His Discarded Maid Married His Master

At sixteen, Elise lived in the shadow of her housekeeper mother on the Radcliffe estate, where heir Lachlan Radcliffe mocked her by day and kissed her in the attic by night. On the eve of her eighteenth birthday, he publicly accused her of throwing herself at him, and she and her mother were cast out into the winter sleet. Five years later, Elise runs a boutique flower shop and has built a life without him.

Then Lachlan returns from London, certain she is still the fragile girl he discarded. He tosses her the keys to the estate's carriage house and orders her to move in, keeping out of sight whenever his fiancée Tinsley is near. When Elise tells him she is married, he dismisses it as a lie, insisting the ring and the society columns belong to Tinsley while he keeps the private part of her.

Lachlan holds her mother's lost jade pendant, the only heirloom she left behind, and offers it back on one condition: Elise must attend his homecoming gala, pour champagne for Tinsley, and apologize. As the Maybach pulls away, her phone begins to buzz.