Unmasking the Heiress by Sisi Yea

"Don't bother returning if you can't make Walter come home tonight, Evangeline!" It was New Year's Eve.

Every home was aglow, families embracing the joy of togetherness. Evangeline Rearden, however, was excluded from the glee. She raced her heavy motorcycle down Jetty Road, cutting through the biting cold wind on a mission to expose Walter's infidelity aboard a cruise ship.

The whole city buzzed with the news that her stay-away husband, Walter Gordon, has splurged on a cruise for his mistress, complete with a fireworks display.

Still ringing in her ears was the harsh ultimatum her mother-in-law, Aria Jones, delivered at the Gordon family's New Year's Eve feast.

"Evangeline, Walter is so averse to seeing you that he hasn't come home for the holidays in years! You're just warming the bench. If you can't give us a Gordon heir, call it quits early. Step aside and let a more fertile woman take your place as Mrs. Walter Gordon." Three years into their marriage, all Evangeline could think of was having Walter's baby.

The Gordons were on her case, and so was Cole Foster, her maternal grandfather. She had exhausted every trick in the book to cement her status as Mrs. Walter Gordon.

Walter was a different man outside-voracious and wild. At home, however, he had been distant and disinterested.

Forget intimacy. She could have paraded naked in front of him and not even earned a blink.

All the heartache had boiled down to one bitter truth: Walter did not love her. She had never been the one he wanted to marry.

The cruise ship Walter rented had been ablaze with lights as the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, the air alive with celebration.

Evangeline stepped onto the cruise and swung open the door to the buzzing private room.

Walter, the seventh heir to Avalon City's elite Gordon family, had carved out his empire with Strata King Group at just 27 years old. In a mere three years, he shot to the top of the game, poised to take over the family's legacy. There he was, oozing laid-back charm in his sleek black suit, coaching a woman in a tiny black skirt on her pool shot.

Just then, a voice cut through the buzz, "Mr. Walter Gordon, it's late. Aren't you heading home?"

and with a smooth move,

eyes away, green with envy at the lady

have the magic touch, even

think Walter's even more of a catch than he was three years ago?

words, the demure woman next to Walter turned a deep shade of red, gazing up at him with eyes full

woman's face. It hit

was not just anyone it was Julia Rearden. Walter's

smoothed out her windblown hair and strutted across the

thinks she can just get married? She'll need my

was trying to figure out who was brazen enough to flirt with my husband tonight... Oh, it's the homecoming of the other woman's

been pulling out all the stops with cruises and fireworks to woo you, strutting around like a show-off, not even bothering to come home for New Year's. He's not even scared of his grandfather giving him a piece of his mind!" Three years had passed, but Julia's face still wore that same look

Evangeline, tripping over her words in a rush to

twisted... I just got back into town yesterday, and my friends wanted to throw me a little welcome bash. It was my idea to shoot some pool, and, uh... Walter was just showing me the

Julia was trying to say that Walter's buddies were her buddies too, that she was part of the in-crowd that

side, in

to each other as kids, Julia was nothing more than a secret nobody

was an order to

him, it was not Julia's place

"If you're so keen on playing pool, why didn't you come to me? You might not realize, but I've got the kind of pool game that could

a few balls myself. You lived out in the sticks before you got hitched, and afterward, you were practically a

the game because you're too busy trying to snag your brother-in-law. No wonder you can't learn!" Her words cut deep, leaving no room for dignity

with envy

she? How can she speak to Julia like that, and Julia seems so scared of