Chapter 4

Back in the cramped basement apartment, Selene started packing. For three years she'd lived here with Jonathan, smiling like an idiot every single day.

In a box under the bed she kept everything Jonathan had ever given her. A moissanite ring, a knockoff designer necklace, ninety-nine love letters he'd handwritten, one page at a time. She used to treat that pile of garbage like treasure.

Now, picturing Vivienne in real diamonds and silk, in that mansion, Selene ripped every letter to pieces and set the pieces on fire in the kitchen sink.

“I loved you with my whole life, Jonathan, and you played me like I was nothing. You're not getting away with this.”

Jonathan came home late. He smelled faintly of grape. Selene had a bottle of that exact perfume. He'd told her it was a limited edition, that it cost him two months of pay. She'd only ever used it on special occasions.

So he'd bought one for Vivienne too. Except, the version on Vivienne was cleaner, lighter, with a floral note. That was the real one. Selene's was the knockoff. Something in her chest cracked open.

"Selene." Jonathan pulled her into his arms. His mouth pressed hot against her neck. His hand slid under the hem of her skirt.

Selene wanted to vomit. She turned her face away and pushed her palm against his chest.

"I'm still recovering. From the miscarriage."

He let go immediately, like he'd just remembered. "Right. Of course. We'll wait."

He gave her a fake-stern look. "But when you're better, I'm in trouble."

Selene bolted to the bathroom and dry-heaved over the sink. She couldn't understand how Jonathan could spend the day inside another woman and come home and act like nothing happened. How he could touch her with the same hands. This Jonathan terrified her.

After a few minutes, she came back out and slid a stack of papers across the table.

"The landlord says if we want to stay another month, we have to renew."

Jonathan was on the phone. He'd dropped his voice, careful not to let her hear.

"Stay on the project. Something came up. I'll call you back."

He glanced at her, then flipped through the contract and signed his name at the bottom of several pages without reading. The pen lifted. Selene's breath came out in a quiet rush.

Underneath that contract was a divorce agreement and a settlement for the marital assets.

From this moment, Jonathan, we're strangers.

The next morning, she went to the mansion. The job Jonathan had "helped" her find a year ago. Back then she'd been applying everywhere. Nobody would call her back. Eventually she'd given up and taken what she could get. The contract still had a month left.

She set her jaw and rang the bell. The house was beautiful, as always. The kind of beautiful that used to make her stomach hurt with envy.

She called out a few times in the foyer. Nobody answered. Then she heard something upstairs. She climbed the stairs quietly and stopped outside the master bedroom. There was a man's voice inside. A voice she knew.

"You're killing me. Three days you wouldn't let me near you. Do you want to drive me crazy?"

“Have you forgotten we have our baby in my belly? Bear with it a little longer. Go gentle!”

Selene's feet stopped. Ice water down her spine.

"Weren't you at home last night?" Vivienne's voice was playful, mocking. "What, she wouldn't let you? Aren't you scared she's about to show up for her shift and walk right in on this?"

"She won't."

Jonathan sounded out of breath. The whole house felt charged, like the air before a storm.

"Does she know it was you? That you called every company in this city and told them not to hire her?"

A wet kiss. Then his voice: "What was I supposed to do? I had to sacrifice her just to please you."

Vivienne laughed.

Jonathan pretended to pout. "You're evil."

Then the sounds that followed.

Selene froze in place. There was a high ringing in her ears. Her legs wouldn't move. For months back then, she'd sent out hundreds of resumes. Nothing. Nobody wanted her. She'd gone from confident to ashamed to grateful for this. Mop in one hand, toilet brush in the other.

And the whole time, it was Jonathan. It had always been Jonathan.

Her vision blurred red. There was a weight on her sternum like she couldn't pull enough air in to scream.

A voice cut through the fog.

"Selene. What are you standing there for? Go clean the bathroom!"

The noises in the bedroom stopped instantly. The door opened.