Chapter 2: The Hour Before Noon
I finished applying the makeup with steady hands. The concealer hid the worst of it, but nothing could fully erase the truth. When I was done, I looked like a woman who had simply had a long night. Ryan glanced at me in the mirror and nodded, satisfied.
“Better,” he said. “Try not to say anything stupid at lunch.”
I smiled at him—the same small, careful smile I had perfected over three years.
“Of course.”
He left the bathroom to take a call from his mother. I heard him laughing in the hallway, telling her how excited he was for her to finally move in.
While he talked, I slipped the phone from under the towel and checked my messages.
My attorney, Rebecca, had already replied.
Police are on standby. The restraining order is ready. The financial freeze on Victoria’s shell company went through at 9:17 this morning. Let him bring her home.
I deleted the thread, slipped the phone into my pocket, and walked downstairs.
May you like
The house was quiet. Sunlight poured through the glass walls onto the marble floors. Everything looked perfect—the way Ryan and Victoria always wanted it to look.
I stood in the kitchen and waited.
