Chapter 1

Opening the package, I found myself staring at a pair of unfamiliar cartoon door-handle covers.

I checked every platform. No such order existed anywhere in my accounts.

I flipped over the delivery slip. The order had been placed by my husband.

The note read: 【For my darling wife. Now that you're expecting, you must never catch a chill.】

My heart lifted, and I glanced at the test results on the coffee table.

I wondered to myself: I never told him. How could he know I was pregnant?

Just as I sat there happy, a phone call from the courier dropped me into ice water.

"I'm sorry, Miss Fox, the door-handle covers you just picked up were sent to you by mistake."

When I heard him read out that address with my own ears, a chill spread through me.

So my husband had gone and built himself another home behind my back.

1.

"Miss Fox, are you still there? This package was ordered by Mr. Walker. I don't know what went wrong with the system, but it got routed to your phone number."

I went over the delivery slip carefully.

The order was placed by my husband, Fred Walker. The address was my address. The phone number was mine.

"Mr. Walker has already contacted the delivery company. Would you mind bringing the package back to the pickup point when you have a moment?"

I paused, wanting to ask something, but I didn't know where to begin.

"Mr. Walker's wife recently had a baby. The package is some things for after the delivery, for her recovery."

"Miss Fox, these things aren't worth much and they're no use to you. Would you mind finding the time to drop them off?"

I looked at the door-handle covers and turned over what the courier had just said.

Besides me, Fred somehow had another wife.

I gathered my thoughts. "I've already opened it, so let me confirm with you. It's a pair of door-handle covers, right?"

He typed fast on the other end. "Yes, the thick, custom cartoon door-handle covers. Mr. Walker said they'd be embroidered with the initials of his and his wife's names."

I tore open the packaging and looked closely.

Sure enough, right there on the covers were the letters FW and MP.

My mind raced through the initials, but Fred's circle and mine barely overlapped.

I couldn't place this Mrs. Walker right away.

"What's the address he ordered it to? Could you give it to me?"

The courier hesitated for a moment. "Miss Fox, you only need to bring the package back. As for the rest, we'll re-route it ourselves."

I took a photo of the pair of covers.

"I'm missing a package of my own. There are important documents inside. I suspect the system misrouted it to Mr. Walker's delivery address."

The courier let out a short "Oh," and the keyboard clattered fast.

"Miss Fox, could you give me the tracking number? I'll look it up for you."

I answered quickly. "A friend sent it, so I don't have the number, but what's inside is very important."

"It's my personal ID documents. If they're lost, I'll have to call the police."

The courier drew in a breath and quickly made a call. "Look up the packages for the past few days at 11 Cloud Ridge Lane, Building 1, Unit 6008. Check carefully whether any of them is a standard-mail envelope with ID documents inside."

While he was on the phone, I quickly wrote down the address.

Stroke by stroke, I finished the line, and then I froze.

11 Cloud Ridge Lane, Building 1, Unit 6008.

How could it be here.

I pressed on in disbelief. "Did you find it? My ID card is in there. I need it this afternoon. Did the system misroute it?"

The courier apologized. "Miss Fox, all three branches near Mr. Walker's home checked, and none of them found the package. Mr. Walker may have already picked it up. Would you like us to contact him for you?"

I added, "Are you sure you checked thoroughly? Are there really only three branches nearby? Did you ask all of them?"

He assured me. "Every branch near 11 Cloud Ridge Lane reported back. There's no record of your package."

"All right, I understand." I made my voice sound disappointed.

"Miss Fox, let me register it for now. Please bring Mr. Walker's package over first. He's in a bit of a hurry on his end."

I looked at the three words of Fred Walker's name on the delivery slip and at 11 Cloud Ridge Lane, familiar and yet strange.

I said flatly, "I'll go right away. But are you sure Fred Walker lives at 11 Cloud Ridge Lane?"

He typed on the other end. "Over the past year and a half, Mr. Walker has placed 128 orders using this address. The order address has always been here."

After I hung up on the courier, I sat on the carpet and let out a cold laugh.

Well done, Fred. You really are something.

You actually dared to hide a woman away at 11 Cloud Ridge Lane.

And you hid her there for a year and a half.