Three Months Gone, Everything Changed

ced. The Queen Anne townhouse she bought with her own savings now smells of baby powder and another woman's vanilla

whispers, genuinely bewildered. "Na

sleeping in Berlin hotel rooms and closing multimillion-dollar deals, he was moving his pregnant mistress into the house she pa

to fight back. Instead, Elena checks into a hotel, hires a forensic accountant, and starts recordin

building a new life with a venture capitalist who actually deserves her. Nathan is left with nothing but a basement ap

hrough a rain-streaked window,

pte

believed that home was

e she'd purchased six years ago with every dollar she'd saved since her first job out of Stanford. The door was already unlocked.

nd-cedar trace of Nathan's cologne. Something else entirely. Baby powder. Desitin cre

s on. Elena's hand fr

ing teams, of video calls at 3 a.m. because Seattle time zones were merciless. Nathan had encouraged her to take the lead on the European ex

arently, had

the nursery they'd never built because they'd agreed to wa

sourced from a salvage yard in Portland. The crying stopped. Then a woman's voice, light and bre

ommy's here. Daddy

dd

-her shelf, where her Blundstones and her Rothy's flats sat in neat alignment-was crammed with unfamiliar footwear. A pair of worn UGG slippers in blush

led crib booties. A pair of min

Inside, a Diaper Genie stood whe

ange she'd saved for during two years of Nathan's "freelance consulting" phase. On the Sub-Zero refrigerat

& NAP

ottle (6

– N

– Pure

– N

– B

wasn't hers. It

ps. Soft, tentati

ey-blonde hair pulled into a messy topknot and the kind of dewy, unlined face that suggested a diligent skincare routine and not enough life experience to know b

asked, her voice a half-o

er. "I'm Elena. T

mething that looked almost like indignation. "Nathan said-he told me yo

Elena said. "I've been in Berlin for three mont

usting of blonde fuzz-began to whimper. The woman bounce

explained everything. "Misty Reed. Natha

ng is a

round Thanksgiving? We met at that kombucha bar on Capitol Hill. He sai

ed who always drank too much bourbon and told inappropriate stories about his time in the merchant marine. She'd brined the turkey fo

here," Elena said. I

lease was up. Nathan said it made sens

left for Berlin

chute linen sheets she'd splurged on after her last bonus-was covered in a garish duvet covered with watercolor peonies. Her nightstand was go

er workwear, her casual pieces, her shoe collection. It was empty. No-not empty. The shelves held someone else's

found them after ten minutes of searching. Her Theory blazers. Her Vince silk blouses. Her collection

tificate. She'd kept it in her nightstand drawer, in a simple leather folio her father had given

per felt thin, fragile. Like every

n her coat pocket.

Sea-Tac. Can't wait to

somewhere. Not S

ingers that felt disc

me. Co

urred the city lights. On the balcony railing, strung on a makeshift clothesline, were tiny ba

pen. Nathan's voice, breat

ey, is ev

t way she'd once found charming, went through a series of micro-expressions she'd learned to read during

ds. "You're back early. I thought you

in office is fully operational. I closed the Schmidt partners

m, Elena corrected herself-and closed the door.

toward Elena. She

in everything. This isn't-i

it look lik

years ago. "Misty and I... we met at a tough time. You were alw

e moved into my house. She had a baby in my guest room.

I-I didn't know what to do. Her parents are in Idaho, they're super

said. "But abandoning

sty is just... she's temporary. A mistake. I was go

ered loudest when she got the VP offer. The man who'd told her, just three months ago, that he was so proud of her for taking the

htened. "I did h

ur mistress i

it's not your house. It's

told the county

went stil

il. To add Misty Reed to the title. It was rejected because it required my notarized signatur

n's face. He opened his mout

le

on

by gym now occupied the space where her Eames lounge chair used to sit.

is sides. Behind him, through the partially closed nursery door, she

her out of my house," Elena said

icked shut

elevator before t