Chapter 2

AMBER

The road ahead was dark and blurry. My hands were still shaking on the steering wheel. That text message was like a ghost following me. 

What happened the night the baby died? The words burned in my mind. I needed to think. I needed to breathe. Most of all, I needed a drink and some space to clear my head.

I saw the bright neon lights of a high-end restaurant called The Golden Plate. It was the kind of place Justine and I used to go to when we wanted to pretend we were the perfect couple. I pulled my car into the parking lot. I did not care that I was wearing messy clothes or that my eyes were red. I just wanted to sit down and be away from that house.

I walked inside. The air smelled like expensive wine and roasted meat. The lights were soft and yellow. It was quiet and peaceful. Or at least, it was until I saw the woman sitting at the center table.

My heart dropped. It was Evelyn. My mother in law.

She was sitting there with her perfect white hair and her expensive silk scarf. She was sipping wine and looking at her phone. I hated her from the very first day I met her. She always looked at me like I was dirt on her expensive shoes. She never thought I was good enough for her precious Justine.

I tried to turn around to leave, but it was too late. Her sharp eyes looked up and caught mine.

"Amber?" she said. Her voice was loud and cold. It cut through the quiet room like a knife. "What on earth are you doing here looking like a stray cat?"

I stopped. I felt the anger from the house come back even stronger. I walked toward her table. I did not hide. I did not run. I stood right in front of her.

"I am leaving your son, Evelyn," I said. I did not whisper. I wanted her to hear me. "I am done with his lies. I am done with this family."

Evelyn put her wine glass down with a loud clack. A few people at the tables nearby turned to look. She didn't care. She loved an audience. She stood up, looking down her nose at me.

"So, the rumors are true," Evelyn said. She sounded bored, not sad. "Justine told me you were making a scene. Honestly, Amber, I am not surprised. A woman who cannot keep her husband happy should expect him to look elsewhere."

I felt my blood boil. It was like she poured gasoline on the fire inside me. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me," Evelyn said. She stepped closer. She smelled like heavy perfume and old money. "If you were a better wife, Justine would not have wandered. You were always too focused on your own grief. You let yourself go after the baby. A man has needs, Amber. If you were enough for him, he would have stayed in your bed. It is your fault he went to someone else. You pushed him into her arms."

The restaurant went completely silent. I could feel every eye in the room on us. The waiters stopped moving. The people eating steak held their forks in mid-air. They were watching the disaster.

Evelyn smiled. It was a cruel, winning smile. She thought she had won. She thought I would cry and run away like I used to.

But I was not that Amber anymore.

"My fault?" I asked. My voice was low and dangerous. I took a step into her space. I was taller than her, and for the first time, I made sure she felt it. "You think it is my fault that your son is a liar? You think it is my fault that he is a cheater who slept with his own brother's wife?"

A loud gasp went around the room. I heard a woman at the next table whisper, "Oh my god."

Evelyn’s face turned pale. Her perfect mask was starting to crack. "Don't you dare speak of such things in public! Have some shame!"

"Shame?" I laughed. It was a loud, sharp sound that echoed off the walls. "I have no shame, Evelyn. I didn't do anything wrong. But you? You should be drowning in shame. You stand here and blame me for his choices? No. Let's talk about the real reason Justine is a disgusting human being."

I pointed my finger right at her chest.

"He is a cheater because you raised a fucking cheater!" I shouted. I didn't care about being polite anymore. "He learned how to lie from you. He learned how to be selfish from you. You spent his whole life telling him he could have whatever he wanted, no matter who he hurt. You taught him that people are just tools to be used. Well, look at the masterpiece you created! Your son is a coward who destroys lives because he was never taught how to be a man."

"How dare you!" Evelyn hissed. She tried to raise her hand to slap me, but I grabbed her wrist. I held it tight. She gasped in shock.

"Don't even try it," I said. My eyes were locked on hers. "You are not a mother. You are just a woman who raised a monster. You blame me for not being enough? I was more than enough. I was too much for him. He couldn't handle a woman with a soul, so he went for someone as hollow as he is. And you sit here and defend him? That makes you just as sick as he is."

I let go of her wrist with a shove. She stumbled back into her chair.

"You are a disgrace!" Evelyn screamed. Her face was bright red now. She looked like she was losing her mind. "Everyone is looking at you! You look like a crazy person!"

I looked around the restaurant. I saw a group of women at a table nearby. One of them nodded at me. Another one started to clap quietly.

"She's right!" a woman called out from across the room. "Tell her, honey! Don't let her talk to you like that!"

"He's the one who cheated!" a man added from the bar. "Blaming the wife is low!"

I looked back at Evelyn. She looked like a trapped animal. For the first time in her life, she didn't have the power. She didn't have the control. She was just a bitter old woman being judged by a room full of strangers.

"See, Evelyn?" I said. I leaned over the table, my face inches from hers. "Even strangers can see how ugly you are. You can keep your money. You can keep your silk scarves. But you are going to die alone in that big house, knowing that your sons hate each other and your family is a joke. And every time you look in the mirror, I want you to remember this: You didn't just lose a daughter-in-law today. You lost the only person who was actually trying to save your son from becoming like you."

Evelyn opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She looked defeated. She looked small.

I turned to the waiter who was standing nearby, frozen in fear.

"I changed my mind," I said to him with a polite smile. "I don't think I can eat here. The smell of trash is too strong at this table."

I turned around and walked toward the exit. I held my head high. I didn't look back at her. I could hear the whispers behind me. I could hear some people actually cheering. I felt like a queen walking through a battlefield I had just won.

I pushed open the glass doors and stepped back out into the night. The cool air felt amazing on my heated skin. I felt powerful. I had faced the woman I feared for years, and I had crushed her.

But as I walked toward my car, the feeling of victory started to fade. The text message was still there, waiting for me on my phone.

What happened the night the baby died?

I reached my car and leaned against the door. My heart started to race again. I thought about the hospital. I thought about the doctors. I thought about Justine coming in late, smelling like rain and something else. I thought about how he couldn't look me in the eye when they told us the baby was gone.

I thought about the night of the accident. Justine was supposed to be there. He was supposed to drive me. But he didn't answer his phone. I had to drive myself. I was in so much pain. And then the car hit me.

My phone vibrated in my hand. Another message from the same unknown number.

"He wasn't just late, Amber. He was with her. And he saw your car on the side of the road. He saw the crash. He didn't stop because he didn't want to be caught with her."

I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. I couldn't breathe. The world started to spin.

Justine saw me? He saw the smoke? He saw the blood? And he kept driving?

I gripped the door handle of my car. My vision went dark at the edges. I wasn't just leaving a cheater. I was leaving a murderer.

I looked back at the road that led to Justine’s brother's house. If Justine was with her that night, then she knew the truth too. They both watched my baby die so they could keep their dirty secret.

I didn't drive away. I turned the car around. I wasn't done yet. I didn't want closure anymore. I wanted blood.