Chapter 2

Gabriel closed the dining room door behind him.

"You don't mean that," Owen said.

"You asked a question."

No one at the table moved. Gabriel stayed near the door instead of coming to rescue me. The distance mattered. It left the next move mine.

Owen lowered his voice. "This is a marriage conversation."

"Then stop holding it in front of an audience."

I looked at the people around the table. None of them had warned me. A few stared at their plates. Others watched with the hungry stillness people mistook for concern.

I opened the folder again.

"Where do I sign?"

Owen blinked. "You want to do this now?"

"You printed three copies."

Tessa looked down at the folder in front of her.

The final page listed mutual boundaries: no coworkers, no close friends, no one in the marital home, no public displays, no emotional relationships and no members of either family.

I picked up Owen's pen.

"Mara," Gabriel said.

I met his eyes. "Don't."

He stopped.

I drew one line through the final two words: or family.

Tessa saw me do it. Her lips parted, but she said nothing.

I initialed the change and turned the page toward Owen.

"You first."

He barely glanced down. His attention remained on Gabriel, as if the signature were less important than proving his brother had no power in the room.

"This doesn't give him permission to interfere in our marriage," Owen said.

"It gives both of us the same freedom. Isn't that what you wanted?"

He signed.

Tessa signed as a witness. Gabriel did not move.

I added my name last.

The ring on my finger suddenly felt too tight. I twisted it free and dropped it into Owen's champagne.

It struck the glass with a clean, bright sound.

Every face turned toward it. The ring settled at the bottom beside a stream of bubbles, absurdly beautiful in the wine. Owen reached for the glass, then stopped when he realized retrieving it would make him look desperate. Even then, appearances mattered more to him than the marriage represented by that diamond.

"You're being dramatic," he said.

"You invited an audience."

I stood. My legs held this time.

Gabriel lifted my coat from the back of an empty chair. He held it open but did not put it around me. I stepped into it because I chose to.

Owen rose. "If you walk out with him, everyone will know what you're doing."

"Everyone already knows what you did."

"We can fix this at home."

Home. The word nearly stopped me.

I had painted the kitchen twice. Chosen the sheets. Turned his mother's birthdays and his clients' dietary restrictions into reminders that arrived before anyone could be disappointed.

Then I remembered the schedule in the folder.

They had already turned my home into my next assignment.

Gabriel opened the door.

I put my hand in his.

"You wanted an open marriage," I told Owen.

Then I stepped into the hallway.

"I'm opening it."