6: Fire

Madison stared at the message.

For several seconds, she couldn't understand what she was reading.

Her eyes moved across the words again.

Then again.

M: Evan, what are we going to do about the baby?

A baby?

Her husband's baby?

The phone slipped from her hand and landed on the bed.

“No…”

The word came out as barely a whisper.

Madison shook her head slowly.

“No, no, no…”

Her breathing became uneven.

This couldn't be happening.

Evan couldn't have done this.

He couldn't have betrayed her.

But the message was right there.

She had seen it with her own eyes.

Not a rumor.

Not something Vivian had told her.

Not something she had imagined.

A message.

From her husband's second phone.

From a woman who was asking Evan what they were going to do about their baby.

Madison covered her mouth as a sob escaped her.

How?

How could he do this to her?

How could the man who had promised to love her forever betray her so completely?

Her legs suddenly felt weak.

She stumbled backward until the edge of the bed hit the back of her knees.

She sat down heavily as tears streamed down her face.

She tried to wipe them away, but more followed.

“He has a baby…”

Her voice cracked.

Her hand moved to her stomach without thinking.

She had spent years carrying the pain of knowing she could never give Evan a child.

She had accepted that burden because she believed he had accepted her with it.

But while she had been blaming herself for something she couldn't control, Evan had apparently created a child with another woman.

The realization shattered something inside her.

“How could you?”

She looked around the room as though Evan might suddenly appear and explain everything.

“How could you do this to me?”

She started crying harder.

Everything suddenly felt like a lie.

Every kiss.

Every smile.

Every promise.

Every time he had told her that she was the only woman he needed.

“Everything was a lie.”

She grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it across the room.

“Everything!”

A decorative vase crashed against the wall.

Madison barely noticed.

She pulled clothes from the wardrobe and threw them onto the floor.

She knocked over a lamp.

A drawer was yanked open and its contents scattered across the carpet.

She didn't care anymore.

She had spent two days trying to convince herself that there was another explanation.

But there wasn't.

There couldn't be.

Her marriage had been built on a lie.

She stumbled toward the bedside table, crying so hard that her chest hurt.

Her eyes fell on the framed wedding photograph.

She picked it up.

The picture showed her smiling beside Evan on the happiest day of her life.

She stared at it.

The woman in that photograph looked so happy.

So certain.

So stupid.

Madison's fingers tightened around the frame.

“Everything was a lie,” she whispered.

She threw it.

The frame hit the floor and cracked.

The glass shattered across the carpet.

Madison stared at the broken photograph.

Then she slowly sank to the floor beside the bed.

For several minutes, she simply cried.

She cried until her throat hurt.

Until her tears seemed endless.

Until there was nothing left inside her except emptiness.

Eventually, her eyes landed on the bottle of wine sitting nearby.

She reached for it with trembling fingers.

She didn't bother finding a glass.

She opened the bottle and took a long drink.

The wine burned her throat.

She drank again.

And again.

She wasn't trying to enjoy it.

She just wanted the pain to become quieter.

Half the bottle was gone before she finally stopped.

Her vision felt heavy.

Her head spun slightly.

She stared at the remaining wine.

Then, suddenly angry again, she poured the rest onto the floor.

The dark liquid spread across the carpet.

“Take it all,” she whispered bitterly.

Her eyes wandered around the room.

Their room.

The place where she and Evan had shared countless memories.

The place where she had believed she was safe.

Now she couldn't stand looking at it.

She didn't want any of it.

She didn't want the memories.

She didn't want the photographs.

She didn't want the promises.

She didn't want anything that reminded her of Evan.

Madison's eyes fell on the box of matches sitting on the bedside table.

She stared at it.

For a moment, she didn't move.

Then she reached for it.

Her fingers trembled as she struck a match.

The tiny flame flickered between her fingers.

Madison stared at it through tear-filled eyes.

She thought about the photograph.

The promises.

The woman.

The baby.

Her marriage.

Her entire life.

Everything she had believed in seemed to be burning inside her already.

She dropped the match.

The flame caught.

Madison watched for a few seconds as it spread to the nearby fabric.

She didn't wait to see more.

She turned and hurried toward the door.

Her hand gripped the handle.

She pulled the door open, stepped into the hallway, and immediately closed it behind her.

She stood there for a moment, breathing heavily.

Her heart was still pounding.

She wiped her face quickly.

Then she walked downstairs.

Nobody noticed anything unusual.

The room was still filled with laughter and conversation.

Evan was talking to one of their friends.

Vivian was sitting with Mia.

Madison walked toward them with her head lowered.

She didn't say anything.

She simply sat down.

Evan looked at her and smiled.

“You okay?”

Madison looked at him.

For one terrifying second, she almost screamed.

She almost told him everything.

Instead, she forced herself to smile.

“I'm fine.”

Evan seemed satisfied.

He turned back to the conversation.

Madison stared at him silently.

Her heart was still breaking.

But now there was another problem.

She could smell something.

At first, it was faint.

A strange, bitter smell drifting through the house.

Madison's eyes slowly lifted toward the staircase.

Smoke began slipping underneath the bedroom door.

Nobody noticed it yet.

She remained completely still.

Then someone suddenly looked toward the stairs.

Their expression changed.

“Fire!”

The room went silent.

“There's fire!”