Chapter 4

David stumbled home long after the party should have ended, reeking of expensive whiskey and Sarah' s perfume. Amelia was sitting in the dark living room, waiting. The house was silent, the air thick with unspoken words.

"Amelia! There you are," he slurred, fumbling with the light switch. "I was so worried. You just disappeared. I had to cancel everything. Our friends, the venue..." He trailed off, trying to look hurt and concerned.

"I wasn' t feeling well," she said, her voice devoid of emotion.

He knelt in front of her, his eyes glassy. "I was so scared. I thought... I thought you were leaving me. Don' t ever leave me, Amelia. I love you. I love you so much."

The words were a bitter poison. She looked down at him, at this stranger pretending to be her husband. On the collar of his expensive shirt, there was a smear of red lipstick. It matched the shade Sarah had been wearing. He hadn' t even bothered to wipe it off. He was drunk, sloppy, and disgustingly confident in her blindness.

"I' m just tired, David," she said, standing up. "I' m going to bed."

He followed her, stumbling up the stairs. The next day, he acted as if nothing had happened. He made her coffee, kissed her goodbye, and went to his office. But she knew. She knew he was spending his lunch hour with Sarah. She knew the late nights at the "office" were spent in Sarah' s bed. His life was a carefully constructed web of lies, and he moved through it with an ease that terrified her.

Amelia decided she needed more. The video was damning, but she wanted to understand the full scope of their deception. She needed to know what they were planning.

She called in sick to her bakery and followed him. He drove straight from his office to a high-end jewelry store. Amelia watched from her car across the street as he stood at the counter with Sarah, who was trying on diamond rings. They were laughing, their heads close together. He bought a ring, a large, ostentatious diamond that made Amelia' s simple, elegant wedding band feel like a cheap trinket.

They walked out of the store, hand in hand. Sarah held up her hand, admiring the ring. "It' s perfect, David. A perfect start to our perfect life."

He leaned in and kissed her, a long, deep kiss right on the public sidewalk. He didn' t care who saw. He was already living his new life. Amelia was just a loose end he needed to tie up.

Her hands were shaking with a rage so profound it felt like it would consume her. She drove straight to her assistant Lisa' s apartment. Lisa opened the door and took one look at Amelia' s face.

"Oh, honey. What did he do now?"

Amelia couldn' t speak. She just handed her phone to Lisa and showed her the picture she had taken of David and Sarah kissing outside the jewelry store.

Lisa' s face hardened. "That son of a bitch. I' m going to kill him. I' m going to go over there right now and..."

"No," Amelia said, her voice firm. She had found her resolve again. "Don' t. A scene won' t help. It will just make him more careful."

"Then what are we going to do? You can' t let him get away with this, Amelia. He' s planning to replace you."

"I know," Amelia said, a cold, strategic glint in her eye. "And I' m going to let him. I' m going to let him think he' s winning. He wants to marry her? Fine. I' ll let him plan the wedding. And I will make sure it' s a day neither of them will ever forget."

The original plan for a party takedown felt too small now. Too simple. He had escalated the game by buying that ring. Now, she would escalate it further. She wasn' t just going to expose him. She was going to burn his entire world to the ground.