Chapter 3

3.

"Cora? What are you doing here?" one of his friends gasped.

Sutton scrambled out of Elias's arms, looking panicked.

"Cora, don't get the wrong idea! I just had too much to drink, and Elias was just helping..."

I didn't hear a word she said.

I stared at Elias.

He wasn't guilty.

He just looked annoyed.

"Why are you here?" he snapped.

"It's freezing. What if the baby gets sick?"

He was blaming me.

He was the one cheating, and he was judging my parenting.

"Why do you think I'm here?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"If I hadn't shown up, were you going to a hotel?"

I couldn't believe this man.

We had been together for eight years.

He started getting close to Sutton a year ago.

"Cora, she's a divorcee with nowhere to go," he'd told me.

"I'm just helping a former classmate. We're just friends."

I believed him.

He had always been so careful and loving.

Elias frowned, his temper rising.

"Stop making a scene! Sutton was drunk, so I carried her. That's it."

"Yeah, Cora, we saw it. He didn't do anything," his friends chimed in.

They all looked at me with irritation.

They hated that I was ruining their night.

Sutton had a glint of triumph in her eyes, as if saying, "What are you going to do about it?"

I clenched my fists, and tears escaped before I could stop them.

Elias finally looked a bit flustered.

"Stop crying. I didn't even do anything."

"Fine, I'll take you home."

He grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the car.

Sutton gave me a fake, sweet wave.

"Get home safe, Cora! Next time, dinner is on me."

"I feel so bad about receiving such an expensive gift from Elias."

She was twisting the knife.

I wanted to slap her, but I had no proof yet.

I couldn't lose my cool.