Chapter 4
I spent the weekend replaying the dinner party in my head like a movie I couldn't stop watching.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Chloe's hand on Lewis's arm. Her body angled toward him like he was the sun and she was desperate for warmth. The way he looked at her with that bright, proud expression while I sat at the opposite side of my own table like a forgotten centerpiece.
Lewis and I barely spoke. He golfed with Pierce on Saturday, worked in his study on Sunday, and slept beside me both nights like a stranger sharing a hotel room. I made breakfast. I did laundry. I moved through our house like a ghost, wondering when exactly I'd become invisible in my own marriage.
By Monday, I'd convinced myself I was overreacting. That's what Lewis would say, wasn't it? That I was being dramatic. Paranoid. Jealous. Maybe he was right. Maybe I was letting my insecurities twist something innocent into something sinister.
So I decided to do something I hadn't done in months. I'd surprise Lewis at the office with lunch. Just the two of us. A reminder of what we used to be before Chloe Rudolph inserted herself into every corner of our lives.
I spent an hour getting ready. Blown-out hair, subtle makeup, the fitted navy dress Lewis always said made my eyes look like sapphires.
I picked up his favorite, Italian from that little place near the waterfront, and I walked into Marley Crest Financial at 12:15 with a smile on my face and hope blooming cautiously in my chest.
The lobby was all glass and chrome, sleek and modern in that way that screamed money and power.
I'd been here hundreds of times over the years.
Christmas parties. Summer picnics. Quick lunches when Lewis was too busy to come home.
The security guard recognized me immediately and waved me through with a friendly nod.
Lewis's office was on the fourteenth floor.
Corner suite with floor-to-ceiling windows and a view of the city skyline.
I'd helped him pick out the artwork on the walls, the leather chairs arranged around his conference table.
This space had my fingerprints all over it, even if no one could see them.
But when the elevator doors opened, it wasn't Lewis's face I saw first.
It was hers.
Chloe sat at the executive assistant's desk just outside Lewis's office, her blonde hair twisted up in a sleek chignon that made her look older.
More professional. She wore a cream-colored blouse that was just sheer enough to hint at the lace bra beneath, and when she looked up and saw me, her expression flickered through three emotions in rapid succession: surprise, annoyance, and then that saccharine sweetness I'd come to despise.
"Julianne! Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?"
I held up the takeout bag, refusing to let my smile waver. "Surprising my husband with lunch. Is he available?"
"Oh." Chloe's face arranged itself into something resembling sympathy, but her eyes stayed flat. Cold. "I'm so sorry, but Lewis is in a meeting right now. A very important one. He specifically asked not to be disturbed."
I glanced at his office door. Closed. The blinds drawn.
"I don't mind waiting."
"It might be a while." She was already turning back to her computer, dismissing me. "He's got back-to-back meetings all afternoon. I can let him know you stopped by, though. I'm sure he'll appreciate the thought."
The thought. Like I was some random acquaintance dropping off a casserole.
"Chloe." I kept my voice pleasant, but something must have shown in my expression because her fingers paused on the keyboard. "I'd like to speak with my husband. I'm happy to wait in his office until he's finished."
"I really can't let you do that." She stood now, positioning herself between me and Lewis's door like a guard dog protecting its territory. "He was very clear about not being interrupted. You understand, I'm sure. Executive-level business."
I stared at her. This girl, this child, was blocking me from seeing my own husband.
In the building where I'd attended countless events.
In the office I'd helped decorate. She was looking at me like I was an intruder, like I didn't belong here, like I needed her permission to exist in my husband's space.
My pulse throbbed in my throat. I could feel it, hot and rapid, the anger rising up through my body like lava seeking a vent.
"Is there a conference room available?" I asked, and my voice came out steadier than I expected. "I'd like to speak with you privately for a moment."
Something flickered across Chloe's face. Uncertainty, maybe. Or anticipation. It was hard to tell with her.
"I really should stay at my desk..."
"It will only take a few minutes." I smiled, and it felt like baring my teeth. "I insist."
She hesitated for just a moment, then nodded slowly. "There's a small conference room down the hall. I suppose I can spare a few minutes."
