Damian Cross opened the bedroom door and found Briana with Cedric Vaughn, her billionaire boss.
Briana jumped back and reached for the sheet.
“Damian, please let me explain.”
Cedric sat on the edge of the bed as though he owned the room.
“You should leave before this gets ugly.”
Damian looked at the watch on Cedric’s wrist.
It was a limited edition that Briana had once described as the price of an ordinary family’s house.
Seven months earlier, the watch had impressed him.
Now it seemed like a ridiculous object to wear while destroying another person’s marriage.
Damian placed his keys on the dresser.
“I came for my passport.”
Briana blinked.
“What?”
“My passport is in the bottom drawer.”
Cedric gave a small laugh.
“You expect me to believe you aren’t upset?”
Damian opened the drawer and took out the blue booklet.
“I was upset when I learned about the affair.”
Briana pulled the sheet higher.
“When did you learn?”
“Eight weeks ago.”
The answer landed harder than a shout.
Cedric stood.
“What have you been doing for eight weeks?”
Damian closed the drawer.
“Listening.”
Cedric’s smile faded.
“What did you do?”
Damian turned toward the man who had made a sport of humiliating him.
“You took my wife, so I took something you never expected to lose.”
Cedric stared.
“Your wife.”
Briana went still.
Damian watched Cedric try to decide whether the sentence was a bluff.
“She’s incredible,” Damian said.
Cedric stepped forward, and Damian moved toward the doorway.
“Before you threaten anyone, you should call Yvette.”
The sound of his wife’s name changed Cedric’s posture.
“Stay away from her.”
“She already left you.”
Damian walked into the hall before Cedric could reach him.
He had imagined this confrontation a hundred times.
None of those rehearsals had prepared him for how little satisfaction it brought.
CHAPTER TWO: THE FIRST LIE
Eight weeks earlier, Damian had been repairing a restaurant’s ventilation system when his phone displayed an unfamiliar number.
A woman introduced herself as Yvette Vaughn.
He nearly ended the call because he assumed it was a prank.
She knew his wife’s name, his occupation, and the date Briana had attended a conference in Denver.
“I need to ask you something unpleasant,” she said.
Damian sat on an overturned bucket behind the restaurant.
“Go ahead.”
“Did your wife tell you she was traveling alone?”
Damian remembered the conference photograph Briana had sent him.
The picture showed a hotel window and a cup of coffee.
“Yes.”
“Cedric was with her.”
Damian heard a delivery truck reverse nearby.
He concentrated on the beeping because it was easier than understanding her words.
“Why are you calling me?”
“Because somebody should have told us both.”
He wanted proof, but Yvette refused to send intimate photographs or private messages.
Instead, she offered to meet in a public place and explain how she knew.
Damian almost declined.
Then he remembered Briana returning from Denver with a bracelet she said she had bought for herself.
He agreed to meet the following morning.
