Chapter 1
Another woman could walk freely into my home.
I was Ethan's wife, yet I didn't even have my own resident profile.
I stood at the front desk of our apartment building, watching the receptionist check our lease for the third time.
"My name is on the lease,"
I said.
"Yes, Mrs. Bennett."
"That's not the problem."
She turned her monitor slightly toward me.
"Your physical key card is linked to your husband's primary account."
"But you don't have an independent Resident Profile."
I looked down at my phone.
PROFILE NOT FOUND.
I'd used the same key card for four years without giving it a second thought.
The building had recently switched to a new resident system. I'd assumed the trouble with the app was just a migration issue.
"Can you create a profile for me now?"
"Of course."
"I just need to verify a few details."
She opened the resident list for Unit 1702.
Ethan's name appeared first.
Then I saw another.
SOPHIE REED
AUTHORIZED RESIDENT
UNIT 1702
I leaned closer.
"Why is Sophie still listed?"
The receptionist opened her profile.
"Her resident access is still active."
"She moved out months ago."
The woman paused.
"I'm sorry."
"I can only tell you what the system shows."
Before I could ask anything else, I heard suitcase wheels clicking across the lobby floor.
I turned.
Sophie Reed had just come through the glass doors.
She wore a black business suit, a laptop bag over one shoulder, and pulled a small overnight suitcase behind her.
At first, she didn't notice me.
She walked straight past the front desk and held up her phone to the resident gate.
Beep.
The gate opened.
At almost the same moment, the monitor in front of me refreshed.
AUTHORIZED RESIDENT.
She had just entered my building using her own resident credentials.
Meanwhile, I was still standing beside the receptionist, trying to prove I lived there.
"Sophie."
She stopped.
When she turned and saw me, her expression changed.
"Claire?"
"Why do you still have resident access to 1702?"
She glanced at the front desk.
Then at my phone.
"I have an early client call tomorrow."
"What does that have to do with your access?"
"We've still got prep to finish tonight."
"The call starts at seven tomorrow morning."
She adjusted the strap of her laptop bag.
"You know what those early calls are like."
I did.
Sophie was an Account Director at our company. Over the past few months, she'd been accompanying Ethan to more and more client meetings.
A while back, repairs at her apartment had forced her to stay in our guest room temporarily.
Even after she moved out, there had been occasional nights when work ran late and she had an early client call the next morning.
I'd always assumed she used temporary Guest Access.
I had no idea she was still an Authorized Resident of 1702.
"You're planning to sleep in our guest room tonight?"
She hesitated.
"That was the plan."
"Whose plan?"
Her fingers tightened around her suitcase handle.
"We've got a lot to finish before tomorrow morning."
"That's not what I asked."
The receptionist lowered her eyes to her keyboard.
Sophie dropped her voice.
"Claire, can we please not do this in the lobby?"
"Then answer me."
For a moment, neither of us moved.
It was our fourth wedding anniversary.
Six hours earlier, I'd found out I was pregnant.
Ethan and I had been trying for eight months. I'd planned to tell him tonight, at the restaurant where we'd had our first date, by giving him a little white gift box with the positive pregnancy test inside.
But at five that afternoon, he'd called to say something had come up with a client.
He promised he'd make it up to me.
I'd told him it was fine.
Now the little box, tied with a gold ribbon, was still in my bag.
And Sophie was standing in front of me with an overnight suitcase, ready to enter our home.
I turned back to the receptionist.
"Is she using temporary Guest Access?"
The woman checked the screen again.
"No."
"She has a full Authorized Resident profile."
I looked at Sophie.
"You've been using that access ever since you moved out?"
She didn't answer.
"Does Ethan know you're coming tonight?"
"Yes."
"Does he know you still have full resident access?"
Her eyes shifted toward the elevators.
I waited.
After a moment, she looked back at me.
"I thought Ethan told you."