A Marriage Built on Deception

uction, I saw my husband with my cousin-a woman

holding

ver-up orchestrated by my husband and my own grandmo

wife. I w

ate their son's birthday, I signed away every penny of

pte

E'S

ion of all places, I saw my husband's mistress-a w

tion pen, a little blond boy in her arms, her othe

ed to kill me by orchestrating a cattle stampede. When her

hat's what

ad been flipped. My world compressed to that one, searing image: the three of them, looking for all

en support pillar, a cold drea

ther to hide. "Honey, I really can't thank you enough. You and Loretta.

other. The matriarch

nd my heart, squeezing u

ay things were back then, Grandma had to destroy the evidence. It was the only way.

r tone dripping with false sympathy. "Making you stay

thick with adoration. "Think of it as my penance. My way of makin

boy's forehead. Wyatt giggled, wrapping his smal

dd

oul into, the husband I had so carefully, so completely loved-all of it was a lie. A too

e anniversary of Madison's "death." Caleb and my grandmother would use the pret

with a soft thud. A violent tremor wracked my body, my stomach churn

buzzed. The caller

imperious voice came through the line. "Grace, wh

fear. She wasn't worried about me getting lost. She was terrified I'd

mask of normalcy. "I'm fine, Grandma. Just over

returned, sharp with panic. "Stay right where y

ended a

with a poorly concealed panic, his voice a mixture of feigned concern and reprimand. "What are

d. I choked back the scream that was clawing at my throat and

just... I m

n draining from his shoulders

his chest, a silent, cold ru