Chapter 4 - Sleeping with a Stranger
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Those twenty-one days were a psychological torture I would not wish upon my worst enemy.
Every night, I lay in our king-sized bed, staring at the ceiling while Matthias slept soundly beside me. I listened to the steady, rhythmic sound of his breathing, wondering if the man I had married was merely a chronic cheater, or something infinitely more monstrous.
When he kissed my forehead in the mornings and whispered that he loved me, my skin crawled. I had to force myself to smile, to ask about his day, to pretend the weight of my unborn daughter wasn’t a constant reminder of the shattered family we were about to bring her into.
I hated the silence. I hated the uncertainty of not knowing which secret mattered more. The affair was breaking my heart, fracturing the future I had envisioned for my child. But that crude map with the red circles made me legitimately afraid for my life.
I spent my shifts at the hospital functioning on autopilot, my mind obsessively trying to connect Fiona Vale, the $18,600 diamonds, and the ominous phrase "acceptable parameters."
Now, standing in the warmth of the Dre family ballroom, the pretending was finally over.
Matthias stepped closer to me, his jaw clenching as he tried to regain control of the narrative. We were surrounded by the elite investors and high-powered executives connected to the Hensley Development acquisition—a multi-million dollar real estate deal Matthias had been ruthlessly negotiating for the past eight months.
“Fiona is here because she handles corporate communications for the Hensley deal,” Matthias insisted, his voice dropping into a harsh, patronizing whisper. “She is a vital part of my team.”
I rested one hand protectively over my pregnant belly.
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“Tonight needs to go smoothly, Matthias,” I told him, holding his gaze without blinking.
His eyes narrowed. The realization finally hit him that the woman standing in front of him wasn't oblivious anymore.
