Page 75 of Curvy Dirty Omega

There wasn’t much else I could ask her without being overly direct.

Frankie was better at subtly guiding people to give her the answers she wanted. It was flawless actually. Most had no idea what they were even saying until it was too late, but I wasn’t Frankie and there was no easy way to ask Melinda what I needed to know without pissing her off.

Maybe I could make that work for me.

I looked back down at my notepad and started sketching the face people paid millions to use, focusing on the shadows instead of the golden sunlight making this whole thing feel like I was watching an old romance movie that was about to turn into a psychological thriller.

“Were you happy with Gideon?”

My question pissed her off enough the scent blockers were having a really hard time covering up her pheromones. “Of course I was happy. What kind of question is that?”

“So, you weren’t upset when he had to stay late at the office?”

“It wasn’t easy, but I knew when we got married it would be like this. He’d make sure to be home on the weekends so I was happy.”

Today was Saturday. Was that why everything was so clean and sterile?

“Have you ever had an affair?” I looked up and watched her face transform into an ugly expression that was all too familiar.

Hatred.

“How dare you?”

“Let me remind you, I don’t care if you cheated on him. I’m simply asking.” I made a small note in the corner of the paper without looking down, writing down all the nuances of her scent for Frankie.

“I’ve never had an affair.” Melinda didn’t look away from me when she said it, but she did place that grape on her tongue to bite into it slowly like she wished she was dining on my eyeballs instead of fruit.

“Then why can I smell the pheromones of someone who isn’t Gideon in this house?”

It was a lie, but her face paled and she choked on the grape. I didn’t bother trying to help her and watched with detachment at the way she fumbled for the glass of water to swallow it down. I’d been guessing, but my hunch had been right.

This house was too fucking clean and sterile.

“Who are you having an affair with?”

“You fucking bitch.”

I looked down at the notepad to hide the instant fury that always came over me whenever someone spat that word at me. My grip on the mechanical pencil was so tight it might just snap the damn thing if I didn’t calm down.

“Are you going to tell me or not? I have a lot to do and I’d like to end things here if you have no plans to answer.”

Flipping to the next page, I made another note to check her medical files instead of asking her about that milky scent. If she was pregnant, it could be Gideon’s, but it might be someone else’s. Confronting her about that now when she was all worked up didn’t seem like a good idea.

I would need a foolproof reason to ask her that question if I wanted to get more information.

“I’d like for you to leave now,” Melinda gritted out, standing so abruptly her chair fell over backwards.

“Of course.” Closing the notepad, I stood and grabbed my phone before heading in the direction Liam had gone.

He was staring at a large romantic painting of Melinda with his hands clasped behind his back when I found him. “You didn’t even make it ten minutes.”

“Told you.” I needed to get the fuck out of this empty house before I burned the whole thing down.

It was pathetic how much a single word could affect me, but who was I kidding? My whole life was an illusion, not just this weird outing with Liam.

Pretending everything was okay just wasn’t working anymore.

CHAPTER 26