Chapter 4

Their voices drifted over from up ahead, light and easy.

They'd been making small talk for a while now, in no hurry to say goodbye.

I stood behind them, watching. My eyes landed on Vanessa's carefully done-up face.

Every smile, every little expression—how could she not be striking?

I spoke evenly. "Vanessa, you really have gotten prettier since back then."

The light, offhand comment caught them both off guard.

The smile froze on Grayson's face, a flicker of panic crossing his eyes.

Vanessa's smile faded too, her expression turning wary and guarded.

"Denise, I'm not sure what you mean by that. What exactly are you implying? This is my workplace—what do you take me for?"

Grayson's brow furrowed, his face full of confusion. "Denise, what's gotten into you? That text had nothing to do with Vanessa. Apologize to her right now."

He'd picked a side so fast it hadn't even taken him a second to think about it.

Both of them turned on me at once, like it had been rehearsed.

I looked at Grayson and said calmly, "Am I wrong? Vanessa has gotten prettier than she used to be. You two are old classmates—you'd know better than I would."

"We... yes, we were classmates." Something flickered in Grayson's eyes, and his frown deepened. "How did you find out about that—"

I gave a faint smile. "Some things always leave a trace."

"Even if we were classmates, she has nothing to do with that text. Apologize to her. Now." Grayson's tone had turned even colder, taking on the air of a command.

"Denise, why would you bring up something so baseless in public? I honestly have no idea what you're talking about!"

At some point, Vanessa's eyes had gone red, as if she'd suffered some unbearable insult.

"Denise, you might have a serious misunderstanding about the insurance business. We're legitimate agents. We would never use our looks to reel in clients!

"It's true that Grayson and I were classmates. He was the light of my teenage years." Her voice caught. "I'm grateful now that he's looking out for my career, and honestly, I envy you—I envy that you're the one who gets his love and care. But I'm not nearly as shameless as you seem to think. I take my job seriously. I can't just sit here and accept an insult like this!"

With that, fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

Her speech didn't move me in the slightest. I kept my tone even. "You both know perfectly well who sent that text. I never meant to insult your profession. Please don't twist my words like that."

Grayson, holding back his anger, looked at me with a mix of disappointment and helplessness. "You're being completely unreasonable. If you think there's something going on between us, we'll settle it privately. I won't have you dragging an innocent person into this."

I took a deep breath and asked the question that mattered. "I really do want to know—this whole month you two have been in contact, was it about selling insurance, or rekindling an old flame?"

Seeing that I wasn't going to let it go, Vanessa's face went pale, and she cried even harder.

Grayson's expression turned thunderous. He quickly rested a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

His other hand jabbed toward my face. "I don't think you know what you're doing right now. Go home and cool off!"

"I don't need to cool off." My voice rang out, hard and final.

"Grayson. I want a divorce."