Chapter 3

The announcement came over breakfast three days later, delivered with the same casual tone Richard used to discuss weekend plans.

"I need to fly to London next week," he said, not looking up from his phone as he scrolled through emails. "Client emergency. Should only be a week, maybe ten days at most."

I paused with my coffee cup halfway to my lips. "London? Which client?"

"The pharmaceutical merger I've been working on. You know how these international deals get—everything has to be handled in person." His thumb continued its methodical scrolling, each swipe punctuating his words. "I'll probably leave Sunday, be back the following weekend."

Something in his tone felt rehearsed, like he'd practiced this conversation in the mirror. But I kept my voice light, interested. "That's sudden. Will you have any time for sightseeing?"

"Doubt it. Wall-to-wall meetings." He finally looked up, offering that familiar smile that had once made my knees weak. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I know the timing isn't great with Leo's soccer tournament coming up."

"Don't worry about it," I said, returning his smile with one of my own. "We'll manage fine."

But as he went back to his phone, I found myself studying his profile, searching for tells I'd never bothered to look for before. The slight tension around his eyes. The way his jaw tightened when he thought I wasn't watching. The practiced ease of his lie.

Because it was a lie. I was certain of it now.

Sunday morning arrived gray and drizzling, the kind of weather that made Boston feel smaller, more claustrophobic. Richard moved through his packing routine with military precision, folding shirts and arranging toiletries with the same methodical care he brought to everything else.

I watched from the bedroom doorway, coffee mug in hand, playing the role of the supportive wife seeing her husband off on a business trip. "Do you need me to drive you to the airport?"

"No need. I'll take the BMW, leave it in long-term parking." He zipped his garment bag with a sharp, final sound. "Less hassle than coordinating pickup times."

I nodded, filing that information away. "Smart thinking."

He kissed me goodbye at the front door, his lips lingering on mine just long enough to feel genuine. "I'll call you when I land. Love you."

"Love you too. Safe travels."

I stood at the window, watching his BMW disappear down Beacon Street, then waited exactly ten minutes before moving into action.

Richard's study was off-limits to me—had been since we'd moved in together. "Client confidentiality," he'd always said, and I'd respected that boundary. But boundaries felt different now, less like respect and more like willful blindness.

His laptop was gone, of course, but his printer history was still accessible. I scrolled through recent documents, finding the usual legal briefs and contracts. Nothing about London. Nothing about pharmaceutical mergers. But buried in the print queue from three days ago—the same day he'd announced his trip—was a boarding pass confirmation.

Not to London.

To Hartford, Connecticut.

My hands shook as I stared at the screen. Hartford was a two-hour drive, not an international flight. Why would he print a boarding pass for Hartford but tell me he was flying to London?

I grabbed my phone and opened the Find My app, hoping against hope that Richard had forgotten to turn off location sharing. But his phone showed as offline, location services disabled. He'd thought of everything.

Almost everything.

The AirTag sat in my palm like a small white coin, innocent and unassuming. I'd bought it months ago after losing my keys at the grocery store, but never used it. Now it felt like salvation in electronic form.

Richard's BMW was parked in the long-term lot at Logan, exactly where he'd said it would be. I pulled up next to it in my Honda, heart hammering as I glanced around for security cameras. The lot was mostly empty on a Sunday morning, just a few scattered vehicles belonging to other travelers.

I slipped the AirTag into the wheel well of his BMW, the magnetic case holding it securely against the metal. It took less than thirty seconds, but my hands were slick with sweat by the time I climbed back into my car.

Now I could only wait.

The first ping came at 2:47 PM. Richard's car was moving—not toward the airport terminals, but out of the lot entirely. I watched the blue dot on my phone screen as it navigated through Boston traffic, then onto I-95 South.

Not toward any airport. Toward Connecticut.

I sat in my kitchen, Leo upstairs playing video games, tracking my husband's real journey while he sent me text updates about his fictional flight. "Boarding now. See you in a week." "Landed safely in London. Hotel is nice. Miss you already."

Each lie felt like a paper cut, small but accumulating into something that bled.

The BMW stopped moving at 6:23 PM in a residential area of West Hartford. I zoomed in on the satellite view, studying the neighborhood. Tree-lined streets. Colonial houses with well-manicured lawns. Upper-middle-class suburbia, the kind of place where families raised children and hosted barbecues.

Not the kind of place you'd find a business hotel or corporate offices.

I screenshot the location, my finger trembling as I saved the address: 47 Maple Grove Lane. Then I opened a new browser window and searched the address on the county assessor's website.

The property was owned by Sarah J. Mitchell. Single family residence. Purchased eighteen months ago.

Sarah. The name meant nothing to me, but it sat in my chest like a stone.

My phone buzzed with another text from Richard. "Long day of meetings ahead tomorrow. Probably won't be able to call much. Don't wait up for me tonight."

I stared at the message, then at the blue dot on my map that showed his car parked outside Sarah Mitchell's house in West Hartford. The same car that was supposed to be sitting in London airport parking.

The same husband who was supposed to be sleeping alone in a business hotel, missing his family.

Instead, he was spending the night with a woman I'd never heard of, in a house I'd never seen, living a life that had nothing to do with me or Leo or the perfect marriage we'd built together.

I set my phone down on the kitchen counter and stared out at the darkening sky. Somewhere in Connecticut, my husband was settling in for the evening with another woman, secure in the knowledge that his wife was home in Boston, trusting and oblivious.

But I wasn't oblivious anymore. And tomorrow, I was going to find out exactly who Sarah Mitchell was and why my husband was lying to me about where he spent his nights.