Chapter 2

The second the bathroom door closed, I leaned against the cold marble wall, panting as sweat gathered along the back of my neck.

I pulled Gavin's spare phone from my apron pocket.

After the fingerprint unlock failed, I entered the password from muscle memory—not my birthday, nor the birthdays of our children, but our ninth wedding anniversary.

The screen unlocked immediately.

The home screen looked ordinary, but the message notification led me to an encrypted application disguised as a calculator.

I entered the date of Gavin's company's first investment round.

A hidden folder opened.

It contained hundreds of photographs, videos, hotel reservations, and private messages.

The affair had lasted for an entire year.

There were photographs of Gavin and Tessa embracing in a luxury Manhattan hotel and kissing on a private beach in Miami.

In every image, he looked at her with an adoration he had not shown me in months.

Scrolling back through their messages, I found a voice recording dated three months earlier.

I pressed Play.

“Gavin, I'm ovulating around this time,” Tessa said in a sweet, breathy voice. “Elowen is useless—she can't even give you a third child. I'm going to give you a son who belongs to both of us.”

Gavin laughed softly.

“Sweetheart, I'll pretend to go on a business trip. This time, you'll definitely get pregnant. Being considerate toward Elowen is only an act for outsiders and my parents. You're the only woman in my heart.”

My fingers tightened around the edge of the sink.

Two months ago, because Gavin desperately wanted another child, I had endured hormone injections, severe nausea, and an agonizing medical procedure.

When the attempt failed, I cried in my hospital bed, convinced that I had disappointed my family.

Tessa had held my hand that day.

“Elowen, don't be sad,” she had whispered. “You already have two beautiful children. Even if you never have another baby, Gavin's love for you is the greatest blessing in the world.”

While she was pretending to share my pain, she had already been trying to conceive my husband's child.

That same afternoon, Gavin had left the hospital after less than thirty minutes, claiming that an urgent company meeting required his attention.

The financial records on his phone showed where he had really gone.

He had transferred fifty thousand dollars to Tessa as a “pregnancy support reward.”

I forwarded the photographs, hotel records, voice-message transcript, and transfer receipts to the wireless printer in Gavin's study. Then I deleted the printing history from his phone.

Before I could examine the next hidden folder, three soft knocks sounded against the bathroom door.

“Elowen?” Tessa called. “What are you doing in there?”

The handle moved slightly.

I locked Gavin's phone, slipped it into my apron pocket, and reached for the door.