Lara lifted her chin, icy and assured.
“Relax. Ethan Valence is completely under control. That ghost from his past died ten years ago.”
Diane tightened her grip on her crocodile-skin purse.
“Exactly. Erasing that small-town girl wasn’t cheap—but look at us now. Tonight is your coronation.”
In stark contrast, the groom’s suite felt heavy as stone.
Ethan Valence, founder of the largest tech empire on the East Coast, stood silently by the window. His custom gray suit couldn’t hide the exhaustion etched into his face.
To the world, Ethan was ruthless, brilliant, untouchable. But no one knew that for ten years, he had been emotionally hollow. He wasn’t marrying Lara for love—only because loneliness had finally worn him down. She was beautiful, well-connected, and, most importantly, she never asked for the heart he’d left shattered in Savannah, Georgia, a decade earlier.
“You okay?” asked Mark Reynolds, his best friend and best man.
Ethan exhaled slowly.
“It feels like I’m walking into a tunnel with no exit. I can’t stop thinking about her.”
Mark knew exactly who he meant.
Emily Carter. The forbidden name.