Chapter 1
Everyone in Manhattan’s elite circles knew Aria Winters would do absolutely anything for Lucas Sinclair.
She’d taken bullets for him, spent thirty minutes in freezing river water to save his beloved, and even when doubled over with period cramps, she’d handle his messes with a poker face.
Everyone said Aria was obsessed with Lucas to the point of madness, that she’d never leave him. Not in this lifetime.
3ut in her fifth year as his personal assistant, Aria submitted her resignation.
IR stared at the letter for a full minute. “Aria, you’re seriously quitting?”
Yeah. I’ll be gone in a month.” Aria signed her name with steady hands and walked out without looking back.
nstead of heading home, she drove straight to Greenwood Cemetery.
The man on the headstone had gentle eyes and features strikingly similar to Lucas–but softer, warmer.
ria’s fingertips trembled as she traced the photo. “Adrian.”
drian Sinclair. Lucas’s older brother.
Iso the man she’d actually loved.
ive years ago, during the happiest time of their lives, Adrian died in a car crash trying to protect her.
lis body had been broken, blood seeping from countless wounds, but he’d used his last breath to whisper: “Aria, on’t cry… I need to ask you something.”
My brother… he’s cold, doesn’t know how to take care of himself… could you watch over him for me? Just… five ears, okay?”
ria knew Adrian wasn’t really asking her to babysit Lucas. He was terrified she wouldn’t survive losing him, so e’d given her a reason to live–hoping she’d find new purpose in those five years.
he’d kept her promise. Became Lucas’s right hand, took every hit meant for him, cleaned up every disaster in his rake.
ut five years were up, and nothing had changed in her heart.
he was still ready to join Adrian.
Adrian,” she whispered to the headstone, “without you, this world feels too empty. Just wait a little longer… I’ll be here soon.”
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My Husband’s Guide to Losing a Perfectly Good Wife in Five Easy Steps
Chapter 1
Her phone buzzed, shattering the moment. Lucas’s best friend Jake, voice tight with panic: “Aria! Get to Speedway Track now! Lucas has lost his fucking mind–he’s about to race for Madison’s stupid test, and he’s gonna get himself
killed!”
Aria’s blood turned to ice. She sprinted for her car.
Madison Cross. The girl Lucas had been chasing for two solid years.
Madison claimed she Lucas’s devotion and demanded he complete a hundred tasks before she would accept his courtship. But most of the things she asked for were both dangerous and utterly ridiculous. Skydiving, deep–sea diving, even boxing with professional fighters…
When Aria reached the track, Lucas was stripping off his suit jacket, preparing to slip into racing gear.
His friends surrounded him, desperate.
“Lucas, are you insane? You just healed from breaking your leg skydiving for Madison last month, and now you want to play chicken with death again?”
‘Dude, you’re Manhattan royalty. Half the socialites beauty in the city are lined up for you, and you’re obsessing over this one girl?”
‘Hell, even Aria’s better than her. She’s been bleeding for you for years, and you can’t see what’s right in front of
you?”
Lucas froze mid–motion, something dark flickering in his eyes.
He looked up, meeting Aria’s pale face across the crowd.
‘I don’t like desperate women,” he said, voice low and cutting. “Especially the pathetic, clingy type.”
Aria stood there feeling like someone had reached into her chest and twisted her heart into knots.
But she walked over anyway, snatched the racing suit from his hands, and started putting it on herself.
Lucas’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you doing?”
Aria kept her gaze down, long lashes casting shadows on her cheeks. “You can’t get hurt. I’ll do it.”
His friends immediately jumped in: “Lucas, let Aria race! If something happens to you, how can you be with
Madison?”
Just as Lucas started to protest, Aria was already sliding into the driver’s seat.
His pupils contracted. He lunged forward to stop her, but only grasping at empty air.
“Aria!” His voice cracked like a whip, carrying absolute authority.
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My Husband’s Guide to Losing a Perfectly Good Wife in Five Easy Steps
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Chapter 1
But she just nodded at him through the window, her expression calm as if this were another routine task.
The engine roared to life, and the car shot forward like a bullet.
Lucas stood frozen as his suit jacket whipped around him in the wind.
He watched her car hurtle around the track, taking turns that scraped sparks off the barriers, and felt something
cold settle in his stomach.
This woman would literally die to keep him safe.
On the track, Aria’s car skimmed the guardrails repeatedly, metal grinding against metal in showers of sparks that it up the night.
The crowd gasped and screamed, but she always maintained breakneck speed throughout.
When she finally crossed the finish line, the crash was deafening-
Her front end crumpled like an accordion, airbags deploying with violent pops.
Aria shoved the door open, blood trickling from her temple down her ashen cheek.
he stumbled toward Lucas, pressing the winner’s medal into his hands.
I… won…”
Then she collapsed like a broken marionette.
ucas caught her instinctively, shocked by how light she felt–like she might dissolve in his arms.
le stared down at her unconscious face, something unfamiliar and urgent clawing at his chest.
Aria!” Her name tore from his throat, laced with tension he didn’t recognize.
Before the darkness claimed her, Aria’s lips curved into the faintest smile.
She loved hearing him say her name. It sounded exactly like the man in her memory.
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