Chapter 4 She Won't Be Married Much Longer

"What do you think we are, then? Partners in crime?" Rhett said with a crooked smile.

Silence settled over Melanie.

Spending the entire day with Lacey eased something inside her, and by the time evening came, she felt lighter than she had in weeks.

The moment she stepped into her house, her computer let out a sharp notification sound. She kept the towel wrapped around her damp hair and clicked open a chat box on a website she barely recognized.

"That job you gave me? Too simple. Her computer had no protection at all. I've already emailed every photo you asked for."

Without hesitation, Melanie logged into her email and found a zipped folder waiting for her. Inside were countless photos of Gabriel and Chelsey.

Frame after frame showed them tangled together, even lying in the same bed, and the sight hit her like a punch to the chest.

They hadn't held back at all. Worse, they'd managed to keep it hidden from her this whole time.

Everything she once believed about her life with Gabriel suddenly felt fake, like a story she'd told herself just to survive.

She tried to blink away the heat building in her eyes, but her body locked up, and she sat frozen in front of the screen.

A faint smile tugged at her lips, yet a crushing weight pressed against her chest and made it hard to breathe.

When she finally steadied herself, she transferred the zipped folder onto a flash drive and reopened the chat.

"Thanks for your help. Catch you later."

After powering down the computer, she lay flat on her bed and stared into the dark, but sleep refused to come.

Early the next morning, she barely had time to set her bag down at the office before her assistant hurried over. "Melanie, they're here," her assistant said.

Keeping her attention on the script in her hands, Melanie didn't look up, and she failed to notice the worry written all over her assistant's face.

"There's been a small issue. Miss Wallace tripped and got hurt. The chief editor says the interview has to be pushed back thirty minutes," her assistant added.

Finishing the last of her coffee in one swallow, Melanie gave a quiet nod.

As soon as she stepped inside, a dry smile curved across her lips when she took in the picture before her.

Across the room, Gabriel sat close to the woman, and the worry in his eyes was impossible to miss.

So he wasn't even trying to hide it anymore. Was he bold enough to flirt with his wife watching? Did he honestly believe she couldn't see what was happening?

Maybe he assumed she cared about him so deeply that she'd swallow her pride and accept anything he did. What a joke.

"Mel," Gabriel said the second he noticed Melanie. He quickly shifted his gaze away from Chelsey and walked toward Melanie with breakfast in his hands, a warm smile fixed on his face.

Irritation flickered across Melanie's face. "Why are you here?" she asked.

Before he could speak, Rhett cut in with a playful tone, "He's here to say sorry, obviously. At sunrise, he dragged me to the east side to line up for bagels, and then he rushed to the west side to grab that sandwich you used to love back in school. At least take a bite."

With that, he pushed the breakfast toward her, still smiling.

Instead of reaching for it, Melanie looked down at the food and then lifted her eyes toward Chelsey, who sat stiffly a short distance away.

That thoughtful breakfast was nothing but a distraction. His real reason for showing up was sitting right over there.

There was a time when a gesture like this would've softened her. Now it only made her stomach turn.

"I've already eaten," she said, her voice flat and distant.

"So we woke up at sunrise and stood in line for this-and you say no? Cold, Mel. Real cold," Rhett said with a grin, even though he understood why she was upset with Gabriel.

Before Melanie could snap back at him, Gabriel spoke first. "Listen to you. Keep talking like that and you'll scare every woman away. Or are you still holding out for that married woman of yours? Planning to wait until she's free?"

Everyone was aware that for the past ten years, Rhett had carried deep feelings for a woman, and she had remained the only one in his heart. She was already married, and from everything they could see, her marriage was a happy one. Because of that, he'd never seriously dated anyone else and chose to wait in silence.

Lifting his coffee cup, Rhett took a slow sip. His eyes flickered toward Melanie for a brief second before he looked away again. "She won't be married much longer," he said calmly.

Both of them stared at him in surprise.

After all this time, he finally had his chance?

"Don't tell me you're about to step in as the third party," Gabriel said, and disappointment was clear in his voice. "That's not like you."

"Relax. I wouldn't do that. She's the one who asked for the divorce."

He left it at that, and Gabriel didn't push any further.

Before long, Gabriel's focus drifted elsewhere again.

Across the room, Chelsey was carefully tending to a small cut on her hand, her brows drawn together as if the pain was unbearable.

Watching him watch another woman made something bitter twist inside Melanie. It was only a small scratch, yet he reacted as if something serious had happened. When she'd been in a car accident and fractured bones, he hadn't even shown up for her surgery.

Later, he'd claimed an urgent company meeting had kept him away, and she'd actually believed him. She'd even told him not to overwork himself.

Thinking about it now made her want to laugh at her own stupidity.

He hadn't been busy with work at all. He'd been busy sharing a bed with someone else.

Anger and humiliation mixed inside her, and she despised herself for letting him fool her for so long.

Cold resolve settled over her face as she tore her gaze away. "I've got work to handle, so you'll have to excuse me," she said evenly.

After clipping on her microphone, she walked toward Chelsey and held out a glass of water. "Good morning, Miss Wallace."