Chapter 1

I was in my late thirties, heavily pregnant with our first child, and the nesting instinct hit me hard.

Black Friday deals were too good to pass up for baby essentials, so I used our joint credit card.

I' m meticulous with money, always have been, and kept a neat spreadsheet, ready to pay my share when the bill came.

Mark, my husband, saw the total.

He smiled, all charm and support.

"Don' t worry about it, honey, I' ll cover it. For the baby."

But then his eyes narrowed, scrolling through the Amazon order history on his phone.

"What' s this $200 charge? I don' t recognize it."

His voice was light, but there was an edge.

I frowned, trying to remember. "$200? I' m not sure, let me check my records when we get home."

He didn' t like that answer.

Later that day, I was at Target, picking up a few last-minute items, a bottle sterilizer and some more diapers.

My cart was full.

Mark found me in the baby aisle.

His face was tight.

"You' re still buying things?"

He gestured at my cart, then back at his phone. "We need to talk about this $200. You' re trying to hide something, aren' t you? Trying to defraud me."

His voice rose, and a few shoppers turned to look.

I felt a flush creep up my neck. "Mark, lower your voice. It' s probably a mistake, or something I forgot to log. We can sort it out."

"Sort it out? By spending more of my money?"

He shoved my cart.

Diapers and baby wipes tumbled to the floor.

"You' re going to return all of this. Now."

His eyes were cold.

This wasn' t the man I married, the man who' d been so excited about our baby.

Or maybe it was, and I' d just been too blind to see.