Part 1I Was His Secret Shame. Now I'm His Aunt.

No one knew that Julian Reed, the aloof and privileged heir, was in truth consumed by insatiable desire, yet crippled by severe germaphobia.

But the Reed family's reputation, their inheritance, couldn't have the slightest blemish.

To keep this secret buried, Julian adopted me from a remote orphanage.

He groomed me to be his most exquisite kept woman.

To the public, I was his adoptive sister.

But when night fell, he'd consume me completely, his touch a desperate entanglement.

Ten years passed. He told me countless times that I could only be his, that I had to love him.

I did. I thought he felt the same.

Until Sloane Hastings appeared, shattering every single one of my illusions.

She could lie beside Julian without the meticulous, dozens-of-times full-body disinfection I endured.

She could openly accept Julian's marriage proposal and declarations of love.

That's when I finally understood. I was never his only one. Not before, and certainly not now.

I turned, pulled out my phone, and dialed that unfamiliar number.

"Vincent, I want to marry you!"