Chapter 2

Three minutes later, Giles pushed the door open, cold air trailing in with him.

He looked at me through the dark, guilt sitting in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Wrennie. I spent the afternoon helping Beryl move into her new place. I was worn out and fell asleep on the couch. Did you wait long for me?"

"Where did she move to?" I asked it lightly, though I'd already more or less guessed.

Giles was quiet for two seconds. His voice dropped, went rough.

"I promised her parents I'd look after Beryl from now on. To make it easier, she moved into the unit downstairs."

I laughed, one short breath of it.

Right below our wedding suite was the wedding suite for him and Beryl.

Giles really had ground my dignity down into the dust.

He'd never once thought about whether it would hurt me.

Never once thought about how doing this would make everyone see me.

He only had that one line. To make it easier.

I looked away from him, my chest so tight I could barely breathe.

He must have noticed, because he stepped closer, his voice softening into something coaxing.

"Don't sit here sulking. I'll take you to get your wedding photos done tomorrow. You used to bring it up all the time, didn't you?"

The man who'd spent the day helping Beryl try on wedding gowns.

Now stood here, easy and unbothered, offering to take me for wedding photos.

I stood in the dark, worn out in a way I couldn't put into words.

Early the next morning, Giles brought over a bridal magazine.

He'd just told me to pick a style I liked when the doorbell rang.

I moved away from him and got up to answer it.

But when the door opened and I saw who was standing there, I froze.

Beryl's parents stood in the doorway with fruit in their hands and smiles on their faces.

The moment they saw me, the smiles vanished.

Two seconds passed, then Beryl's mother flared up, her voice thick with fury.

"How can a woman have so little shame? You wait until my daughter's out of the house, then march right in with that big belly of yours. What are you trying to pull!"

"You've hounded Giles for years, throwing yourself at him to be his mistress. They're about to get married and you still won't stop haunting him! Have you no shame at all!"

I stood where I was, the nails I'd driven into my palm trembling without stop.

I opened my mouth and got out, hoarsely, "I…"

I wanted to say this was my home.

Wanted to say Giles and I had been together seven years, and I was never the one who'd chased anyone down.

But a slap landed hard across my face.

My head snapped to the side, my ear ringing.

Beryl's mother raised her hand again. "I've put up with you long enough. Your parents never taught you shame, so as your elder, today I'll teach you a lesson you won't forget!"

Giles came out of the bedroom at the noise.

When he saw the handprint on my face, his hand shook.

I looked at him with one last, empty scrap of hope.

Hoping he'd say one word in my defense.

But after a moment of silence, like he had countless times before, he looked away.

In that moment, even disappointment felt like too much.

I lifted my head and looked at Beryl's parents, who kept calling me a mistress.

Each word came out sharp and clear.

"I've never stooped to wrecking anyone's family. The real mistress is your daughter—"

Before I could finish, Giles shoved me, hard.

I lost my footing and stumbled back two steps, my belly slamming into the corner of the shoe cabinet, catching myself only when my back hit the door frame.

The living room went quiet for a beat.

I opened my mouth to say something and couldn't get a single word out.

A fine, twisting pain spread low in my belly, and cold sweat broke out across my forehead.

Giles went white in an instant. He shifted his feet, meaning to come steady me.

But the step he'd started to take died under the eyes of Beryl's parents.

In the end he said,

"Wren, have some self-respect. Stop coming here to cling to me."

"I have a girlfriend. We're getting married soon."