His Unwanted Wife Is A Top Scientist

dripping onto the marble floor of the Fitzpatrick estate's grand entrance hall. She

her drugstore mascara smudged beneath her eyes, the scuffed heels she'd bought on clearance. He hel

She didn't bother wipi

gaze on her back, that particular blend of deference and dismissal that the staff of the Fitzpatrick e

's ancestors stared down at her with the same expression Morrison wore. She d

anniversary. Four years. She'd wanted to mark it somehow, even if he forgot. Even if he never remembered the date they stood in that cou

red gardens into gray smears. She looked older than twenty-six. She looked tired. She looked like exactly what

in felt loose beneath her fi

f mistakes a forty-five-thousand-dollar-a-year data entry clerk would make. Dr. Patterson never made mistakes. Dr. Patterson didn't exist at the Defense Advanced Rese

ar cube Duke preferred, the small spoon, the napkin folded just so. Th

. She'd learned that early too. How to move through this house wit

arm yellow light cut across the dark h

nth, Carter. That's no

not talking to her

g in the air, knuckles wh

lege roommate. His voice carried that particular tone of wealthy men discussing

ia understands the arrangement. She know

el

seen it on Duke's phone three months ago, a text message he'd deleted too qui

door. The wood smelled of

esn't know?"

I have quarterly reviews that run until midnight." A pause. The clink of ice in a glass. "She's useful, Carter.

ter's voice dropped. "You

sand a year. No family. No connections. She literally cannot survive without me." Another laugh, colder this time. "I marrie

rim of the cup. Hot liquid splashed onto her hand,

til she tasted copper. The pain anchored her. It kept her

week," Carter said. "You m

had never heard directed at her. "She's brilliant, Carter. You know what she's working

ur wife's

hed the door. "Helen thinks spreadsheets are intel

lutched against her chest, coffee soaking into her blouse

l kindnesses, the remembered anniversaries, the way he sometimes loo

A performance designed

r handl

y training taking over. She pressed herself into the shadow of the

. "-dinner next week, Carter. Bring t

. Their conversation faded into the

at her hands. The coffee had burned a r

the door. The perfect posture. The hand-tailored

r closed. Until the sound of Carte

e ribs, in the place where she'd stored her hope. It

closed door with eyes that had finally