Mr. Villain, Your Wife Has Two Secret Babys!

Rose was awakened by a kiss.

It was late at night, and the familiar warmth of his breath enveloped her. She held her breath, pain twisting through her chest in rippling waves. The man kissing her was her husband.

Adrian Reid. President of the Reid Group, devastatingly handsome, wealthy, and the very picture of a cultured gentleman. Thirty-four years oldten years her senior.

He had an insatiable enthusiasm for the intimacies of marriage. Whenever passion overtook him, hed press his lips to her ear and whisper, his voice husky, Rose, youre so soft, so sweet.

There was a time when Rose, hearing those words, believednaivelythat Adrian truly loved her. That illusion might have persisted if she hadnt witnessed, just hours earlier in the unrelenting clarity of daylight, the birthday party he hosted for his first love. If she hadnt seen, amidst a crowd of guests, the way hed embraced that woman, kissed her as though no one else in the world mattered.

She had been such a fool.

Adrian had never loved her. To him, she was merely an outlet for physical needs. The marriage itself had been forced into existence, a hasty union thrust upon them by her grandfather when she returned from abroad.

But now, Rose felt as though shed finally woken up.

The memory of what shed seen that day felt like bile rising in her throat as Adrian moved against her with oblivious fervor. It churned inside her, suffocating and inescapable. His touch no longer stirred her, only repelled. Disgusted, she pushed him away.

I dont feel like it tonight, she said flatly. Dont touch me.

Adrian froze. Though cloaked in darkness, he could sense the shift in her. Hed expected resistance, in the playful, coquettish way she sometimes tested the boundaries of his patiencebut not this. Not outright rejection.

Are you certain? he asked at last, his voice edged with curiosity, though he stilled himself. He wasnt the kind of man to push where he wasnt wanted, especially not in matters of intimacy. And besides, she had never refused him before. Quite the oppositethere were nights shed come to him, unbidden, seeking affection with a tender eagerness. This? This was something new.

Im certain. In fact, I dont want you to touch me ever again.

She shifted under him, turned her back to him in a movement so deliberate it was cutting. Her voice, once warm and yielding, had turned icy. Adrians brow furrowed as he sat back, wondering at her sudden chill.

Whats this about, Rose? he asked firmly, watching the slender line of her shoulder blades as if the answer rested there. She didnt reply. Silence hung taut in the room.

When she moved again, it was to slide open the bedside drawer. Out came a document, crisp and damning. She handed it to him without ceremony, her gaze unwavering as she spoke: Adrian, lets get a divorce.

Adrian stared at the stack of legal papers thrust into his hands. For a moment, he didntcouldntmove. The audacity of it stunned him.

You cant be serious.

Her expression didnt waver, and when he flipped through its pages, his stomach tightened. Her signature was already inked in precise, bold strokes.

Do you even know what youre saying, Rose? he demanded. Anger surged to the forefront, hot and unwieldy. A divorce? Youan orphan who has nothingdare to bring me this? Do you realize who I am? Men like mehell, even if I was a divorcthered still be women lined up from here to Southreach City begging for a chance to marry me.

But Rose didnt flinch. Her round, delicately crafted face was as unreadable as porcelain. I know exactly what Im doing, she said. You want Yvonne Yates, dont you? Fine. Go be with her. Im giving you what you want.

She left the bed, her movements brisk with resolve. Adrian, still reeling, followed her with his gaze, his voice sharp with accusation. So you know about yesterday, he said.

What else could explain her sudden insistence? She must have seen them together.

Rose snorted softly, tilting her chin to look at him with the blunt edge of disdain. If I hadnt seen it with my own eyes, youd probably be moving her in by now, wouldnt you?

Her tone betrayed no trembling weakness, though she fought valiantly to bury the ache inside her. This shouldnt matter, not for a marriage born of contract rather than love. She told herself she didnt care. She refused to care.

God knows, she had her own life outside of him.

Adrian crossed the room with long, deliberate strides, cutting the distance between them. His height, the breadth of his shouldershe towered over her, both physically and in presence. Rose barely reached his chest, a contrast that would have felt tender once, but now only left her bristling under the weight of his authority.

Stop this nonsense, he said, his voice low but forceful. It was just a birthday party. He reached out, intending to pull her into his arms, but she swatted his hand away with a vehemence that startled him.

Sign it, she said coldly. Well go to the courthouse tomorrow. And with that, she left the room.

Alone now, Adrian stood motionless, the divorce papers limp in his grip. For the first time in years, he didnt know what to do. Anger and disbelief surged through him, and yet... beneath it all, something else stirred. A flicker of something unpleasant and unfamiliara hollowness that settled in his chest and refused to go away.

He crumpled the papers in a fit of rage, tossed them into the trash, and climbed back into bed. But sleep eluded him, and the emptiness beside him gnawed at his resolve. Damn her. Who did she think she was, acting like she could just walk away? Didnt she understand how good shed had it?

By morning, there was no trace of Rose. When Adrian descended the sweeping staircase, immaculately dressed in a charcoal suit, he stopped to question the maid.

Wheres Mrs. Reid? he asked, his tone clipped.

Madam left before dawn, Claire answered with a deferential bow of her head.

And where did she go?

Claire hesitated. She didnt say, sir.

Adrians brow tightened. Somewhere in the year theyd been married, hed lost track of her. Hed let her slip by unnoticed, her days her own, her habits unremarked upon. He didnt know where she went, what she did, or who she spent her time with. Their relationship had been confined within the walls of their bedroom, and now even that had slipped from his grasp.

With purpose sharpening his features, he stepped into his waiting car and ordered his assistant, Calvin Lake, to investigate. When Calvin faltered, unsure if hed heard correctly, Adrian cut him off with a single decisive word:

Yes.

And then, as though irritated by the very fact of it, he added, She is my wife, after all. I need to know whats gotten into her.

The day passed, leaving Rose waiting in vain at the courthouse. Adrian never showed. Furious, she returned to Starhaven Bay Residencesa refuge that held secrets of its own. As she entered, the warmth of familiarity greeted her. The housekeeper was feeding her children, Charlotte and Mason.

Her other life. Her hidden life.