(Grace’s POV)
The heavy door of the study thuds shut behind me.
It's just me and Old Grandpa Stanley now.
The quiet in the room feels heavier than the silence I've carried in my chest for the past three years. I watch him settle into the leather chair behind the desk.
Everyone thinks I married Alex for love. That I clung to the Stanley name long after my grandmother passed away for status like some desperate social climber. Even Mrs. Stanley and Alex believe that. But neither of them have a clue.
The truth is, I never had a choice.
It was a deal—a blood-bound promise sealed years ago. Old Mr. Stanley owes his life to my grandmother. She saved him once, and in return, he promised to marry his grandson to her granddaughter.
All these years, when Vivienne lived in the Hartwell family,
