down at my hands, my eyes hanging on the wedding band on my finger, the diamond winking at me to the rhythm of my trembling hand. “No,” I said quietly.
“Good,” she said with an edge of triumph. “I’m glad you see it my way.”
“No.” The word was stronger than before, my chin lifting to level her. “I can’t have it both ways. So, you win.” I stood, reaching for my bag with my heart thundering. “I quit.”
The only surprise was in her eyes as they widened and the slightest smudge of color on her cheeks. “If you quit, I’ll tell Tommy everything you’ve told me.”
My jaw clenched. “Go ahead. I haven’t told you anything.”
She rose like an angel of death, hands braced on the surface of her desk. “Do you really think that matters, Amelia? Do you still believe that the truth matters? You of all people should know better. No one cares about the truth. It’s about what they want to believe.”
My nostrils flared as I dragged a stinging breath through my nose. “Tell him what you want, Janessa. He won’t believe you, not over me.”
Her smile was cold and serpentine. “I suppose we’ll see.”
“Yes, I suppose we will,” I shot, leaving her with a final hateful stare before turning on my heel and storming out of that building to the cycling tune of a single question.
How will I tell him the truth?
I only hoped I was right. He had to believe me.
If not, we were both lost.
❖
Tommy
My brow quirked when the doorbell rang. The first thought in my mind was of Amelia.
I hurried to the door behind Gus, whose barking echoed off every smooth surface. She was due home any second. I wondered if maybe she’d forgotten her keys, but as I passed the dish where we dropped them, it only held mine.
I opened the door with a smile that slid off my face and onto the floor the second I saw Vivienne Thorne standing on my stoop with a smug smile on her face.
Gus sniffed her, and she jerked away, brushing him back with enough force to convince him to obey, although he did so with a low growl.
I knew exactly how he felt.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
That superior smile curled tighter. “Oh, just wanted to swing by. Where’s your wife?” she asked, brushing past me before I could stop her.
“Oh, she’s just down at the none of your fucking business, Vivienne.”
She turned in the entryway. “She’s run off to Janessa again, hasn’t she? Telling her boss all your secrets.” A laugh, a horrible laugh that made me want to grab her around the neck and throttle her quiet. “That’s all anyone wants from you, Tommy. You know that as well as I do. You should just come clean, clear the record. Admit it’s all fake. Admit they were all fake. Admit your whole life is a lie so we can sigh our collective I knew its and get on with our lives.”
I shook my head, my hands flexing and relaxing at my sides as I tried to grip the reins of self-control. “You’re dumber than I thought if you ever believed you could goad me into telling you a single fucking thing. I’ll tell you what. Grab your pen and paper and write this down—I love my wife, and you’re not original. You’re the same as every other bitch with an agenda that I’ve been ignoring for years.”
Unfazed, she smiled. “And your sweet little Amelia could never be a bitch with an agenda, could she?”
The rage in my chest flared. I stepped into her, hooked a hand on her upper arm, and forced her toward the door. “You don’t know one fucking thing about her.”
“I know plenty. Like the fact that she’s writing for Janessa, not for you.”
The certainty in her voice struck me. I stopped dead with Vivienne half on the stoop. “I don’t believe you.”
“You always were a sucker. Did you really think she’d tell Janessa no? She wants your story, and Amelia will give it to her. In fact, I have it on good authority that she just handed over a stack of notes all about you.”
“Liar,” I spat. “You’d say anything to hurt us, to break us. No one’s buying your line, Vivienne. So do us all a favor and give it up, for Christ’s sake.”
Her eyes were cool, too calm to be bravado. “How about you ask her when she gets home, Tommy? Since you’re so sure of yourself