"Do you have any idea what you did to me in that ballroom?"

Vanessa's voice was low, but the hatred behind it was unmistakable.

Naomi had humiliated her in front of hundreds of wedding guests, sl\*pped her beside the man she had just married, and walked away carrying the little girl Vanessa had tried so hard to keep out of sight.

What Naomi never knew was what happened after the ballroom emptied.

Graham stopped sleeping beside his new wife.

His parents removed her from family gatherings.

Every time Vanessa stepped into the Mercer home, she could feel the same judgment waiting for her: the bride who treated their four-year-old granddaughter like something shameful.

And Vanessa could not live with that.

So she decided the child who had ruined her perfect wedding would become the very thing that restored her place in the family.

She would make Graham believe Naomi was neglecting his daughter.

She would make Maisie believe her mother had a new life without her.

And one day, if everything went according to plan, Naomi would wake up knowing that her little girl was living under Vanessa's roof.

Not because Vanessa loved her.

Because she wanted Naomi to feel exactly as powerless as she had felt on her wedding day.

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What will Vanessa do next — and will Naomi find out before it's too late?