Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN IN MY BED
And in that moment, every unanswered call suddenly made sense.
Derek was standing beside the window in gray sweatpants, holding a glass of wine.
A woman Audrey had never seen before sat on the edge of their bed wearing one of Derek’s white shirts.
Her red dress was crumpled across Audrey’s reading chair.
Her suitcase stood open beside the crib.
The crib.
Maisie’s crib.
Audrey didn’t feel rage first.
She felt something colder.
Clarity.
Derek turned and saw her through the partly open door.
His face went blank.
“Audrey?”
The woman twisted around.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Derek put down his glass.
“You weren’t supposed to be home until tomorrow.”
Audrey almost smiled.
Not hello.
Not how are you?
Not let me see my daughter.
You weren’t supposed to be home.
Maisie stirred against her chest.
Audrey placed one hand protectively across the carrier.
“Who is she?”
Derek glanced toward the woman.
“This isn’t what it looks like.”
The oldest sentence in the world.
The woman stood.
“You said she knew.”
Audrey looked at her.
“Knew what?”
Derek snapped, “Sienna, don’t.”
So Audrey had a name.
Sienna.
Footsteps approached behind her.
Derek’s mother, Lorraine Halston, appeared at the end of the hallway carrying a coffee cup.
She took in the scene with astonishing calm.
“Oh,” Lorraine said. “You’re back.”
Audrey stared at her.
“You knew she was here.”
Lorraine sighed as though Audrey were creating an inconvenience.
“You just had a baby. You’re emotional. Please don’t make a scene.”
That sentence did something remarkable.
It ended the marriage.
Not the woman in Audrey’s bed.
Not the seventeen unanswered calls while contractions ripped through Audrey’s body and nurses repeatedly asked whether her husband was coming.
Not even Derek standing there looking more annoyed than ashamed.
It was Lorraine.
Please don’t make a scene.
Audrey looked around the bedroom.
Her mother’s antique dresser.
The handwoven rug Audrey bought in Charleston.
The framed photograph of her grandfather breaking ground on the property forty years earlier.
Derek had moved another woman into a bedroom inside a house he had never paid for.
And apparently Lorraine believed Audrey could be ordered to behave inside it.
Audrey turned toward Derek.
“Did you bring her here while I was in labor?”
His jaw tightened.
“We need to talk privately.”
“We are.”
“Audrey.”
He glanced toward Maisie.
“Give me the baby and calm down.”
Her entire body stiffened.
“No.”
“I’m her father.”
“You haven’t asked once if she’s healthy.”
Derek opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Sienna looked at him.
Something changed in her expression.
Audrey noticed.
She noticed everything now.
She backed toward the stairs.
Derek followed.
“Where are you going?”
“Somewhere quiet.”
“This is your home.”
Audrey looked at him for a long second.
“Yes.”
The emphasis confused him.
Good.
Lorraine stepped forward.
“You’re exhausted. Put the baby down and stop being dramatic.”
Audrey reached the foyer.
She took out her phone.
Derek laughed bitterly.
“Calling your mother?”
“No.”
“Your therapist?”
Audrey tapped one contact.
The call was answered on the second ring.
“Nathan Cross.”
“Nathan, it’s Audrey.”
Her attorney’s voice sharpened.
“What happened?”
Audrey looked up at Derek.
He had no idea why she was suddenly calm.
“Activate the Halston contingency.”
Silence.
Then Nathan said:
“Are you certain?”
Audrey looked at Sienna’s heels beside the staircase.
“Yes.”
Behind her, Lorraine scoffed.
“What contingency?”
Audrey adjusted the blanket around Maisie.
Nathan answered:
“I’ll start immediately.”
Audrey ended the call.
Derek stepped closer.
“What did you just do?”
She opened the front door.
“Something I should have done five days ago.”
Then she walked out carrying her daughter.
Derek did not follow.
That was his final mistake of the day.
Because twelve minutes later, Nathan called Audrey back.
And what he told her made even the affair seem small.
May you like
Someone had tried to transfer ownership of the house that morning.
Using Audrey’s signature.
