chapter 3

Odessa sat in the living room, still dazed by the fact that she was actually back six months before she died.

The door pushed open and Tristan walked in, his tie loose and his suit jacket in his arms.

Odessa felt her heart drop.

She forced a warm smile when his eyes landed on her.

They were cold. How long had he been looking at her like that? The emptiness behind his eyes made her uneasy.

Why hadn't she noticed it before?

The hope she held for him had made her see things that weren't there and ignore things that were.

Like the lipstick stain on his collar.

He spoke before she did.

"I'm sorry I wasn't home last night. I slept in the office. I got carried away."

Odessa tried to hide her disgust. How many times had she accepted his blatant lies wrapped as apologies?

"It's fine," she said, but her voice cracked. She cleared her throat immediately.

He walked up to where she sat and placed a kiss on her cheek.

She could smell her perfume.

She wanted to scrub the skin where he had kissed her. Instead, she looked up at him with a polite smile.

"Did you see my message about the meeting tomorrow?" he asked.

Odessa forced away the frown forming on her face.

The conversation they had on the phone before she died replayed in her head.

How he said it was good that she had miscarried.

"Yes, I did. I'll be there," she said, nodding.

He walked toward the stairs and paused.

He turned back to her.

"Try not to wear anything that will draw attention away from me."

His eyes moved up and down her body before he continued up the stairs.

Odessa let out a breath she had not known she was holding.

She wanted to scream or punch a wall. She stood up and grabbed a glass of water, her hands shaking as she swallowed.

She did not want to be in the same house as him. She had a feeling she would not be able to keep up the act for long.

Tonight, she would sleep in the guest room. It was too soon to share a bed with him.

She would lie and say she had really bad cramps or something.

She tried to remember what she used to spend her days doing when she wasn't working.

She would cook and clean and wash clothes, and he would come back smelling like a perfume she didn't recognize. He would give a flimsy excuse and kiss her on the cheek.

Why had she stayed? Had she really been so in love that she lost her self-respect?

She held the cup in her hands a little too tightly.

Good thing she had a second chance.

She rushed to her home office.

She pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote down everything she could remember. Deals that had succeeded, start-ups she wished she had invested in, and, most importantly, deals that had failed.

If she was going to ruin Tristan's life, she would start by making sure he always took deals that would fail.

But it had to be his idea, so he would have nobody to blame but himself.

Tristan had never been good at business. That was why he kept her around.

She was good at it, and he benefited from her knowledge.

He needed her.

The mistake he had made was forgetting that, and she would remind him.

"What are you doing?" Tristan stood at the entrance, watching her.

Odessa swallowed and smiled.

"I'm going through the proposal. I want to be prepared." The lie rolled off her tongue smoothly.

Tristan's eyes moved from the sheet of paper on the desk to her face.

"I'm hungry. Get me something to eat," he ordered.

Odessa's fingers curled into fists. Her breath turned sharp.

Tristan raised an eyebrow and tilted his head.

"Did you hear me?"

Odessa gave him a cold smile.

"Yes. I'm sorry, I'm just a little distracted."

Tristan sighed and walked off.

Odessa folded the paper and shoved it into her pocket.

She walked to the kitchen and made him lunch.

The thought of finding poison and pouring it in crossed her mind more times than she dared to admit.

She set the table for him gently, the way she usually did.

he was downstairs before she was ready to call out his name.

Odessa glared at him as he sat comfortably eating the food she had prepared.

He looked up at her, and she quickly looked away.

His eyes remained on her as she tried her best to avoid looking at him.

"You've been acting weird today," he finally said.

Odessa felt her heart climb into her throat.

"I'm not feeling too good," she lied.

"What about the meeting tomorrow?"

Odessa should not have been surprised that he cared more about the meeting than he cared about her health. Maybe she still hadn't fully accepted the truth.

"I can handle it," she assured him.

She gave him a small smile before she excused herself.

She could feel his eyes on her as she walked off.

She went straight into the guest room and locked the door behind her.

She knew it would be hard to pretend, but she hadn't realized how difficult it would be.

At this rate, he would figure out that her feelings for him had changed, and that could ruin her plans.

What would the old Odessa do?

Why was her behavior different today?

The old Odessa would have taken his jacket when he walked in, but she had remained seated.

She would have asked how his day was and if he was hungry.

Odessa pressed her fingers against the side of her head.

Not to mention, she had locked herself in the guest room.

She unlocked the door and walked into the room they shared.

She had to be a convincing wife, and she could not do that from the guest room.

She lay on the bed and wrapped herself in her blanket.

Her eyes fluttered shut almost immediately.

She had not realized how tired she was.

The bedroom door opened slowly, and Odessa's body went stiff.

She pretended to be asleep and listened as Tristan walked to the other side of the bed.

She almost jumped off the bed, but she held her breath instead.

She let out a relieved sigh when he walked out.

She could not wait for the moment she could drop the act.

She wanted to see the look on his face when he realized he had lost everything.