Chapter 2

Cora Frank

I didn't sleep that night.

At 3 AM, I crept into our storage closet and dug through dusty boxes until my fingers closed around cold plastic. The hidden camera I'd bought three years ago-during my first spiral, my first attempt to prove I wasn't crazy.

My hands trembled as I carried it to Hudson's home office. I scanned the bookshelves, looking for the perfect angle, the perfect hiding spot.

Then I froze.

There, on the top shelf, pressed into the wood grain, was a faint rectangular mark. Old adhesive residue. From a camera.

My camera. From three years ago.

I had been here before. The exact same spot. The exact same desperate attempt to catch a truth everyone insisted didn't exist.

The room spun. I gripped the shelf to steady myself.

How many times? I thought. How many times am I going to do this to myself?

But I already knew the answer. As many times as it took.

I installed the camera, angled toward his desk, and went back to bed.

Three years ago, this nightmare began.

Hudson had just made partner at Hull & Associates, one of Boston's most prestigious corporate law firms. He was flying high-charismatic, brilliant, the golden boy everyone wanted at their table.

And he needed a new executive assistant.

He hired Bridgett Palmer, a former paralegal from a struggling local firm. He presented her as a charity case-a vulnerable single mother fresh out of a difficult divorce, just trying to get back on her feet. Hudson, ever the hero, was "helping" her.

I recognized her immediately. Bridgett. His college sweetheart. His first love.

When I confronted him, he didn't deny it. "I should have told you," he admitted, his voice heavy with manufactured regret. "But I knew you'd worry. With your anxiety, I didn't want to trigger anything. She's just an old friend who needs help, Cora. Nothing more."

I wanted to believe him.

Then came the photos. A colleague sent me one from a firm networking event-Hudson and Bridgett, laughing, his hand resting on her lower back. Nothing explicitly incriminating, but the intimacy was undeniable.

Then the black stocking I found in his passenger seat. "She ripped hers before a client meeting," he explained smoothly. "The CFO was in the backseat the whole time. Ask her if you don't believe me."

The CFO confirmed it. Everyone always confirmed Hudson's stories.

Then the late nights. The missed calls. The vague explanations that dissolved under scrutiny like morning fog.

I spiraled. I checked his phone obsessively. I tracked his car. I installed cameras. I demanded hourly updates on his whereabouts. I became the "crazy wife" everyone pitied-and Hudson, the patient, long-suffering husband who endured my "episodes" with saintly forbearance.

When I stormed into his office and screamed at Bridgett in front of the entire firm, I became a cautionary tale. "Did you hear about Hudson Hull's wife? Completely unhinged. Poor guy."

That night, we fought. Really fought. He smashed a vase-a wedding gift from his mother-and in the chaos, I stumbled. Fell.

The miscarriage happened at eleven weeks. I hadn't even known I was pregnant.

In the hospital, Hudson knelt beside my bed and wept. "It's my fault," he sobbed. "All of it. I pushed you too hard. I'll fix this, Cora. I swear."

He fired Bridgett. He promised transparency. He became the perfect husband.

And I, drowning in grief and guilt, believed him.

My therapist diagnosed me with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and PTSD. The medication helped. The fog lifted. I convinced myself it had all been in my head-the hormones, the stress, the tragedy of losing a baby I never knew I carried.

For three years, I was "better."

But I wasn't better. I was just numb.