---- Chapter 8 "Isn't it wonderful, Kels?" Bennett said, his face alight with a joy that felt like a personal insult. "Twins! We're going to have two babies!" He set down a shopping bag and pulled out a tiny pair of identical blue sneakers. "| couldn't resist." Kelsey looked at the shoes, then at his beaming face. She said nothing. "Don't worry," he said, misinterpreting her silence. "You have no experience, but I'll be here to help you every step of the way. We'll be a team." A team. The word was a joke. "What about Aria?" Kelsey asked, her voice flat. "Her? I'll give her a generous check and send her on her way after the babies are born," he said dismissively. "She'll be out of our lives for good. It'll just be us." Kelsey felt a flicker of something that might have been pity for Aria, a girl being used and discarded by a man who was an expert at it. Then, a sharp, bitter amusement cut through the pity. They were all liars in this house. Bennett, seeing the strange smile on her face, assumed it was noe D wn ---- acceptance. He looked relieved. "I'm going to take a quick shower," he said, heading toward the master bedroom. "Then we can order dinner and celebrate." As the sound of the water started, Bennett's tablet, left on the kitchen counter, lit up with a notification. It was a new email, the sender listed as "Blackwood." Curiosity, cold and sharp, got the better of her. His password was his mother's birthday. Pathetic. She opened the email. It was a detailed report from a private investigator. Bennett wasn't just placating her. He was investigating Aria. Her eyes scanned the lines of text, her blood running cold. Medical records from Dr. Evans' clinic confirmed. All documents provided by Ms. Diaz were expert forgeries. There is no pregnancy. There never was. The report continued. Bennett had been suspicious for weeks. He had tampered with Aria's birth control, replacing the pills with placebos, hoping to get her pregnant for real, to make his fantasy a reality. Subject's text messages indicate a plan to feign a 'miscarriage' in the third trimester, take the financial settlement, and disappear. She has significant debts to several unsavory loan sharks. ---- And the final blow: a detailed plan for the "secret wedding" in Lake Como. It wasn't a fantasy. It was real. He had every intention of keeping Aria in his life, a secret second wife in Europe, while Kelsey raised the non-existent children in New York. He wanted everything. The perfect wife and the passionate mistress. Kelsey closed the tablet, a feeling of profound, liberating clarity washing over her. She was finally free. She could walk away without a shred of guilt, without a single backward glance. She imagined his future. The public humiliation when the truth came out. The rage of his father. The emptiness of his life when he realized he had lost everything for a series of lies. And she imagined her own future. A quiet street in Paris. The smell of paint and old books. The joy of discovering a new artist. A life that was small, and real, and entirely her own. She placed the tablet back exactly where she found it. When Bennett came out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, he looked refreshed, happy. "I'm starving," he said. "What do you feel like eating?" "Steak," she said, her voice even. "The way you used to make it. Pan-seared, with a red wine reduction." He smiled, pleased. "Coming right up." ---- He set about cooking, moving around the kitchen with a confident ease. As the steak sizzled in the pan, his phone, which he'd left on the counter, buzzed. Kelsey glanced at the screen. It was Aria. Feeling sick again, baby. Can you come over? | need you. Bennett saw the message. A flicker of annoyance crossed his face, quickly replaced by a look of strained concern. "Damn it," he muttered. He turned to Kelsey, his expression apologetic. "Kels, | am so sorry. Aria is not feeling well. The pregnancy is so delicate. | have to go." "No," she said simply. He stared at her. "What?" "| said no," she repeated, her voice calm. "You're cooking me dinner. You promised." He looked flustered, trapped. "Kelsey, this is an emergency." "Everything with her is an emergency," she said, her eyes holding his. For a moment, he hesitated. Then his phone buzzed again, another pleading text from Aria. His resolve crumbled. "| have to go," he said, his voice hard. He dropped the spatula on the counter, turned off the stove, and walked out without another word. ---- Kelsey stood in the silent kitchen, the smell of the half-cooked steak hanging in the air. She picked up the spatula and dropped it in the trash. She scraped the raw meat into the garbage disposal and turned it on, the grinding sound a satisfying roar of finality. An unfinished meal for an unfinished marriage. She walked into the bedroom, pulled out a small, pre-packed carry-on bag from the back of her closet, and walked out the door of the penthouse for the very last time.