Chapter 3

Evelyn knew a secret I had told Owen less than twenty-four hours earlier.

The next morning, he stood on Naomi’s doorstep and explained why that still didn’t count as betrayal.

Naomi looked at me.

I told her to go to work, then stepped onto the porch and pulled the door shut behind me.

Owen asked if I had slept. Then he described Evelyn’s message as a “clumsy apology.”

“She knew about my mother.”

“I mentioned it last night.”

“After she shared my voice message in front of everyone?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I needed her to understand how serious this had become.”

His solution to exposing one secret had been to give her another.

Owen said he wanted to fix things.

I stopped arguing with him about whether this qualified as an affair and gave him three conditions.

“First, you never forward another message from me.”

He nodded.

“Second, you tell Evelyn to delete every recording she already has. You do it in front of me.”

“All right.”

“Third, for the next thirty days, you can speak to Clara, but you don’t discuss our marriage with Evelyn in private. And we start marriage counseling.”

“The first two are fine,” he said.

“And the third?”

“You don’t get to decide who I’m allowed to speak to.”

“I’m deciding who doesn’t get to participate in our marriage.”

Owen’s jaw tightened. “They gave me a home when I was seventeen and had nowhere to go. I’m not going to treat Evelyn like a stranger because you don’t like her.”

“So you’re refusing the third condition?”

“I’m refusing an ultimatum.”

My phone vibrated in my hand.

Evelyn had posted a transcript in the family group chat. She had titled it: What Grace Really Asked Owen to Do.

It was only a few lines.

I’m done with them. You need to walk away from them. As long as Evelyn is in our lives, we can’t have a real marriage.

Clara called immediately.

“Grace, I’ve always treated you like a daughter.” Her voice shook. “How can you ask him to abandon the family that saved him?”

“That isn’t the complete message.”

“Evelyn wouldn’t make up something like this.”

She ended the call.

Owen reached for my phone. “Let me handle it.”

I stepped away and opened my original recording.

Two minutes and fourteen seconds.

The version in the group chat was only two minutes and three seconds.

I enlarged both waveforms and compared them.

A section was missing from the middle.

Eleven full seconds.

Owen stared at the screen. For once, he didn’t immediately defend her.

“Tomorrow at six,” I said. “The community room. You and Evelyn will both be there.”

“What are you planning to do?”

I backed up the original recording to my email.

“Let both of you hear what she cut out.”