Chapter 3

I frowned. Something about the way she said it sounded wrong.

A lovely weekend. How very familiar.

When I looked up, my husband’s brow was furrowed even more deeply than mine.

He ignored Chloe and came over to me, lowering his voice.

“See? She’s at it again.”

I murmured an acknowledgment and discreetly glanced at the group.

Wonderful. All faces I wasn’t particularly fond of.

Every one of them wearing the same sly expression.

“Play along.”

I spoke quietly.

My husband froze, giving me a puzzled look. Play along with what?

I flicked my eyes toward Chloe, and he immediately understood.

He responded to her.

“Uh... Chloe. Get home safely!”

A few murmurs rose from the group.

Probably more sucking up to Chloe.

Or maybe they were impressed by my husband’s nerve.

His wife was standing right there, and he still dared to flirt openly with his little mistress.

I cleared my throat to signal that it was time to go.

I slipped my arm through his, and he carried my bag. We must have looked like a very loving couple.

We’d barely driven our Tesla out of the underground garage when Chloe stepped into our path.

For safety’s sake, we stopped.

Seizing her chance, she leaned against the side of our car like a sleazy model posing at an auto show.

Outside the window, Chloe gave him a sultry smile.

“Boss, could you give me a ride home tonight?”

Well. She had some nerve.

I was sitting right there, and she’d still chased us down to ask my husband for a ride.

My husband looked at me without saying a word.

Chloe was cautious, too. The earrings she’d deliberately shown me earlier had been replaced with tiny pearl studs.

At some point, she’d also added three little rhinestones beside her eye.

“Oh,” I said, looking at her face without feeling a thing.

“Get in.”

Chloe behaved reasonably well.

She didn’t say anything inappropriate in the car.

She just kept messaging someone on her phone.

Then my husband parked outside a bakery and went in to pick up the cake we’d ordered a few days earlier.

“Mrs. Summers, does he have his phone on silent?”

Out of habit, I took my husband’s phone out of my bag.

I unlocked it with practiced ease.

“Oh, so you’re the one messaging him.”

My finger paused over the screen. I almost laughed when I saw the name he’d saved her under.

“Two-Faced Bitch Who Needs a Reality Check”

Reading Chloe’s messages, I suddenly felt this little show was getting more entertaining by the minute.

“Boss, you hurt me last time.”

“Boss, why are you ignoring me?”

“Boss...”