Chapter 2

The truth came crashing down on a quiet Tuesday afternoon. Nicole was out at a meeting for the new label, the one she' d created for me. I was using her laptop to look up some old chord progressions, and a folder on the desktop caught my eye. It was labeled "PROJECT N&J."

Curiosity was a dangerous thing. I clicked it. It was password-protected. I tried the usual things: her birthday, our anniversary, her dog's name. Nothing. On a whim, I typed in "Jayden."

Access granted.

My blood ran cold. The folder contained over 200 video files, each a timestamped recording. I clicked on the most recent one, dated just two days ago.

It was them. Nicole and Jayden. In our New York apartment. The video was raw, explicit, and utterly devastating. But it was her voice, clear and triumphant, that shattered my world.

"He'll never find out, Jay," she was saying, laughing as she adjusted the camera. "Ethan's too trusting. He thinks I'm his perfect little country muse."

Jayden smirked, pulling her close. "And what about this baby? You sure it's gonna pass for his?"

"Of course," she said, her voice sharp. "Once I have his kid, I'm locked in. The prenup gets complicated. I'll get you that house in the Hills, I'll fund your next three albums. Just don't you dare mess this up for me. Don't get reckless."

I felt the air leave my lungs. I couldn't breathe. I clicked on another video, and another. It was a timeline of their affair, spanning months. All her "late-night studio sessions," her "promo trips." All of it, a lie.

The woman I loved, the woman the world adored, was a stranger. A cold, calculating monster wearing my wife' s face.

The new record label wasn't a gift. It was a cage, a way to keep me busy and distracted while she built a future with another man, using my money and my name.

I closed the laptop, my hands shaking so badly I could barely control them. The silence of our Nashville mansion was deafening. Every photo on the wall, every award on the shelf, felt like a prop in a long, elaborate con.