The CEO’s Masked Secret Wife novel Chapter 1
Chapter 1: The Unwanted Invitation
I kicked the door shut with my heel, balancing grocery bags in both arms while fumbling with my keys. Another exhausting day at the temp agency, another night of microwaved dinner and reality TV. The familiar weight of routine settled on my shoulders as I dropped the bags onto the kitchen counter.
“Hazel, darling! There you are!”
I nearly jumped out of my skin. My mother’s voice came from the living room, where she definitely hadn’t been when I left this morning. I peeked around the corner to find both my parents seated on my modest sofa like royalty visiting a peasant’s hut.
“Mom? Dad? What are you doing here? How did you get in?” I asked, my heart still racing.
My father, Arthur Vance, straightened his already impeccable posture. “Your superintendent let us in. We’ve been waiting for almost an hour.”
Of course Mr. Jenkins would let them in. My parents had that effect on people—making them feel simultaneously honored and terrified.
“You could have called,” I said, trying to keep the irritation from my voice.
“We did, twice,” my mother, Serena, replied, smoothing invisible wrinkles from her designer skirt. “You didn’t answer.”
I glanced at my phone. Two missed calls. Great.
“What’s so urgent that you needed to ambush me at home?” I asked, noting how my father’s eye twitched at the word “ambush.”
My mother’s crimson-painted lips curved into what she probably thought was a warm smile. “We have wonderful news!”
She extended a cream-colored envelope toward me. Even from a distance, I recognized the elegant gold embossing. My stomach dropped.
“I don’t want it,” I said flatly.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Hazel,” my father chided. “Take the invitation.”
“I don’t need to read it to know what it is.” I crossed my arms. “Jessica and Ethan’s wedding invitation. The answer is no.”
My mother’s smile faltered. “Hazel Elizabeth Vance, this childish grudge has gone on long enough. Jessica is family.”
“And Ethan was my boyfriend for three years before I caught them together in MY bed!” The memory still burned, raw and humiliating.
“That was nearly a year ago,” my father dismissed with a wave of his hand. “People make mistakes.”
“A mistake?” I laughed bitterly. “Dad, they were engaged six weeks later.”
My mother stood, approaching me like I was a spooked horse. “Darling, sometimes love is complicated. Jessica and Ethan realized they were meant to be—”
“In my bed? While I was at work supporting him through law school?” The anger I’d suppressed for months surged through me. “And now you expect me to celebrate their ‘love’?”
“We expect you to be mature,” my father countered, his voice taking on that familiar authoritative tone that had intimidated me since childhood. “The Thornes and Vances have been family friends for generations. Your absence would cause an unnecessary scene.”
“So I’m supposed to smile and toast to their happiness? Watch them dance their first dance as husband and wife? All to keep up appearances?” My voice cracked.
My mother placed the invitation on the counter. “Yes, that’s exactly what you’ll do. Because you’re a Vance, and Vances handle difficult situations with grace and dignity.”
I felt tears threatening. “What about loyalty to your daughter? Does that matter at all?”
My father stood now, towering in my small apartment. “Enough dramatics. You’ll attend the wedding. You’ll be pleasant. And you’ll finally put this unpleasantness behind you. This discussion is over.”
I stared at them, these people who shared my blood but couldn’t understand my pain. “Get out.”
“Excuse me?” My mother’s eyes widened.
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