Praise Patrick의 작품

ARIA'S POVI drove to Jordan's house on autopilot. Didn't remember getting on the highway. Didn't remember taking the exit. Just suddenly I was there, parked crooked in her driveway, and the sobs were coming so hard I couldn't catch my breath.The porch light came on. Jordan appeared in the doorway in pajamas. Took one look at me and ran.She opened my car door. "Come on. Come inside."I couldn't move. Couldn't make my legs work."Aria. Look at me." She crouched down. Put her hands on my face. "Breathe. Just breathe.""He has a baby," I managed. "She's seven months pregnant.""Okay. Okay." Jordan unbuckled my seatbelt. Helped me stand. Kept an arm around me as we walked to the house. "We've got you."Her spouse, Ryan, was in the living room. Saw my face and immediately grabbed car keys. "I'll take the twins to the park. Give you space."The twins. Maya and Zoe. Three years old. I'd held them when they were hours old. Had watched Jordan build the life I'd thought I was building with Fl

ARIA'S POVRebecca had texted me the address. A small apartment building in Sellwood. Unit 2B.I sat in my car across the street for twenty minutes. Hands on the steering wheel. Engine off. The sun had set but the sky still held some light, that blue-grey color that meant night was coming.Seven months pregnant.I kept saying it in my head. Trying to make it real. Seven months meant he'd been with her while we were planning our fourth anniversary trip. While we'd had dinner with Jordan and her family. While he'd told me he loved me every single morning.The building was old but maintained. Brown siding. Small patios with dead plants. A bike rack with two bikes chained to it. Not the kind of place Flynn would normally notice. Not the kind of place that matched our house with its hardwood floors and granite counters.But he'd found it. Had been here. Multiple times, probably, if he was paying her rent.I made myself get out of the car. My legs felt wrong. Too heavy and too light at the

ARIA'S POV I found Flynn on the couch at six in the morning. Still in yesterday's suit, shoes on, one arm thrown over his face.I'd heard him come downstairs around two. The creak of the stairs. The soft click of the guest bathroom door. Then nothing. I'd lain in bed staring at the ceiling, counting my breaths, waiting for him to come up and try again to explain.He never did.Now morning light came through the living room windows. His briefcase sat by the door where he'd dropped it. His tie was on the coffee table, coiled like a snake.I went to the kitchen. Made coffee. The machine hissed and dripped. Normal sounds. Normal morning. Except nothing was normal.He appeared in the doorway as I poured my second cup. His hair stuck up on one side. His collar was wrinkled."Aria."I didn't look at him. Just added cream, watched it swirl brown to tan."Can we talk?""No.""Please. I just need—""I said no."I walked past him. Grabbed my purse and keys. My hand shook putting the keys in the

FLYNN'S POVThe conference call ended at 6:15. I should have left then.Instead, I sat at my desk staring at my phone. Sienna had texted an hour ago. *Baby's kicking like crazy. Doctor says everything looks good. Thank you for everything.*I'd read it three times. Each time, the weight in my chest got heavier.My office was on the twentieth floor. Floor-to-ceiling windows showed the city lights coming on as the sky went purple. I'd spent ten years building Thornfield Investments from nothing. The view was supposed to mean something. Success. Achievement. Proof I wasn't my father.The photo on my desk caught the last of the daylight. Aria laughing, head thrown back, at our wedding. I'd caught her mid-laugh at something Jordan had said. She looked so happy. So sure of me.I picked up my phone again. Typed out *I'll stop by tomorrow* to Sienna. Deleted it. Typed *Let me know if you need anything*. Deleted that too. Finally just sent a thumbs up. Coward's response.Tell Aria tonight. I'd

ARIA’S POVI found the lie between the electric bill and the mortgage statement.It was Monday night, almost nine, and I was doing what I did every first Monday of the month: paying bills at the desk in our home office. Flynn usually handled the finances, but household stuff was mine. Electric, water, internet. The boring, mundane things that kept our life running.I'd grabbed his business credit card by mistake. It was in the drawer where I kept our joint account checkbook. Simple error. I wouldn't have thought twice about it except the charge caught my eye.*Recurring payment: $5,000.00 to S. Thornfield.*My fingers stopped on the keyboard. Thornfield was Flynn's last name. My last name now, too. But I didn't know any S. Thornfield.I pulled up the full statement. Scrolled back. There it was again. Same charge, same amount. I went back further. February. January. December.My chest tightened.I opened the filing cabinet and pulled out the folder with the last year's statements. My