Chapter 3

The building manager left, sensing the sudden, thick tension in the air. I stood there for a long time, the man's words echoing in my head. "Primary contact." "Taking over full-time." "The friend."

My numbness gave way to a cold, hard certainty. I walked into Wesley's home office, a room I rarely entered. It was his sanctuary, filled with law books from his family's legacy and framed photos of him with powerful people. I went straight to his filing cabinet. It wasn't even locked. He was that arrogant.

Under 'P' for 'Property,' I found it. The actual deed. Not a copy, the original. Wesley Scott and Gabrielle Cullen. Joint tenants with right of survivorship.

It meant that if one of them died, the other got the entire property. It was the kind of legal arrangement you made with a spouse, not a "friend" you were "helping out."

The paper felt toxic in my hands. I carefully placed it back, my mind a storm of eleven years of memories, now all tainted. Every time he'd told me to wait, every time he'd kept me from a family event, every excuse now clicked into place. I wasn't the future Mrs. Scott. I was the placeholder until the real one was ready to come home.

That night, I went to the dinner.

I wore a simple black dress, nothing that would stand out. The restaurant was one of those absurdly expensive places in downtown Austin where the waiters whisper. Gabrielle's family and their friends, all cut from the same cloth as Wesley's, filled a long table.

Gabrielle was exactly as I remembered. Sweet, innocent, with wide, doe-like eyes that made everyone want to protect her. She greeted me with a warm hug, whispering in my ear.

"Maddy, I'm so glad you came! I know it must seem weird, the condo and all, but Wesley is just the best, isn't he? Always taking care of me."

She was a master of her craft.

I just smiled.

Throughout the dinner, the toasts were all for them.

"To Wesley and Gabrielle! It's so good to see you two together again."

"The perfect couple, finally back in the same city!"

They laughed, basking in the attention. Wesley sat beside her, his arm draped casually over the back of her chair, a gesture of ownership he never showed me in public.

I pulled out my phone and discreetly started recording.

Then, one of their friends, a loud, boorish man named Carter, raised his glass.

"Come on, you two! For old times' sake! Give us a little kiss! Show us you haven't lost the magic!"

The table erupted in cheers. Gabrielle blushed prettily, looking at Wesley with those wide, innocent eyes. Wesley, ever the politician playing to his audience, leaned in and gave her a soft, lingering kiss on the lips. It wasn't a friendly peck. It was intimate. Familiar.

The camera on my phone captured it all.

I stopped recording and put my phone down. The table was quiet now, everyone looking at me, expecting a reaction. A scene. Tears.

I gave them a calm, serene smile.

"If Gabrielle wants him," I said, my voice carrying clearly in the sudden silence, "she can have him."

The shock around the table was a palpable thing. Gabrielle's sweet facade shattered, her eyes widening in genuine surprise. Wesley's face went from charismatic politician to thunderous rage in a split second.

He grabbed my arm, his fingers digging into my skin.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he hissed, pulling me to my feet and dragging me toward the exit.