Page 32 of His Collateral Wife

Walk like a zombie to my sleeper cabin.

And start crying as soon as I lock the door.

Traveling around Europe by train has also been on my bucket list of impossible dreams, but my heart is too broken to feel anything outside pain.

Please, God. Please.

I can't remember feeling this lost. The last thing I'd ever want is to leave the life I have with Calixte. But if I stayed, I'd either have to kill him or die trying. It's the only way my father would stop sending me feline murder notes for good.

So what now, God?

I don't know what to do.

Please help me.

My body involuntarily curls in a fetal position as I pray, and I keep praying until I fall asleep in a state of exhaustion.

When I wake up, it's still dark outside---

But I'm no longer alone.

Calixte.

I sit up so fast that the whole room spins for a second. But when he tries to reach for me, I immediately rear back, and his handsome face turns stoic as he lets his arm fall back against his side.

"How did you find me?" I whisper.

"I never lost you."

Impossible.

Drugging people was one of the "skills" my father forced me to learn at a young age. I triple-checked everything, and I know there's no way I could have made a mistake.

"You'd need to use a bit more than you did to make me lose consciousness."

My confusion clears even as terror fills my heart.

What now?

Could he have possibly figured everything out already?

And is he after me because of it?

"Why do you want to go back to him?" my husband demands.

"I don't."

"So why are you leaving me?"

"Because I have to. I have no choice---"

"Because of the cats."

My head jerks up at the flatness of his tone.

Impossible, I think again, but this time I'm starting to feel hysterical. How could he have known? How?

"I read your diary. Remember?"

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