Noah Caldwell pushed open the heavy oak door of his father’s sprawling lakeside mansion and stepped into the cool, marble-floored foyer. The scent of fresh white roses, expensive champagne, and faint traces of perfume still hung in the air, an obvious smell of celebration. Streamers and delicate floral arrangements decorated the grand staircase banister, remnants of a wedding he had deliberately avoided by staying two extra days at college. He dropped his duffel bag with a dull thud that echoed through the quiet house. “Welcome home, son,” a deep, familiar voice called from the living room. Richard Caldwell, fifty-eight, tanned from frequent golf trips, and still imposing in a tailored navy shirt, rose from the leather couch with a glass of whiskey in hand. But it wasn’t his father who made Noah’s pulse spike. It was her. Isabella stood beside Richard like something he had seen in his nightmares. Thirty-two years old, with long, glossy raven-black hair that cascaded in loo
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