Chapter 2

"Mrs. Vance? What are you doing here?"

Tiffany’s sweet, high-pitched voice snapped me back to reality.

Panic flashed across her face. She quickly knelt down to help me gather the scattered papers.

Right then, Julian came rushing out of the office building.

Seeing the mess on the ground, he frowned. But instead of walking toward me, he went straight to Tiffany.

"What happened?"

He grabbed Tiffany’s arm, his voice laced with a tense panic I had never heard before.

Tiffany’s eyes instantly welled up with tears. She shook her head.

"It’s nothing, really. Mrs. Vance just..."

Only then did Julian turn his annoyed gaze to me.

"Fiona, what is wrong with you? Why are you being so clumsy?"

"Why does she have voice access to this car?" I asked, pointing directly at the brand-new SUV.

Julian froze.

He let go of Tiffany and stepped closer to me. The annoyance on his face melted into his signature gentle smile. He lowered his voice.

"Tiffany had a family emergency, and I had to let her borrow the car. I just set up a temporary profile for her."

"It was just for convenience, Fiona. It's a temporary guest setting. Don't overthink it."

"A temporary setting?"

I squeezed the papers in my hand, repeating his words.

"But she literally said 'passenger maternity lounge mode' and 'personalized profile.' You call that temporary?"

Julian choked on his words.

A flash of irritation crossed his eyes, but he quickly covered it up.

"Fiona, you must have misheard her. She said 'cloud-saved driving mode.' The voice recognition system in this car has been acting up lately."

"She’s just a young girl fresh out of college. How could she possibly be pregnant?"

He said it so confidently, so righteously.

He was treating me like an idiot. Did he really think I was hallucinating?

"Julian, do you honestly think I’m that stupid?"

Tiffany chimed in from the side, looking utterly helpless.

"Mrs. Vance, I have a bit of an accent, so maybe that caused the mix-up. Mr. Vance was just being kind enough to help me when I was in a rush."

She called him "Mr. Vance," but they were practically finishing each other's sentences.

Watching them play their little roles made my chest tighten with a suffocating anger.

When we got home, Julian went back to his usual doting self, acting as if nothing had happened. He even voluntarily did all the chores.

That night, he wrapped his arms around me from behind, kissing my neck.

"Babe, don't be mad anymore. I promise I won't set up temporary profiles for anyone else ever again, okay?"

I didn't say a word.

While he was in the shower, I grabbed the car keys and went downstairs alone.

I sat in the driver's seat. The faint, sweet scent of another woman’s perfume had not yet faded.

I took a deep breath, mimicked Tiffany’s soft tone, and spoke to the console.

"Hello."

The car’s system responded with a cold, robotic voice:

"Identity unrecognized. Please use a registered voice profile or key fob to operate."

It felt like a knife had plunged straight into my heart.