For ten years she swallowed every whisper, every cruel laugh, every “poor Elena” the village threw at her — all while raising a son whose father they claimed didn’t even exist. But on a blistering summer afternoon, a black luxury car rolled to a stop outside her tiny gate… and the man who stepped out made the whole village choke on their gossip.
Dust hung in the late-afternoon light like pollen in a jar, the kind of small-town glow that makes everything look softer than it is. Elena Ward stood on her porch in a flour-dusted apron, tapping the last crumbs from a cooling rack, when the sound reached her—low, expensive, unmistakable. Tires found the ruts of her … Read more
