Astoria Bane

He proposed to her in July. He married her sister in August.

Duncan

I watched my father die at his desk and did not cross the room.

He left me a company I do not own. Four men on East 62nd Street hold it, and they have handed me a list of the women I may marry.

Diana Sidney is on it. Her sister is not.

I had not wanted anything in years. Then, on a dark terrace in April, I told the night I could not do another hour of this, and a girl I could not see said, “Then don’t.”

I have not had a quiet hour since.

I will keep my company. I will have Catherine Sidney. And I will ruin anyone who tries to stop me.

Catherine

A man has died, and my family is going to his funeral as if to a marketplace.

Every mother in New York looks at Duncan Ainsley and sees a husband. Mine sees one for Diana. My sister has always been chosen first.

He looks at me.

In public he courts my sister. In private he comes to me, and he will not tell me why he does both.

I should ask. I do not want the answer enough to make him stop.

In July he proposes in the rose garden at Thornfield, in front of everyone, and I believe I have won.

That night my sister comes to my door.

“How lovely for you, Catherine. I do hope you know what you’ve agreed to.”

Every fortune has an asking price. His was a list of names. Hers was not on it.

The dark, explicit prequel to The Wreckage Between Us. Ends on a cliffhanger.