My Husband's Perfect Deception

eyes of a heartbroken wife, but with th

ie. I drove a nondescript rental car, not my own. I was a

ods that bordered the estate. I found a spot on a small hill

I could see

ed the last remaining

ands and knees on the grass. Leo was riding on

ic smile, but a genuine, relaxed smile I hadn't seen in

piggyback ride, like he used to when I was very little, before my mother took me away. He had lau

enator, playing horse for a c

r. "It's so lovely to see the Senator and Mrs. Vance with their g

boy. "Leo, darling, com

gging him tightly. "You are our perfect, true boy," she

e placeholder. The tool. The brilliant, useful machine they brought in to achieve

demeanor changed. The tension fell from his shoulders. He smile

into the air. "Hey, b

osition," Isabelle said,

aid, kissing her. "I

with his other family. How many times had he done this? How many "late nights at the office"

Christian-could spin it. They could claim he was just supporting his dead fiancée's child out of a sense of du

Something they couldn't

pure, undiluted agony. I pressed my fist aga

oundskeeper was walking a large Ger

ere?" he

ilently. I stumbled, catching myself on a low branch, and ended up closer

und Christian's eyes as he smiled at Isabelle. I could see the

said, her voice dripping with satisfaction. "Onc

n," Christian said.

fe. After the election, once Franklin is in the White House, it will be

him. "You need to be

waiting. Waiting for the right moment to discard me. I was

tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I promise. I'll ha

nail in the coffin of

personal phone. Not his work phone, but the one he used for "friends and famil

perate plan fo

they started gathering things to go inside. Christian, Isabelle, and

as my

ed out from behind the hedge, and moved silently across the st

nd, I held a cheap, identical dummy phone I

e switch when a voice

fr

He had come back o

ce, hidden by the cap and the deepening shadows,

ou doing?" he demanded,

breathe. My mind was a b

ith suspicion and anger. He was closer now. Just a fe

as o