Chapter 4

Alexander came in right behind Katerina, his expression a mixture of guilt and defiance. He saw Aja standing on the stairs and froze.

"Aubrey..."

Aja didn' t say a word. She turned and walked back to the bedroom, closing the door behind her. The click of the latch was the sound of a final lock turning in a final cell.

She sank onto the bed, the bed she had once shared with him. She remembered him tracing patterns on her back, whispering about the future. About the children they would have. A house full of laughter. A life full of love. All of it smoke.

He knocked on the door. "Aubrey, can we talk?"

She remained silent.

He opened the door and came in, closing it softly behind him. "Look, I know how this looks."

He started to explain. Katerina was pregnant. It had been an accident, a one-time thing that happened while Aubrey was in prison. He claimed he' d just found out. He said he was going to handle it, that it didn' t change anything between them.

Aja stared at him, feeling a profound, bottomless sense of foolishness. The lies were so layered, so intricate, she wondered if he even knew what the truth was anymore.

She felt numb. The pain was so immense it had short-circuited her ability to feel anything at all.

"I need you to be understanding about this," he pleaded, his voice soft and persuasive. The voice he used to get his way. "Just for a little while. Until the baby is born. Then I will make sure she and the child are taken care of, and they will be out of our lives forever."

Aja looked at him, a strange, hollow smile touching her lips. "Alright, Alex."

His face flooded with relief. He mistook her numbness for acceptance. "Thank you, Aubrey. I knew you' d understand. You' ve always been so reasonable."

He leaned in to kiss her, but she turned her head, and his lips brushed her cheek. He didn' t seem to notice. He was too relieved that he' d gotten what he wanted. He could keep his wife and his pregnant mistress, all under one roof.

He started spending all his time with Katerina, doting on her, catering to her every whim. He stepped back from his company, letting his partners handle the day-to-day, so he could monitor Katerina' s health.

The world saw a bizarre, tragic love story. The noble tech mogul, torn between his troubled wife and the mother of his unborn child.

Aja became a ghost in her own home. She' d watch them in the garden, Alexander' s hand resting on Katerina' s stomach, a look of paternal awe on his face.

That look was a knife in Aubrey' s dormant heart.

Aubrey' s memories flooded Aja' s mind. The years of trying to get pregnant. The miscarriages. The devastating doctor' s appointment where they were told it would be nearly impossible for her to carry a child to term.

"It doesn' t matter," Alexander had said back then, holding her as she wept. "It' s you I want. We' ll adopt. We' ll have a family one way or another. I promise."

He had promised.

Now he was building that family with someone else. He had given Katerina the one thing Aubrey had wanted more than anything in the world.

One evening, Alexander came to her, a look of urgency on his face. "I have to fly to Shanghai. An emergency with our manufacturing plant. I' ll only be gone for two days."

He hesitated. "I need you to look after Kat while I' m gone. Her pregnancy has been... delicate."

He looked at her, his eyes pleading for her compliance, for her to be the good, understanding wife one last time.

"Of course, Alex," Aja said, her voice a perfect imitation of Aubrey' s gentle submission.

"What are your plans for the next couple of days?" he asked, a hint of suspicion in his tone.

"I don' t know," Aja said, looking down. "Maybe I' ll visit Dr. Sharma."

He nodded, satisfied. "Good. That' s good."

He rushed out the door, his mind already on his business trip, leaving her alone with his mistress.

Aja stood at the window and watched his car disappear down the drive. She felt nothing. No anger. No sadness. Just a vast, cold emptiness.

The woman he was asking to be understanding, the woman he thought would just quietly accept her fate, was gone. She was a memory. A ghost.

Aubrey Lowery was about to disappear forever. And Alexander would never even know he was the one who killed her.