Chapter 2

My blood ran cold, then hot. A roaring sound filled my ears, drowning out the soft music and the polite murmurs of the party guests. I took a step forward, then another. The floor felt unsteady beneath my feet, like the deck of a sinking ship.

I walked directly toward them, my eyes locked on David. The small crowd parted for me, their curious, confused faces a blur in my peripheral vision.

David finally saw me. His smile faltered, replaced by a flicker of annoyance, not guilt. "Sarah? What are you doing here? I' m in a meeting."

"A meeting?" My voice came out as a strangled whisper. I cleared my throat and tried again, the sound raw and torn. "You' re throwing a party for your pregnant mistress with our daughter."

A few guests gasped. Others started whispering, their eyes darting between me, David, and Jessica.

David' s face hardened. He dropped his arm from Jessica' s shoulder and took a step toward me, his voice a low, threatening hiss meant only for me. "Don' t make a scene, Sarah. You' re embarrassing yourself."

"Embarrassing myself?" I laughed, a broken, hysterical sound. "You' re the one who' s been lying to me. Cheating on me. For how long, David? How long has this been going on?"

He scoffed, waving a dismissive hand. "This isn' t about that. This is about Jessica. She' s sensitive right now. You' re upsetting her."

I looked past him at Jessica. She was clutching her stomach, her face a mask of fragile innocence. She looked at me with wide, tearful eyes, as if I were the one attacking her. The performance was flawless.

"Upsetting her?" I repeated, my voice rising with disbelief. "What about me, David? What about our family?"

Lily stepped forward then, placing herself between me and her father. Her eyes, the same dark eyes I had gazed into for fourteen years, were filled with a cold, adult hatred.

"You' re the one who ruined our family!" she spat, her words sharp and venomous. "All you care about is your work and that stupid dog! Dad deserves to be happy. Jessica makes him happy!"

The words hit me harder than a physical blow. My own daughter. My baby girl. She was defending them. She was a part of this.

I felt a profound sense of dislocation, as if the world had tilted on its axis. This was my husband. This was my child. And they were looking at me like I was a stranger, an intruder who had stumbled upon their real life, the one I was never meant to see.

David tried to take my arm, his grip surprisingly strong. "Sarah, let' s go outside and talk about this. You' re making things uncomfortable for everyone."

"Uncomfortable?" I shook him off, my entire body trembling with a rage so pure it felt like a fire in my veins. "You want to talk about uncomfortable, David? Let' s talk about the stew."

His face went pale. For the first time, a sliver of genuine fear flashed in his eyes.

He tried to play dumb. "What are you talking about? What stew?"

"Don' t lie to me!" I screamed, the sound tearing from my throat. "Lily told me. You killed my dog, didn' t you? You killed Buster."

The room went completely silent. Every eye was on us. I could feel their judgment, their shock, their morbid curiosity.

David' s charming facade finally cracked, revealing the ugly, callous man beneath. He sighed, an exasperated sound, as if I were a toddler throwing a tantrum. "It was just a dog, Sarah. A damn dog. It was for Jessica' s health. The doctor said she needed special nutrients."

His excuse was so pathetic, so utterly insane, that it stole the air from my lungs. He wasn't even trying to hide it anymore. He was admitting it. He was justifying it.

I stared at him, at this man I had loved, this man I had built a life with. And in that moment, I realized I didn't know him at all. The person standing in front of me was a monster.