I followed her down the corridor, past offices filled with people typing and talking on phones, past a break room where someone was microwaving something that smelled like leftover fish.
The conference room was at the end of the hall, glass walls with frosted panels for privacy.
Chloe held the door open for me with exaggerated politeness, and I walked inside, setting the takeout bag on the table.
The door clicked shut behind us.
"So." Chloe crossed her arms, leaning against the wall with a posture that was pure insolence. "What did you want to talk about, Julianne?"
I turned to face her, and I let the mask drop. The pleasant smile. The diplomatic restraint. The careful, measured words I'd been using for months while this woman systematically dismantled my marriage piece by piece.
"I know what you're doing," I said quietly. "And I need you to stop."
Her eyes widened in that practiced innocent expression. "I'm sorry? I don't understand what you mean."
"Yes, you do." I stepped closer, and I could smell her perfume, something expensive now, probably bought with a recent bonus.
"The late-night texts. The weekend visits to our home.
Crashing my dinner party in a cocktail dress.
Spilling water on me in front of my husband's colleagues.
Touching him constantly. Looking at him like he belongs to you. "
"I think you're reading into things that aren't there." Her voice was sweet, concerned, like she was talking to a confused elderly relative. "Lewis and I have a very close working relationship, that's all. He's my mentor. I admire him."
"You want to fuck him."
The words landed like a slap. Chloe's composure cracked, just for a second, and I saw the real her underneath. Sharp. Calculating. Hungry.
"That's a disgusting accusation."
"Is it?" I held her gaze, refusing to back down.
"Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you've been running a very deliberate campaign to insert yourself into my husband's life.
Into my life. You show up at our home uninvited.
You manufacture emergencies to get his attention.
You make comments about my age every chance you get.
You're trying to make me feel like a visitor in my own marriage, and I'm telling you right now, it stops today. "
Chloe's chin lifted. The doe eyes hardened into something mean. "Lewis is a grown man. If he wanted to set boundaries with me, he would."
"Lewis is blinded by his own ego." The admission tasted bitter on my tongue.
"He likes the attention. He likes feeling desired by a beautiful young woman.
But that doesn't give you the right to disrespect me, to humiliate me in my own home, to treat me like an obstacle standing between you and something you want. "
"Maybe you are an obstacle." Her voice dropped, low and vicious, all pretense of sweetness evaporating.
"Maybe you're a tired, bitter woman clinging to a man who's clearly outgrown you.
Have you looked at yourself lately, Julianne?
Really looked? Because Lewis is in his prime.
He's powerful and successful and magnetic, and you...
you're just the wife. The old model. The one he settled for before he knew what he could have. "
The words hit like physical blows, each one landing somewhere soft and vulnerable. My chest. My stomach. That hollow space behind my ribs where my confidence used to live.
"Get out of my husband's life," I said, and my voice shook despite my best efforts to control it. "I'm warning you, Chloe. Back off, or there will be consequences."
Her lips curved into a smile that made my skin crawl. "Are you threatening me?"
"I'm telling you the truth. This ends now."
For a long moment, we just stared at each other. Two women on opposite sides of a war that only one of us had chosen to fight.
Then Chloe's face crumpled.
It happened so fast I almost didn't register the shift. One second she was cold and vicious, the next she was stumbling backward, her hands flying to her face, a sob tearing from her throat.
"Oh my God," she gasped, her voice suddenly high and trembling. "Oh my God, I can't believe you just said that to me."
"What?" I blinked, completely thrown by the transformation. "Chloe, what are you..."
"Help!" She yanked open the conference room door, tears streaming down her face, her whole body shaking with theatrical terror. "Someone help me, please!"
I stood frozen as she ran down the hallway, her sobs echoing off the glass walls. People were looking up from their desks, stepping out of their offices, drawn by the commotion like sharks to blood in the water.
And then Lewis was there.
He emerged from his office with his phone still in his hand, his brow furrowed in confusion, and Chloe ran straight to him. She threw herself against his chest, clutching his shirt, burying her face in his shoulder while she cried.