Chapter 3

I didn't say a word.

I rested my fork against the edge of the plate, my fingernails digging into the wooden grain of the table.

"Babe?" he called out.

I raised my eyes to look at him.

His expression was so genuine. He had a warm smile, holding a piece of steak on his fork, waiting for my answer.

My phone buzzed.

The screen lit up with notifications from that Snapchat group.

"Girls, I need to tell you something," a girl named Chloe Bennett wrote.

"This morning, he was still with me. In a hotel."

My hand instantly gripped my phone so hard my knuckles turned white.

Chloe continued typing: "He told me yesterday that he drove down because he missed me. We stayed in a hotel all night."

"When he left this morning, he even told me he'd come back to see me tonight. I didn't suspect a thing. Honestly, I thought he was such a sweet boyfriend."

"So how did you find out?" someone asked.

"He accidentally left his phone on the bed. When I picked it up to give it back to him, I caught a glimpse of his Instagram following list. I got curious and started clicking on a few profiles. I noticed several girls, but none of them had any chat history on his Snapchat. I thought it was weird. Why would anyone delete all their chats? So I went to their Instagram pages."

Chloe was typing incredibly fast, paragraph after paragraph.

"And guess what? Several of them had cozy, intimate photos with him on their feeds. I scrolled through them, and my heart sank. I wrote down their Instagram handles, reached out to them one by one, and pulled us all into this group."

"So you're the one who uncovered this?"

"Yeah, I added you guys this morning. I thought there would be three or four of us at most. I never expected nine, and honestly, I think there are more. After I added the ninth girl, I saw other female profiles on his list, but he came back before I could write them down."

I stared at the screen, my fingers shaking violently.

This morning.

He was in a hotel room with Chloe this morning.

He spent the morning in bed with another woman, and by evening, he was standing in front of me, telling me we would be together every single day.

He transitioned seamlessly.

"Clara, are you there?" Chloe tagged me in the chat.

"Yes," I typed back.

"Watch out for him. He's a monster. He gave me a necklace and said it was a custom piece. I scanned the barcode on the packaging, and it led to a cheap $9.99 Wish listing. I threw it right back at him."

While I was reading, Liam got up from the table and walked over to my side.

"What's wrong? You've been staring at your phone this whole time."

He leaned over, trying to peek at my screen.

With a sharp "clack", I slammed my phone face down on the table.

Liam was taken aback for a second, but he quickly smiled again.

"So secretive. Are you looking at wedding dresses? Fine, I won't look. Keep it a surprise for me."

"If you're not hungry, don't force yourself. Go get some rest. You seem really off today. Did you not sleep well? I'll clean up and join you in a bit."

He led me to the bedroom door, opened it, and gently pulled back the comforter for me.

After Liam finished washing the dishes, he stayed in the living room for a while.

I heard him rummaging through his suitcase, and then his footsteps started heading toward the bedroom.

"Are you asleep?" he whispered.

I didn't answer.

"Babe," he called out.

"I know you're awake. I can see your phone screen glowing."

I froze.

"Liam," I spoke, my voice sounding incredibly raspy and hollow.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Where were you this morning?"

He paused for a fraction of a second.

"At home, packing."

His tone was perfectly natural.

"I spent the whole morning packing up my apartment. By the time I drove all the way here, it was already evening. Why do you ask?"

I rolled over to face him.

"Look at me," I said.

"I am looking at you."

He smiled, reaching out to stroke my face.

"You are being so strange today. What is going on?"

"Liam, where exactly were you this morning?"

He blinked, his face showing absolutely no signs of guilt.

"I told you, I was at my place packing up my apartment all morning."

He withdrew his hand, sat down on the edge of the bed, and turned slightly away from me.

"Did you see something? Or did someone say something to you?"

"I want to show you something."

I sat up, grabbed my phone, unlocked it, opened the Snapchat group, and turned the screen toward him.