Novels by Demmy Lilly

"Come alone," Karthy had said. "Or this gets messy for everyone." Lina came alone. The bar was in Midtown. Dim lighting. Jazz low in the background. The kind of place where people came to say things they could not say anywhere else. She spotted her immediately. She was already watching the door. Karthy was not what she expected. Late thirties. Sharp suit. The kind of face that was Pretty in a calculated way, like she had practiced it. She stood when she approached. Pulled out the chair across from her. "Ms. Vasquez." Smooth. Like warm oil. "Thank you for coming." "You didn't give me a choice," she said. She sat. She did not take off her coat. "There's always a choice." "Start talking." She smiled. Ordered two drinks without asking her. She let it go. "How much do you know about the night before your wedding?" she said. "Enough." "Do you know that Marcos had been planning it for weeks?" She went still. "What did you just say?"Karthy leaned forward. Her voice dropped. "M

"You look different," Freddie said.It was Thursday. Nine o'clock. She was on time.They were standing by the floor-to-ceiling window of his office before the rest of the team arrived. She had made the mistake of accepting coffee from his assistant, which had turned into standing here, close enough to smell his aftershave.Bad decision. She was full of bad decisions lately."Different how?" she said.He looked at her for a moment. Then looked away. "Never mind.""No. Different how, Freddie.""You look tired."She almost laughed. "Thank you.""I didn't say it as an insult.""I know."Silence. The city moved below them. Tiny cars. Tiny people with tiny uncomplicated lives."Are you sleeping?" he asked."I sleep fine.""You have circles under your eyes.""Freddie." She turned to face him. "This isn't appropriate. You're the client.""You're right." He stepped back. Put professional distance between them like a wall. "The team's arriving. Shall we?"The morning passed in controlled tensio

"Absolutely not," Lina said."The contract is already signed." Her boss, Dana, pushed the folder across the desk without looking up. "It's a six-week consulting project. You're the best I have for restructuring work. It's not a conversation.""Dana. Who is the client?"Dana looked up then. And the expression on her face was the very specific expression of someone who is aware they are delivering bad news."Caldwell Holdings."Lina's hand was on the folder.She did not pick it up."No," she said."Lina—""Caldwell Holdings is Freddie Caldwell's company.""I'm aware.""The man I left at the altar nine weeks ago.""Also aware.""You want me to walk into that building.""I want you to do your job," Dana said. "He requested our firm specifically. He requested you specifically."That landed differently."He requested me.""By name."Lina picked up the folder. Opened it. His company letterhead. His signature at the bottom of the contract page. Clean, sharp, the way he did everything.She tho

"Put it down," Priya said. "Stop looking at it. It's not going to change."Lina was still holding the test."Lina." Priya took it out of her hand and set it on the bathroom counter face-down. "Look at me."She looked."Tell me it's Freddie's," Priya said.Lina said nothing."Oh God." Priya sat down on the edge of the tub. "Tell me you didn't.""I don't know what I did." Lina pressed her hands flat on the counter. "I don't remember most of that night. I just woke up and he was—" She stopped. "I woke up and it was Marcos.""Marcos." Priya repeated his name like it was something she had found on the bottom of her shoe. "Freddie's Marcos.""The same."Priya stood up. Sat back down. Stood up again. "Does he know?""No.""Are you going to tell him?""I don't know.""Are you going to tell Freddie?""Absolutely not.""Lina.""What do you want me to say, Priya? What is the right answer here? I left Freddie at the altar and then I possibly slept with his best friend and now I'm—" She turned aro

"You're going to marry him, and it's going to be perfect," her best friend Priya said. "So stop looking at me like the ceiling is about to fall."Lina was looking at the ceiling.The champagne glass in her hand was nearly empty. The hotel suite was full of flowers and satin and the low thrum of a playlist she had let Priya build because making decisions felt impossible lately."The ceiling is not going to fall," Priya said again."He asked me last night if I was happy." Lina sat up. "Just like that. Out of nowhere. Are you happy, Lina? Like he already knew the answer.""What did you say?""I said yes.""Were you lying?"Silence.Priya refilled her glass. "Okay. You're just having cold feet. Every bride gets cold feet. It doesn't mean anything.""He loves me too much," Lina said. "Is that a thing? Is that a real thing that can be a problem?""Lina.""He watches me like I'm the only person in the room. Every room. Always. And I don't know how to be that for someone.""You love him.""I

"Do not do this to me, Lina."Freddie's voice was low. Controlled. But his hands were shaking.She could see them from where she stood. Right there at the altar, three feet away, with two hundred people watching and a priest who had gone very still.Lina looked at those hands. Then she looked at his face.Big mistake.His eyes were burning. Not with anger. With something worse.Hope.He still thought she was going to say yes."Freddie." Her voice came out steadier than she felt. "I can't do this."The church went silent. Not quiet. Silent. The kind that presses against your ears."What?" He breathed it. One word. Like she'd punched it out of him."I'm sorry." She said it to his face, not to the floor. She owed him that much. "We're not meant to be."Someone in the pews gasped. His mother. Lina recognized the sound.Freddie didn't move. He just stood there in his perfect black suit, with the white rose boutonniere she had picked out herself, and he stared at her like she was speaking a