Page 74 of The Truth in My Lies (Secrets of Suburbi 1)

“Night!” he responded.

“You’re not coming?” How was I supposed to catch him in the act if he refused to even be in the same room as me?

“I’m a little busy, Adeline. There’s a lot to do before Wednesday.”

At least that much was true. He was being uncooperative. So he had just made my week a lot harder. If he kept this up, I’d have no choice but to kill him.

I smiled as I wandered upstairs. Sunday. Monday. Tuesday. Death Day. My week wasn’t looking so bad. I just needed to survive one more day of him.

It took me a long time to get ready for bed. For some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about the safe. Even though I knew my husband was just messing with my head. I sat down on the bed and stared at the camera.

Maybe I was imagining it, but it was like I could feel Ben watching. I lifted up my phone and sent him a text wishing him a goodnight before sliding under my covers.

My phone buzzed on my nightstand. I lifted it up to see a text from Ben.

“Goodnight, Addy. Everything’s going to be okay, I promise.”

He promises. He was young and naïve and so freaking wonderful. I turned off the light and rolled over onto my side.

My eyelids felt heavy but my mind was still racing. I had been trying passwords I thought my husband might use. I hadn’t tried any that I thought I might use. He’s lying, Addy. I squeezed my eyes shut. Why would I believe the word of my husband over my own memory?

***

A knock on the door made me yawn. “You get it,” I mumbled and reached over for my husband. But the sheets were empty.

Another knock made me sit up. The bed was perfectly made on my husband’s side. He had never come to sleep. I rubbed my eyes and climbed out of bed.

When my feet reached the bottom stair I froze. The mailman smiled at me as he handed my husband a huge package. A package with Amazon tape wrapped around it. What the hell was my package doing here? It was supposed to be two business days. And it was Sunday. When had packages started coming on Sundays?

It was almost like the mailman could feel my distress. Like he enjoyed torturing me. His smile grew.

I narrowed my eyes at him. What happened to our understanding? We had a routine. He always just left packages on the front porch.

But it didn’t really matter. It wasn’t his fault that Amazon had lost their damn minds. Sunday packages. Completely preposterous.

“Have a good day,” the mailman said to my husband and walked away. He probably had no idea that he had just ruined my whole day.

I wished that Ben and I had thought to put cameras in the foyer. The tiles were cold on my feet as I quickly walked toward the kitchen.

“What is this?”

I turned back to my husband. “What is what?” Playing dumb was the worst idea ever. What was I doing?

“This.” He kicked the package with his foot.

I thought of all the murderous valuables. “Don’t!”

He folded his arms across his chest. “So clearly you know what it is. Open it up.”

“I didn’t realize it was coming today. When did they start delivering packages on Sundays? Mailmen need a day off.”

“Adeline, what’s in the package?”

For the first time I realized how tired he looked. His hair was matted on the side like he had fallen asleep on something hard. There were dark circles under his eyes. Something was definitely bothering him. He was hiding something. The reason why we were moving. He’s running.

“Adeline!”

“A present. It’s a Christmas present for you, honey.”

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