tanding in my kitchen with my husband's phone between my fingers, I discovered that real fear could make a person frighte

d the remaining stairs, his expression hardening wh

. Adrian had helped arrange the burial, handled the paperwork, and promised that he would take care of everything m

ised by how steady my voice sounded

hing his eyes move across the screen. For one brief moment, the color dr

ad anything

suppo

"That's not what

, but I didn't open your messages. Since when d

e husband who had brought me roses an hour earlier. He softened his expressio

s, and I can't afford information getting into the wrong hands." He kissed my

meone they claimed to love. When he finally released me, I told him I was tired and want

on looked pale beneath the bright lights, and I gripped the sink to steady myself. I wanted to cal

made me la

e kissed me goodbye and reminded me that his lawyer would be bringing some documents home the following evenin

nces, I would have sig

led and promised

per announced that Vanessa had arrived. Before I could object, my best friend swept into

bags onto the sofa. "You sounded terrible yesterday, so

louse, and the diamond bracelet I'd given her for her thirtieth birthday. Everything about her was

to come," I sai

ck on you?" She opened a container of pastries and pushed it tow

ed. "When did Adri

now how he is. He worries about you, and sometimes he

ending to eat it. "That's sweet

or her coffee, avoiding my eyes. "

ounger, especially when we sneaked out of our hostel after curfew. Back then, I consi

I ask you some

You know you can

t at the lingerie boutique

her coffee even though she hadn't added any sugar.

've been unusually secretive about him.

e like it. He's involved with someone else,

cross from me, discussing her affair with my husband a

asked. "Knowing another woman

relationships end long before people admit it, Isabella. Mayb

st. "And you think that makes it acceptab

she could respond, her phone began ringing. She gl

ograph that briefly i

as A

ar down the hallway, then noticed that she'd left one shopping bag open beside the sof

ened

e one my father had given me before he died. I had searched for

ay a folded receipt da

's name was A

note attached to the receip

bella is out of the way, everythin

g at the words whe

y box. The smile vanished from her face, and for the first time

something that made

t Adrian know you've seen that neckl