Chapter 1

On our fifth wedding anniversary, I found a diary Derek had dropped under the bed. Curiosity gnawed at me as I opened it.

"Three months ago, I was too busy making out with Tiffany while driving. I crashed. The woman in the other car died."

"If this gets out, Aurora will find out I cheated."

"Panicked. I poured the liquor from my trunk down her throat and all over the car. Made it look like she was driving drunk."

I knew Derek had a habit. He'd write his deepest thoughts in a diary to vent, then burn it.

Three months ago, he'd grabbed my identical diary by mistake and burned it.

My heart hammered as I read the final lines:

"That girl was a stain. She's dead, she has no future, but we do."

"I just wiped her away. God will forgive me, right?"

Some "stain"! I clenched my fists.

My sister, Lily, whom I'd been frantically searching for, was actually murdered by him and his mistress.

Derek pushed the door open, a custom cake in his hands. He set it down and moved to hug me from behind.

"Darling, I'm so sorry I'm late."

"Happy 5th Anniversary," the frosting read. The words burned my eyes.

His excuses buzzed in my ear. "Aurora, I waited two hours at your favorite bakery. Nothing could keep me from our anniversary."

I frowned and pushed him away, my voice cold. "You've been with another woman."

He froze, panic flashing across his face. "What? No!"

But my nose has always been sensitive. Derek never wore cologne. Yet now, he carried a strange, cloying sweetness.

Or maybe it had been there for three months. I'd just been too frantic, too blinded by my search for my sister, to notice.

I met his plea with silence. My stillness seemed to agitate him further.

"Aurora, believe me! I'd never cheat. Have you forgotten? When you were misdiagnosed with leukemia, I was ready to give you every bone in my body. When they said you couldn't conceive, I got a vasectomy."

His voice was thick with passion, the corners of his eyes reddening with feigned sincerity. In the past, that look would have shattered me. Now, it left me cold..

I just lifted the photo and placed it in front of him.

"What's this?"

Derek's smile vanished the instant he saw it. He went pale.

"Who is this girl?"

"My sister. Lily Hayes."

Lily had been studying abroad for six years and was due to return this year. Derek had never met her. But that night, on her way to find me, she had an accident.

Three months ago, the police called to say my sister had died in a drunk driving accident.

"Impossible," I'd told them, clutching the phone. "She's allergic to alcohol. She never drinks."

But the officer insisted. "There were alcohol bottles scattered at the scene, and her tox screen came back positive for a high alcohol level..."

I didn't hear the rest before I rushed out of the house.

For days, I investigated in secret. The private detectives found nothing.

It wasn't until I found Derek's diary under the bed that I realized the secret he'd been hiding from me, the one that had tormented me so much.

"Why didn't you tell me your sister was back in the country, darling?" Derek asked, his voice dripping with feigned concern. "I haven't even had the chance to meet her. I would have been planning a welcome party, not to mention getting her a proper gift..."

Derek stood up, his face ashen. ""Where is she?" he stuttered. "Should I go get her?"

"It's okay. I already found her."

Derek's face went pale. "What did you say? Found... found her?"

Derek desperately tried to suppress the guilt in his eyes, forcing a smile that looked worse than a grimace. He'd sunk her car, with her body inside, to destroy the evidence.

I nodded. "Three months ago, she was murdered. And I've found the killer."