Chapter 2

The midnight glow of my phone illuminated my face as I scrolled through our shared calendar app. Three weeks of Nathan's 'late meetings' highlighted in blue. I'd started tracking them after that Saturday when he'd snapped at me about his phone.

Each entry stood like an accusation against the darkness of our bedroom.

Behind me, Nathan slept—or pretended to.

His breathing wasn't quite deep enough for true sleep, a rhythm I'd learned over five years of marriage. The distance between us in our king-sized bed might as well have been miles.

I placed my phone face-down on the nightstand and stared at the ceiling.

The pattern was clear now: Tuesday and Thursday 'overtime' that extended well past eight, sometimes nearly midnight. Nathan, who used to text if he'd be even fifteen minutes late. Nathan, whose department had never required such hours before.

'Just collecting data,' I whispered to myself, borrowing the clinical phrase from the detective show we used to watch together on Sunday nights. Before the late nights. Before the phone guarding. Before the wall between us grew so high I could barely see over it.

The next morning, I watched him pack his overnight bag for what he called a business conference in Chicago. Three days away. Three days that felt like both a relief and a torture.

'Do you need your navy suit?' I asked, leaning against the doorframe of our bedroom, arms crossed. 'The one you wore to the Miller account presentation?'

Nathan barely glanced up, stuffing a pair of jeans into his bag. 'No, it's casual. Team-building stuff mostly.'

I frowned. 'I thought it was a conference.'

His hands paused for just a fraction of a second. 'Conference with team-building activities. Johnson's big on that stuff lately.'

I nodded, filing away another inconsistency. Nathan hated team-building exercises. He'd spent an entire dinner last year mocking his company's attempt at trust falls and personality assessments.

'Which hotel are you staying at?' I asked, keeping my voice light.

'The Marquis,' he said quickly. Too quickly. 'Downtown.'

'Who else is going?' I pressed, moving into the room to hand him his toiletry bag. Our fingers brushed, and he withdrew his hand as if burned.

'The usual suspects,' he said vaguely. 'Johnson, Melissa from accounting, the regional team.'

I nodded again, though the knot in my stomach tightened. Nathan had always been specific about these things before—complaining about Mark's snoring or Debra's obsession with room service breakfasts. Now everything was vague outlines, shadows where there used to be substance.

I watched him zip the bag with finality, noticing how little he'd packed for three days. One pair of dress pants. Two button-downs. The casual attire seemed odd for any professional gathering, even one with 'team-building.'

When he kissed me goodbye, his lips barely grazed my cheek. 'I'll call you tonight from the hotel,' he said, already halfway out the door.

That promise echoed in my mind as I sat at our kitchen table two hours later, staring at our landline phone. My cellphone lay beside it, open to Nathan's office contact information. The house felt too quiet, amplifying the sound of my heartbeat in my ears.

Before I could second-guess myself, I dialed the number.

'Harper Technical Solutions, this is David.'

I recognized David Chen's voice immediately—Nathan's colleague who'd come to our holiday party last year.

'David, hi. It's Emily Harper, Nathan's wife.'

'Emily! Hey, how are you?' His tone was friendly, normal. I clung to that normalcy like a lifeline.

'I'm fine, thanks. I was actually trying to reach Nathan. His cell seems to be off.'

A pause. Too long. 'Nathan? He's not in today. Took some personal days, I think.'

The floor seemed to shift beneath me. 'Personal days? Not... not at a conference in Chicago?'

Another pause, longer this time. 'No conference that I know of. Johnson's been in meetings all week about the Westlake project. Is everything okay?'

My throat closed around any possible response. I managed a strangled, 'Yes, just a misunderstanding. Thanks, David,' before hanging up.

I stared at the silent phone, the truth I'd been avoiding finally taking solid form. There was no conference. No team-building. No Chicago.

Just lies. And the question that burned like acid in my mind: Where was my husband really going for three days? And with whom?