“Grace, this isn’t what it looks like.”
I almost laughed.
Instead, my gaze drifted toward Vanessa, who had followed him at a cautious distance.
Not toward her face.
Toward the small silver-edged corporate travel card protruding from the clutch she held against her hip.
I recognized it immediately.
I had approved the original company card design years earlier.
So that was how he had paid for paradise.
I lifted my eyes.
“Are you going to introduce us properly, Ethan?”
Vanessa looked away.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Can we discuss this somewhere private?”
“We already have a private meeting scheduled.”
His gaze moved toward Declan.
“With him?”
Declan remained silent.
Ethan turned back to me.
“Grace, you have no idea what you’re interfering with.”
For a moment, I saw the husband I had known.
The man who could make a warning sound like concern.
The man who always expected me to retreat.
But there was another man inside that familiar face now.
Someone frightened.
Not of losing me.
Of losing control.
The elevator doors opened.
Ethan glanced at the folder.
“What’s that?”
I held it tighter.
“Something you should recognize.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Grace…”
“Tell me something first.”
“Not here.”
“Who signed my name?”
He went completely still.
I watched understanding spread across his face.
And suddenly I knew.
The affair had surprised him.
My arrival had terrified him.
Doch der schwarze Ordner hatte ihm klar gemacht, dass die eigentliche Gefahr nicht von seiner betrogenen Ehefrau ausging.
Es war der Geschäftspartner, von dem er vergessen hatte, dass er immer noch einen Teil seines Imperiums besaß.
“Grace”, flüsterte er, “bitte sag mir, dass du diese Dokumente Pierce nicht gezeigt hast.”
Ich habe nicht geantwortet.
Denn zum ersten Mal in unserer Ehe wollte ich, dass Ethan erlebt, wie es sich anfühlt, nicht zu wissen, was als Nächstes passieren wird.
