The Substitute Wife's Sweet Escape

p agony from that night. Donovan hadn't bothered to call a doc

rm from a fall, but you look like

digging into the flesh, and hau

oid of any warmth. "You're going to

s running. Twenty-four hours. Just twenty-four more hours of this,

, she flinched, shrinking back against the cushions of her sofa

ere?" she whimpered, her eyes wid

ing a protective arm around her. "It's okay

a look, a c

oe. My voice was steady, devoid of emoti

eatening me. For saying you wished I would disa

he loves you, Donovan. I know it's hard for her, seeing

as the victim, the fragile flower,

was completely hooked by her

embling hands. It was pointless to argue. It was always pointless. The truth didn't

llowed the lump of

" I said, my voice a flat

d take care of Chloe until she feels better. C

her turn of the screw. But the c

," I

Chloe soup, fluff her pillows, and whisper comforting words in her ear. He treated

I were watching a movie. I cleaned the kitchen, prepared a meal I knew s

saw me. She whispered to another staf

husband makes her wait on his mistress. She

ze falling on me. I saw a flicker of something in his eyes again-confusion,

into the box of a tragic, lovesick wife. L

novan announced they were going out

e. "Don't go anywhere. Don

f washed over me. I was alone. I could breathe. I started quietly packin

enings. A news alert popped up. A celebrity gossip site. The headline was splashy: "Billionaire

on a yacht. He was looking at her with an expression of

n who was my husband, at the woman

felt n

ation away and conti