Chapter 2
“You were kissing her,” I said. The words were flat, unadorned, dropping between us like lead weights. “Right there, beside the departure board. Not a European cheek-graze. Not a congratulatory embrace. You kissed her mouth, Brian. With the ease of a man who sleeps in her bed four nights a week.”
A passing businessman glanced over at us, slowing his pace for a fraction of a second before catching the lethal stillness in my posture and hurrying onward toward Gate B24.
Brian’s face flushed a mottled, ugly crimson. He stepped closer, dropping his voice to a hurried, urgent hiss. “Keep your voice down. Don’t do this here. Let’s go sit somewhere private. You’re making an emotional scene out of a misunderstanding. I was stressed, Vanessa was offering support, and things crossed a line—I admit that! I am so sorry. But we can talk about this at home. Please. We have a flight boarding in fifteen minutes.”
“Oh, I know you do,” I said softly. “Flight 1142 to Phoenix. Seat 4A and 4B. First class. Paid for with our joint Visa—the one you claimed was compromised by fraudulent charges last month when you asked me to cover the mortgage payment from my personal savings.”
Vanessa scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. The veneer of polite professionalism cracked, replaced by the brittle arrogance I had heard vibrating through the terminal air moments earlier. “Look, Elena. If you know, you know. There’s no point in putting on a tragic housewife performance in the middle of DIA. Brian hasn’t loved you in two years. You’ve been dragging him down, clinging to an old house and an old life while he built a modern enterprise. It’s over. Accept it with some dignity.”
I looked at Vanessa. Really looked at her.
She had pristine makeup, a blow-dried blowout that defied the dry Colorado climate, and the complete, unearned confidence of a predator who believed she had cornered an herbivore. She thought she was the prize, the brilliant co-conspirator who had helped a charismatic man outsmart his docile wife.
A slow, genuine smile spread across my face. It was the first time I had smiled in three weeks, and the warmth of it seemed to rattle Brian far more than any scream or tear would have.
“You think this is about an affair?” I asked, laughing softly.
Brian’s eyes flicked between me and the security corridor behind me. “Elena, stop it. You’re hysterical.”