Page 16 of Unmatched

There’s “Isabella,” the alluring Hispanic woman. Or maybe he’d prefer “Rachel,” the busty redhead. Or hit a little closer to home with “Madison,” the blonde. My free hand curls into a fist in my lap. None of their profile pictures are very clear—they’re either highly filtered, the camera is centered on their cleavage, or they’re peeking through a mane of hair—but they all strike me as genuine. Some of their descriptions claim they’re frustrated in their marriages too. Some of them just don’t seem to care and want to break the rules. I suppose any one of them could be with my husband right now. Solving his problems, if not their own.

I push my dinner plate farther away on the counter.

Caprice is next to me, scrolling on her phone, jotting things in her notebook.

“So, this blog series you’re working on,” I say, my voice coming out dry and hoarse. “Are you going to, like, name names? How are you going to find out who people are?”

“It’ll be an exposé, yeah. The website is really just a starting point. I have a PI friend who’s helping me track some of the dudes down, trying to get photos of them sneaking around. It’s actually kind of stupid how easy some of them have been to find.”

“No kidding.”

She presses her lips into a grim line. “Anyway, a lot of dirt can be found online, but I’ve had to get creative to find out what happens beyond the site. I’ve gotten in touch with some of the women, offering them anonymity in exchange for their narratives.”

“You are good,” I say on an exhale.

She grins. “I’m also considering going undercover. I’ve already got the profile, obviously, but I might be able to take it to another level if I pose as one of the girls and see how much I can get some of these guys to say and do.”

I furrow my brow at her. “That sounds dangerous.”

“I’m not actually going to meet any of them in person.” She laughs, waving away my concern. “There’s a chat feature on the site. I can do messages, phone calls, or even video. I just need to draw them into an exchange where they think something’s going to happen so I have more to report on.”

“Okay, good.”

“I can’t confirm it yet, but I suspect I’ve found at least four political figures and several high-profile businessmen.”

“Wow.” I sit back on my stool. “And you’re okay knowing you’re going to piss off some powerful people?”

“It’s why I got into journalism.” She sniffs. “Anyway, nothing’s going to happen to anyone who doesn’t deserve it.”

I look back down at my phone, navigating to the list of favorite dudes and seeing them in a somewhat different light. Now they’ve become a list of victims—just not the kind you feel sorry for. I pause when I scroll past my husband’s face, thinking over Caprice’s plan, an idea forming in the back of my mind.

“Look, I don’t want this to get messy for you,” Caprice says, flipping through pages in her notebook. “I’m going to talk to my lawyer friends and try to feel out if we’ve got enough on Anton with just his profile for you to take him to court. There’s a chance we’ll need to dig deeper, though, figure out more about what he’s done. I can ask my PI?—”

“No.” The sharpness of my voice startles me, but suddenly my brain is churning.

“Okay...” She looks up from her notes and gently asks, “Are you thinking you might be open to forgive him?”

I shake my head quickly. My empty stomach roils, and now I’m glad I haven’t eaten. “I—I just want to do it myself.”

She furrows her brow. “Not sure I follow?”

I sit up straighter, the details coming together as I speak. “You want an exposé? I’ll get it for you.”

She purses her lips, but her eyes tell me to continue.

I fold my arms over my chest. “If someone’s going to get their hands dirty looking at the dark corners of my marriage, it’s going to be me.”

“Lydia.” She covers her mouth with her hand. “I was never going to write about you and Anton.”

I curl my lip. “If he’s been unfaithful, I give you permission to. Anonymously. But I don’t want some other person finding that out and telling me. I want to be the one to confront him myself.”

“How are you going to do that?” she asks, raising a skeptical brow.

I grab my phone, pull up the generic Unmatched profile she created, and start inputting my own details.

Sex: Female

Age: 29

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