Chapter 2

The front door opened softly.

I had not slept all night.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the address on Nathaniel’s backup phone and the pharmacy orders meant for a woman who was five months pregnant.

Then I saw the hotel reservation again in my mind: For our first night together.

But by the time he entered the penthouse, I had hidden every trace of what I knew.

“Isolde?” he called.

I walked out of the bedroom in my slippers.

Nathaniel stood in the foyer with a large bouquet of white roses in one hand and a dark blue velvet box in the other. He looked tired, but there was no trace of the fever he had described the night before.

He looked less like a man recovering from a cold than a husband arriving home with an apology carefully prepared.

“Why are you awake?” he asked.

Before I could answer, he crossed the room and pulled me into his arms.

The familiar scent of cedarwood cologne surrounded me. Beneath it lingered the faint sweetness of an unfamiliar jasmine perfume.

My stomach twisted.

“Feeling better?” I asked.

His arms tightened around me.

“My wife is too good to me.”

He kissed my forehead.

“Much better. I stayed away because I didn’t want you catching whatever I had.” He brushed his lips over my forehead. “I hated missing our anniversary.”

The lie came effortlessly.

I stepped out of his arms before my composure broke.

I set the roses on the kitchen island without smelling them.

Nathaniel followed me and placed the velvet box beside the flowers.

“This is for you.”

He opened the box himself.

Inside was a diamond eternity ring, brilliant stones circling the entire band.

For one dangerous second, I could only stare at it.

“Five years,” Nathaniel said softly. “I thought you deserved something that would last forever.”

He took my left hand and slid the ring onto my finger beside my wedding band.

“Happy birthday, my queen.”

The diamonds caught the morning light.

“It’s beautiful,” I said.

“I had it made months ago.” He smiled as if last night had been nothing more than bad timing. “Today belongs completely to you.”

For one dangerous moment, my heart remembered the man I thought I had married.

Then I remembered the medication orders.

The hotel.

The woman who was already five months pregnant.

And the ultrasound report hidden in my handbag.

“I love it,” I said.

Relief crossed his face. He believed my smile meant I suspected nothing.

I curled my fingers around the new ring and wondered how many lies could fit inside a promise meant to last forever.

His phone lit up on the island.

The sender’s name had been replaced by a single heart.

I caught only the preview:

The doctor said everything looks perfect. The baby kicked again after you left. I wish you’d stayed.

Nathaniel quickly turned the phone facedown.

My fingers closed around the edge of the counter.

Five months. Long enough for the baby to kick. Long enough for him to know exactly what he was doing.

He had not spent the night protecting me from a cold.

He had spent it with her.

“I need to stop by the company and sign one handover document,” he said smoothly. “It should only take half an hour.”

He put on his jacket and adjusted his cuffs.

“Wear your favorite black dress. I’ll pick you up at ten, and we’ll go to the restaurant where we had our first date.”

“Will it really be just the two of us this time?”

The question escaped before I could stop it.

Nathaniel paused.

Then he smiled and touched my cheek.

“Who else would there be?”

I looked into the eyes of the man who had lied to me for 1,488 days.

“No one,” I said. “I’ll be ready.”

He kissed my forehead again and left.

The moment the door closed, I slid the diamond ring from my finger and placed it carefully back inside the velvet box.

I would not destroy it.

I might need the purchase record later.

He had promised to return by ten.

I waited thirty seconds, picked up my handbag and car keys, then opened the location app.

The blue dot was not moving toward his office.

It was heading directly toward The Hawthorne Residences.

I slipped on my sunglasses and followed him.