Chapter 3

Eliza Moran

Cohen didn't come home that night. The empty chair across from me felt like judgment. I watched the candles burn down, a knot forming in my stomach.

We'd once talked about children, about a family beyond his career. We'd imagined names, nurseries. Those dreams, once vivid, now felt like faded photographs. The romantic dinner, meant to celebrate us, became a painful reminder of what we'd lost.

He'd kissed my forehead-absent, quick-and left me with a cold meal. He walked away from me, from us, with terrifying ease.

As the door shut, bitter clarity hit: Kenzie was never just an assistant. She was a wedge, carefully placed to dismantle my place in Cohen's life, and I'd been too trusting, too naive to see it. Her presence seeped into every sacred corner of our life.

Sleep didn't come. My dreams were fractured memories: stepping off the plane in Boston three years earlier, hopeful. Cohen waiting at the gate, smiling, arms open. He pulled me close.

"My brilliant curator," he whispered, voice full of tenderness I no longer recognized. "You sacrificed so much. I'll make it up to you. This is our new beginning."

He'd held my hand, thumb brushing my skin. His eyes had shown love and gratitude. He'd seemed sorry to uproot me, committed to our future. I'd believed him completely.

Then Kenzie appeared in my dream-also at the airport, trailing behind Cohen. My memory filled in: she'd "coincidentally" flown with us, relocating for his project. Cohen introduced her immediately, bright and overly eager.

"She gave up everything for this project," Cohen said, hand on her shoulder. "Real sacrifice. She'll be vital."

In my dream, Kenzie held a permanent resident card, a university ID, an apartment code. The dream blurred: she wore my clothes, slept in my bed, laughed with Cohen. Her presence felt suffocating.

I woke gasping, dream clinging to me. The sun barely rose. The motel room felt cold and unwelcoming. I grabbed my laptop, determined to buy a ticket home-not Chicago, just away from Boston, from Cohen, from Kenzie.

I scrolled flights when my phone rang. A Chicago number I hadn't seen in months: Ava, an old art-world friend. I'd asked her weeks earlier to discreetly check Kenzie, a suspicion I couldn't shake.

"Eliza? It's Ava," she said, warm but cautious. "I have information about Kenzie. It's... complicated. Some details I couldn't access."

"That's fine," I said steadily. "Just tell me what you found. Anything helps."

A heavy silence. She breathed deeply.

"Eliza," she whispered, "Kenzie O'Brien received her permanent residency roughly two years ago via spousal sponsorship... from Cohen."

My phone nearly slipped. The world tilted. Cohen. Kenzie. Married in immigration's eyes. Two years. The air left my lungs.

"Eliza? Are you there? Okay?" Ava's voice held concern.

I gripped the phone, fighting nausea. "I'm fine. Thank you, Ava. Seriously."

"Take care of yourself. Call if you need anything."

I hung up. The traffic light outside shifted red to green. The world moved. I stood frozen, crushed by the lie's weight.