Chapter 1

"Claire, don't wait up for me tonight. I have to meet an important client."

Daniel hung up immediately after saying that, without giving me a chance to reply.

I held my phone, standing by the dining table covered in a white tablecloth.

On the cake, a number was written in chocolate at the corner—18.

My phone lit up again.

I thought Daniel had remembered, so I quickly tapped it, only to find it was a message from our daughter, Sophie.

"Mom, aren't you and Dad celebrating your anniversary tonight?"

Looking at those words, my throat felt like it was blocked by something.

"He has work to do at the last minute."

As soon as I sent it, Sophie replied, "Really?"

Right after that, a photo was sent over.

In the picture, Daniel stood on a hotel balcony, his suit jacket draped over his arm, smiling easily and pleasantly.

A young woman clung closely to his side, her palm intimately placed on his chest.

That was Madison.

The junior employee Daniel talked about, and also tonight's "important client."

Even more piercing was the necklace around Madison's neck.

A month ago, I had stared at it for a few seconds in front of a jewelry store window.

Daniel had hugged me from behind at the time and said with a smile, "Maybe there'll be a surprise on our eighteenth anniversary."

It turned out there really was a surprise, just not for me.

My phone rang again, and Daniel's name appeared on the screen.

I answered without saying a word.

"Did Sophie send you something?" His tone carried obvious impatience.

I looked at the cake on the table. "Do you remember what today is?"

There was a silence of two seconds on the other end of the line.

"Of course I remember. But a client came over out of nowhere—what was I supposed to do?"

"Does your client put her hand on your chest?"

"Claire." His voice deepened. "Don't start jumping to conclusions over a single photo. Madison had a bit to drink, she was just leaning in for a picture."

"What about the necklace?"

There was another pause, longer this time.

Daniel sighed, as if I were the unreasonable one.

"The company just secured a major project recently, and she put in a lot of work.I just gave her a reward."

My fingers tightened bit by bit.

"You gave her the anniversary gift you promised me?"

"When did I promise you?" Daniel asked back. "I just said it in passing, you don't need to remember every single sentence so clearly."

I looked at everything I had meticulously prepared before me.

Daniel’s favorite steak and red wine, along with the cake I spent three hours making.

"Then when are you coming back?" I asked.

Daniel's tone softened slightly. "It'll be very late.Go to sleep first, I'll make it up to you tomorrow."

"Okay."

I hung up, picked up the wine glass, and slowly poured the red wine into the sink.

I blew out the candles, bagged the steak into a trash container, and finally looked at the cake.

The phone buzzed again, this time with a message from an unknown number.

"That photo wasn't an accident. They’ve been together for eleven months."

Below it was another photo.

In a hotel elevator, Daniel was leaning down, kissing Madison.

His hand was wrapped around her waist, and on Madison's left ring finger was a diamond ring I had never seen before.

I stared at the photo, and the pain in my chest actually quieted down bit by bit.

Eleven months.

He had lied to me for eleven months, yet I hadn't noticed a thing.

I pulled off my wedding ring and set it next to the cake.

Then, I dialed Daniel's number.

"What is it now?" he asked in a lowered voice.

I heard Madison giggling beside him.

"Nothing. I just wanted to tell you that you don't need to come back tonight."