their first meeting.
The way Lachlan had stood with his back to her while she entered his study.
The cane.
The dark glasses.
The way he seemed to identify people by their footsteps.
The cathedral earlier that afternoon.
The priest.
The vows.
Her shaking fingers.
Her tears.
She had believed Lachlan couldn't see any of it.
But he had.
Every second.
Every frightened expression.
Every time she'd looked at him and wondered what kind of man she had just promised to live beside.
“How long?” she whispered.
His fingers turned the watch on his wrist.
“Long enough.”
Anger found her before tears did.
Thea rose so quickly that her wedding skirt brushed against the table.
“That's not an answer.”
“No.”
“So answer me.”
His jaw tightened.
“Not tonight.”
A bitter laugh escaped her.
“Not tonight?”
“Thea—”
“I married you four hours ago.”
“I know.”
“No, I don't think you do.”
She walked toward him.
The layers of her gown whispered against the hardwood floor.
“My mother is in a hospital waiting for surgery. Your grandmother came to me and offered to pay for it if I married you. I signed papers. I moved into this house. I stood in front of hundreds of people while everyone whispered about the poor blind billionaire who needed a wife.”
Lachlan remained still.
“And the whole time,” Thea said, “you were looking at me.”
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt more than another lie.
Her voice cracked.
“Why?”
Lachlan finally looked away.
It was the first time she'd seen him do it.
“I can give you explanations,” he said. “Or I can give you the truth.”
“I would suggest the truth. You've already used up your supply of lies.”
Something almost like pain passed across his face.
“Fair.”
“Then tell me.”
Silence.
The ceiling fan turned slowly above them.
Thea waited.
Lachlan opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
“Tomorrow.”
She stared at him.
“You're unbelievable.”
“I know.”
“You expect me to sleep here?”
“No.”
The answer surprised her.
Lachlan stood.
He was taller than she remembered.
Without the cane and dark glasses, something about him changed. He no longer looked vulnerable. He looked like the man newspapers described when they wrote about Voss Meridian Holdings—the ruthless young executive who had transformed his grandfather's regional company into an international empire before a mysterious accident supposedly stole his sight.
“There are three bedrooms in this suite,” he said. “Choose whichever one you want. Lock the door.”
She blinked.
“And you?”
“I'll stay here.”
“You're not going to stop me if I leave?”
“No.”
“And my mother's surgery?”
“It happens whether you stay tonight or not.”
That made her pause.
Thea had expected leverage.
A threat.
A reminder about the contract.
Instead, he simply reached toward the table and slid his phone toward her.
“The surgical deposit was transferred this afternoon. You can call the hospital yourself.”
She didn't touch it.
“I don't trust you.”
“You shouldn't.”
The answer was so immediate that she looked at him again.
Lachlan's expression was unreadable.
“Not yet,” he added.
That single phrase disturbed her more than she wanted to admit.
Not yet.
As though he expected there might be a time when she would.
Thea took one step toward the bedroom door.
Then she heard something.
A tiny sound behind Lachlan's chair.
A breath.
Thea stopped.
Lachlan's expression changed.
Not fear.
Concern.
He turned.
“Sophie?”
A little blonde head appeared slowly from behind the leather chair.
Thea's anger disappeared beneath surprise.
A child stood there.
She couldn't have been older than six or seven.
Her pale hair had been braided for the wedding, although half of it had already escaped. She wore a small white lace dress and gripped the back of the chair with both hands.
Her blue eyes were enormous.
And terrified.
Thea looked from the girl to Lachlan.
“Who is she?”
“Sophie.”
“That tells me her name.”
Lachlan crouched.
The powerful billionaire who had spent the evening surrounded by security, lawyers and businessmen lowered himself until he was eye level with the child.
“You're supposed to be with Mrs. Greene.”
Sophie said nothing.
“You shouldn't be hiding,” he continued gently.
The girl's lower lip trembled.
Then she whispered something.
Thea couldn't hear.
Lachlan could.
His expression sharpened.
“What did you say?”
Sophie stared toward the hallway.
“The man came back.”
The room changed.
Thea felt it immediately.
Lachlan stood.
“What man?”
Sophie shook her head violently.
“Sophie.”
“No.”
Her little hands covered her ears.
“No, no, no.”
Lachlan moved toward her, but she backed away.
Thea instinctively stepped between them.
“Wait.”
Lachlan stopped.
Thea crouched in her wedding gown.
“Hey.”
Sophie looked at her.
“My name's Thea.”
“I know.”
Despite everything, Thea nearly smiled.
“I suppose everybody here knows.”
“You're Uncle Lachlan's wife.”
Uncle.
Thea glanced back.
Lachlan gave a small nod.
“My sister's daughter.”
“Where is your sister?”
A shadow crossed his face.
“She died.”
Thea immediately regretted asking.
Sophie was still watching her.
Thea softened her voice.
“Did someone scare you?”
The child hesitated.
Then nodded.
“Was it someone from the wedding?”
