Page 59 of Parker
“Surely the gate alerts you when someone arrives,” she says.
“It doesn’t work,” I tell her. “It’s always failing. Every time we have it repaired, it crashes again.”
We creep along the gravel and slip behind a tree opposite the floor-to-ceiling living room windows. They’re sitting on the sofa, her head on his shoulder. It looks like a fucking cozy night in. Completely natural.
And suddenly I wonder if it was always her. If I was just the placeholder for a different woman. The rebellion, the excitement, the girl he thought he could fix. Maybe I was never the fairytale, just the detour for a different destination.
The realization hits me square between the eyes. They’ve been having an affair. Joel is in on this set-up too.
From our position, I can only see the back of their heads. But my mind fills in the details. Nausea threatens to take over. Insecurities from years ago burst to the surface.
This was all too good to be true—I knew that from the beginning. It was only a matter of time before my life turned to shit. I’d assumed it would be from my doing, not a bitch with a vendetta.
I turn to Sophie. She raises her eyebrows. “What do you want to do?” she mouths.
I want to saykill the pair of them, but I’ve spent years learning to control my temper and search for the truth. “You go back to the car. I’m going to find out what’s going on.”
“I’ll come with you,” she splutters.
“No, Soph. Go back to the car. I’ll only be a minute.”
She hesitates, obviously not wanting to let me go alone.
“It will be fine,” I say, the confident tone a lie. “But if I’m about to find my husband in the arms of another woman, I don’t need the embarrassment of anyone else being there.”
Turning away from my friend, I stride toward my house in pursuit of the truth.
Chapter twenty-six
Joel & Nicky's Home, Glasgow
Joel
Ebony turned up unannounced ninety minutes ago. I told myself she just wanted to talk, but deep down, I knew better the moment she stepped inside. She had an underlying agenda. I’ve watched her operate in the world of PR for years. I know how ruthless she can be.
We were sitting on the sofa watching a romantic comedy, and she fell asleep with her head on my shoulder. We’ve done this countless times before, but never since I married Nicky. There was a time I thought Ebony liked me, that she wanted to be more than just friends. She’s a married woman, so I assumed I was imagining the signs.
Now, I’m not so sure.
She curled up so naturally beside me, like she used to before I fell head over heels in love with my wife. It unsettled me more than anything.
Her proximity makes me uncomfortable, as if she is trying to create a bridge between us. Deliberately, I had sat on the opposite sofa, but she moved to sit next to me. Her falling asleep was a relief.
I kept glancing over my shoulder, waiting for Nicky to walk in, the guilt an increasing pressure on my chest.
Nicky’s at Sophie’s. I spoke to her friend earlier. She told me Nicky is devastated and confused, still not admitting to stealing the ideas, but the evidence I’ve seen is concrete. My conversation with her at home this afternoon didn’t go as I’d hoped.
If she had owned up to the theft, we could have put our marriage first and moved forward. But I’m now in the precarious position of my wife being under scrutiny in our family business. If she lied about this, what else could she be hiding?
Two men are tailing her every move and reporting back. My phone beeped ten minutes ago with an update, but I haven’t been able to move to read it, not wanting to wake my visitor. The last thing I need tonight is to be fending off the wayward advances from my friend.
The revelation devastated my mother. Ebony reveled in everyone cowing to her and apologizing. When the board asked why she hadn’t brought this to our attention before, her reasoning was one hundred percent believable.
I didn’t feel I would be taken seriously. She’s the wife of the finance director and head of the family.
A muttering of agreement had echoed around the table. Why are you telling us now, they asked.
My marriage has broken down. It made me realize I must do the right thing. I needed to ensure I was secure.
