Chapter 1: The Service Entrance
The sun over the Hamptons doesn’t just shine; it appraises. It glints off the chrome railings of superyachts and the diamond chokers of the women drinking rosé, calculating net worth in lumens.
I stood on the aft deck of the Sea Sovereign, a one-hundred-and-fifty-foot monument to excess, feeling the Atlantic breeze tangle my hair. I was wearing a simple linen dress and leather sandals—understated, comfortable, and, according to the woman lounging on the white divan five feet away, utterly inappropriate.
“Liam, darling,” Victoria drawled, swirling a martini that was mostly gin and condensation. She peered over the rim of her oversized Gucci sunglasses, her gaze landing on my feet like a physical weight. “Tell your… friend that the crew quarters are downstairs if she needs to use the restroom. We don’t want the guest head clogged.”
Liam, the man I had been dating for eight months, the man who claimed to love my ‘grounded nature,’ chuckled. He was sprawled on a deck chair, his skin bronzed, his chest hair perfectly groomed. He took a sip of his imported beer, the bottle sweating in the heat.
“Mom, is just being particular,” he said, his voice carrying that lazy, frictionless cadence of someone who has never had to shout to be heard. “Elena is a guest.”
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