Another nod.
“What did he do?”
Sophie looked toward Lachlan.
Instantly, fear returned to her face.
“He said Uncle can't see.”
Lachlan went completely still.
Thea did too.
Sophie whispered, “He said that's why nobody would believe him.”
“Believe who?” Thea asked.
The girl began to cry.
“The man in the car.”
Lachlan's face lost color.
He moved so quickly that Thea barely registered it.
He locked the suite door.
Then the balcony doors.
Then he crossed to the curtains and pulled them closed.
Every movement was precise.
Perfectly sighted.
Thea watched him.
“What is happening?”
He checked his phone.
Three missed calls.
His expression hardened.
“Lachlan.”
“Emil.”
“What?”
He called downstairs.
No answer.
That frightened him.
Thea could see it.
Lachlan opened a drawer beside the desk and removed something small and black.
A second phone.
Not the one everyone had seen him use.
He dialed a number.
“West wing. Now.”
He ended the call.
Thea stood.
“What did Sophie mean?”
Lachlan looked at her.
For the first time that night, the man who had deceived an entire world looked genuinely afraid.
Not for himself.
For the little girl.
“Sophie was in the accident that blinded me.”
“But you aren't blind.”
“No.”
“Then what accident?”
Lachlan's eyes shifted toward the child.
Three years ago.
His sister.
The little girl.
A man in a car.
Thea understood just enough to feel cold.
“The crash wasn't an accident,” she whispered.
Lachlan said nothing.
That was answer enough.
Footsteps sounded outside.
Sophie ran immediately to Thea.
Her tiny fingers grabbed the fabric of Thea's dress.
Thea looked down.
Something about that frightened grip pierced through every wall she had built around herself.
Lachlan moved between them and the door.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Two knocks.
Another pause.
Then one.
Only then did Lachlan unlock it.
Emil entered with two security men.
The older house manager looked unusually pale.
“Sir.”
“What happened?”
“A guest was found near the north service gate.”
“Name?”
“He left before security reached him.”
Lachlan's voice turned cold.
“Camera footage.”
“Already being pulled.”
“And the license plate?”
“Covered.”
Sophie buried her face in Thea's skirt.
Emil noticed.
His expression changed.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Lachlan looked at the security officers.
“No one leaves the estate until we've reviewed every camera.”
Thea stared at him.
“You're trapping everyone here?”
“I'm finding out who came for Sophie.”
“And you think this has something to do with what happened three years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
He looked at her.
“Tomorrow morning.”
She almost shouted.
But Sophie squeezed her dress tighter.
So Thea lowered her voice.
“You keep saying tomorrow.”
“Because once I tell you,” Lachlan said, “you become part of something I have spent three years trying to keep away from innocent people.”
“I became part of it when I married you.”
His eyes hardened with something that looked painfully close to regret.
“Yes.”
Thea swallowed.
“And my mother?”
“Protected.”
“How?”
“Two security officers are outside her hospital room.”
Her heart stopped.
“You put guards on my mother?”
“Before the ceremony.”
“Why?”
“Because marrying me made you valuable to anyone who wants to hurt me.”
Thea's stomach turned.
She had believed the greatest danger in this marriage was losing her freedom.
Now she realized she had misunderstood everything.
“Who wants to hurt you?”
Lachlan looked toward Sophie.
Then toward the dark window.
“I don't know.”
“After three years?”
“I know who benefits.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“No.”
“And that's why you pretended to be blind?”
Slowly, he nodded.
The truth was beginning to take shape.
And it was worse than the lie.
Thea looked at Sophie.
A six-year-old child had survived the accident.
Lachlan had survived.
His sister had not.
Someone believed Lachlan couldn't see.
Someone apparently wanted it to remain that way.
And tonight, on the very night of his wedding, that person had returned.
Thea took Sophie's hand.
“I'm staying with her tonight.”
Lachlan studied her.
“You don't have to.”
“I know.”
He seemed surprised by that answer.
Thea pointed toward him.
“But tomorrow morning, you tell me everything.”
“I will.”
“No half-truths.”
“No.”
“No protecting me by lying.”
His gaze held hers.
“All right.”
Thea led Sophie toward the bedroom.
At the doorway, Sophie suddenly stopped.
She turned toward Lachlan.
“Uncle?”
“Yes?”
“The man said something else.”
Lachlan's expression sharpened.
“What?”
Sophie swallowed.
“He said the new wife won't last as long as Elena did.”
No one moved.
Thea felt every hair on her arms rise.
Elena.
Lachlan's dead sister.
Sophie started crying again.
Lachlan looked at his bride.
Four hours earlier, Thea had believed she was entering a loveless marriage to save her mother.
Now someone had threatened to make her a widow—or a corpse—before her wedding night was even over.
And as Lachlan reached for the hidden phone again, Thea realized tomorrow's truth might be more dangerous than anything he had lied about.
Because whoever had killed Elena Voss had just learned there was a new woman in the house.
May you like
And they were already coming for her.
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