Chapter 1

Evan Carter's POV

"Yes. Your delivery records should show it. She's the one who placed the order. I'm absolutely sure."

I tightened my grip on my phone, but my hand wouldn't stop shaking. "Sorry to bother you. We'll double-check our records."

After hanging up, I opened the order details. The air conditioner was the latest model from a major brand. It cost 12,000 dollars, paid in full. But I'd only given my wife, Maya Cullen, 5,000 dollars.

I wondered where she had gotten another 7,000 dollars to buy the air conditioner.

Maya had always been careful with money.

The most expensive gift she'd ever bought me was a pair of sneakers that cost barely 200 dollars.

She used to say she was saving for a down payment. She wanted us to have our own home in Northbridge.

Eventually, we managed to buy a place in the suburbs. Then she started talking about paying down the mortgage.

She was so determined to save that she wouldn't even let us install air conditioning.

The sound of running water from the bathroom stopped. I quickly put her phone back where I'd found it.

Maya came out a moment later, her hair still damp from the shower. She sat down beside me as though nothing was wrong.

"Evan, why are you still awake this late?"

As if she didn't know. It was over 90 degrees outside, and the fan did nothing but push hot air around the room. There was no way I could sleep in this heat.

Maya picked up the handheld fan beside her and began fanning herself, just like she always did.

I watched her act as though everything was perfectly normal, and whatever warmth I'd had left in my heart disappeared.

We worked at the same company. We'd saved for a house together, bought one together, and built a life here in Northbridge.

In all these years, I'd never once seen Maya get close to another man.

Marriage to someone else seemed even more impossible.

Maybe it really was just a coincidence.

Maybe that man's wife simply happened to have the same last name as Maya.

I closed my eyes and forced myself to stop thinking about it and go to sleep.

Then Maya said something that snapped me wide awake. "Evan, just hang in there a few more days. The air conditioner will be here soon."

She said the same thing every night.

Just a few more days. Just a little longer.

And I'd waited. I'd waited until the air conditioner we'd been expecting was delivered to someone else's home.

My eyes flew open. I turned toward her. "Maya, are you…"

Before I could finish, she cut me off. "Honey, I have to leave for a business trip to Riverton tomorrow. I might be gone for a while."

My entire body went rigid.

Riverton. The city where that man lived.

She traveled there for work every year. Every single time, she'd told me she'd been assigned to a project there.

And I'd never once questioned it.

"I'm leaving tomorrow." Maya moved closer. "I'm going to miss you."

She leaned in to kiss my cheek. I shoved her away, harder than I meant to. Her head struck the headboard with a dull thud that sounded unnaturally loud in the darkness.

For several seconds, neither of us said a word.

Maya slowly lifted her head, tears welling in her eyes. "Evan, why did you do that? That hurt! I'm leaving on a business trip tomorrow. Most husbands would actually miss their wives, and you just shoved me away?"

Her voice was full of hurt and accusation. There wasn't a trace of guilt on her face.

I swallowed my anger and forced myself to speak calmly. "Maya, are you really going on a business trip tomorrow? And the air conditioner… did you actually buy it?"

Even now, I was giving her a chance to tell me the truth. I desperately wanted her to prove that all the years we'd spent together hadn't meant nothing… that our marriage wasn't already beyond saving.

But Maya didn't.

"What are you getting paranoid about now? Of course I'm going on a business trip. And you were right there when I ordered the air conditioner."

Maya used to blush whenever she lied. Now the lies came effortlessly. She could look me straight in the eye and deceive me without so much as blinking.

I pressed my lips together and said nothing more.

Maya let out an irritated scoff, held a hand to her forehead, and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

I lay alone in bed for the rest of the night, staring at the ceiling until dawn.

At five the next morning, Maya left with her suitcase. The moment she was gone, I contacted a divorce attorney and had the papers drawn up.

Then I booked a flight to Riverton.