Chapter 2
Harrison let himself in at 7:13 the next morning.
I was sitting in the kitchen already. Sleep had never come.
Every time I tried to rest, I saw Sabrina leaning into him beneath the restaurant lights.
And Harrison smiling back as if he belonged there.
By the time the front door opened, I had washed every trace of crying from my face.
He could not know what I had seen. Not yet.
“Baby?”
He walked in with a small gift bag in his hand.
He smiled as he came closer. “I wanted to make last night up to you.”
For one humiliating second, habit almost softened me.
Five years with someone can train your heart to react before your mind catches up.
You can know a man lied to your face and still remember the years when you believed every word.
He handed me the bag.
“I know yesterday wasn’t how we planned it. I wanted to make it up to you.”
“Open it.”
I did.
Then I stopped breathing. Inside was a diamond necklace. The same one.
It was identical to the necklace Sabrina had been wearing across the restaurant less than twelve hours earlier.
My grip tightened around the box.
Harrison didn't notice.
Or maybe he simply didn't care.
“I saw it and immediately thought of you,” he said.
I studied him. “Really?”
“Of course.”
He leaned down and kissed my forehead.
The same kiss. The same voice. The same man who had been sitting across from another woman last night.
I made myself smile.
“Thank you.”
His shoulders relaxed.
“I knew you'd understand.”
Understand. A laugh nearly escaped me.
Instead, I put the necklace back into the box.
“You must be tired. Go shower.”
He smiled and disappeared into the bathroom. A minute later, I heard the water running.
I stood there for a long time. Then I walked into the bedroom. His phone was on the nightstand. Unlocked.
For five years, Harrison had never worried about me looking through it. He thought trust meant privacy. I used to think so too.
I opened his banking app, intending to confirm only one thing: what he had paid for last night.
The first thing I found was the necklace, purchased three months earlier.
Delivery recipient: Sabrina Parker.
I kept my eyes on the name. Then I kept scrolling.
Hotels. Private dinners. Weekend resorts. Jewelry. Flowers. Dozens of charges I had never seen.
Things I'd once asked him for. Things he'd told me we couldn't afford.
Then came a lease for a luxury apartment, also under Sabrina Parker’s name.
Signed four months ago.
I sat down on the edge of the bed. That was the week Harrison first started coming home late. The week I had started making excuses for him.
He's under pressure. His company needs him.
Marriage means giving each other space.
I had spent four months protecting a man who didn't need my protection.
Then I found the first hotel reservation. My finger stopped.
The date on the earliest hotel booking stopped me cold: exactly 122 days ago.
I kept my eyes on it until the numbers blurred.
For 122 days, I had been protecting what I thought was my marriage.
For those same 122 days, Harrison had been maintaining another life behind my back.
The shower stopped.
I quickly saved every receipt, reservation, and document I could find.
Then I put his phone back exactly where I'd found it.
When Harrison walked out, I was sitting on the bed.
Calm.
“Feeling better?” I asked.
He smiled. “Much.”
I returned the smile. “Good.”
He was completely unaware.
And for once since last night, I felt something other than heartbreak.
Not anger. Not revenge.
Control.
After he left for work, I lifted my laptop open. The divorce lawyer's email was still there.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Then I typed: Please help me draft a divorce agreement.
I looked at the sentence for a long time.
Then I pressed Send.