A Wife's Bitter Reckoning

communication was a single, terse text: Aria is shaken up. Staying with her to make sure she and the bab

a tight, angry line. The bruises on her body faded from a violent purple

herself walking to a small, private museum on the Upper East Side, a place she and Bennett had discover

gether on a bench in front of a Monet. He had kissed her then, a

ory was just

very same Monet. They weren't in a reverent hush. They were laughing, Aria leaning into Bennett, her head on his s

"What a beautiful young couple," the woman murmu

He just spoils me rotten," she said, patting Bennett's chest possessively. Sh

indulgent smile that Kelsey hadn't seen in a lifeti

full of a genuine warmth that made Kelsey's blood run col

their life had been to him: a part to be played. The dutiful husband, the respon

lsey. It was her simplicity. She was a girl from a different world, unburdened by th

n her chest. But as she rounded a sculpture, she ra

didn't see you." She looked flustered, guilty. "We

to me, Aria," Kelsey said, her voi

bove them, loosened by recent construction vib

eacted. She didn't scream or run. She shov

shoulder with a sickening thud. She cri

fury. He saw Aria on the ground and Kelsey stan

ice echoing through the quiet gallery. "Are yo

, that Kelsey could only stare at him in stunned silence. He thou

obbing Aria into his arms, his voice dropping to a te

nd strode past Kelsey, his eyes burning w

he same hospital, the same emergency room that wa

oulder and a possible fracture. The doctors rushed her int

unt of blood from a deep laceration caused by the plaque's edge. They needed to do surg

hout hesitation, rolling up his sleeve.

unit safely," a nurse cauti

ife is more important. If she needs mor

m the hallway, a silent, invisible witness. He was literally giving his life's blo

' protests. He grew pale, his breathing shallow. After the second unit

tting him on an IV drip in a room

was a success

ses were attending to him. She didn't go into his

e, a name escaped his lips i

ia.

ey. Neve

ny vestige of their shared history, died. Ther

pocket. It was a numbe

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