Chapter 2 - The Hartwell Rules
The breakfast room looked like a photograph from an expensive home magazine.
Fresh flowers stood in crystal vases. White china had been arranged across the long table. Silver coffee pots reflected the morning light. Baskets of warm pastries sat beside bowls of berries and sliced fruit.
Everything looked perfect.
Except for the people.
Elaine sat at the head of the table, wearing a royal-blue satin robe. Ryan stood beside the window in the same dark formal shirt he had worn beneath his wedding jacket.
He did not greet Leah.
“Where were you?” he asked.
“Looking for my phone.”
Ryan poured himself coffee.
“You lose things when you drink.”
“I didn’t drink enough to forget where I placed it.”
Elaine sighed.
“Must every morning begin with an argument?”
Leah looked toward the empty place settings.
“Where is the staff?”
Ryan lifted his cup.
“They’re off.”
“Why?”
“Because my wife is here.”
The words sounded wrong.
Leah studied his expression, waiting for the smile that would reveal an unpleasant joke.
It never came.
Ryan nodded toward the sideboard.
“Chloe asked for eggs an hour ago.”
Chloe stared down at her hands.
Leah almost laughed from disbelief.
“You dismissed the staff so I could cook for your family?”
Elaine answered before Ryan could.
“A wife contributes to her husband’s household.”
“I contributed by paying for this household’s property taxes last year.”
The room went silent.
Ryan’s eyes sharpened.
Elaine’s lips tightened.
Leah had not intended to reveal that detail. Ryan had told his family that he had covered the taxes after a difficult quarter. In reality, he had asked Leah for a temporary loan.
He had never repaid it.
Ryan placed his cup down.
May you like
“We need to speak privately.”
“No,” Leah said. “I think we should speak here.”
