Chapter 2 The fancy museum

I should have known something was wrong the moment Marcus smiled at me in the car.

His hand wrapped around my waist like a beautiful trap as we walked into the fancy museum's private party room. Wine glasses caught the light like tiny diamonds, and New York's best doctors moved through the shadows like well-dressed sharks. Sophia's welcome home party. Of course it had to be here-surrounded by priceless art while my own life fell apart.

"Remember what we talked about." Marcus's breath was warm against my ear, but his words felt like ice. "Tonight is about family sticking together. Don't make me look bad."

His grip on my waist got tighter. A warning dressed up as love.

I nodded because that's what good wives do. Even when their world is breaking apart.

The party buzzed with talk about surgery techniques and research money-a fancy conversation I'd never learned to join. These people knew me as Marcus's wife, nothing more. Expensive furniture with a heartbeat.

The mean laughter hit me first-sharp, cutting through the night air like broken glass. My body turned to stone as I recognized those voices, the same ones that had whispered behind my back for months. Marcus's friends. The ones who thought I was nothing more than a joke.

Their laughter grew louder around me, but I barely heard it anymore. I was already somewhere else, already planning how I'd never let anyone make me feel this small again.

What Marcus didn't know-what none of them knew-was that this moment would change everything. Not just for me, but for all of them.

Some betrayals make you into something stronger. Something dangerous.

And there was Marcus, his lips pressed against mine, not knowing the nightmare happening around us.

I should have pulled away. Should have run. But I was frozen, trapped between the warmth of his kiss and the ice-cold truth that this moment-this beautiful, perfect moment I'd dreamed about-was their entertainment. Their cruel little show.

"Look at her face," someone laughed. "She actually thinks he means it."

The words cut through me, but Marcus didn't stop. Didn't even flinch. His hands stayed gentle on my face while his friends picked me apart like I was nothing. Less than nothing.

When he finally pulled back, his eyes met mine for just a heartbeat. And in that split second, I saw something flicker there-guilt? Regret? Or was I just desperate enough to imagine it?

"Ava!"

Sophia's voice cut through the crowd like a knife through silk.

She moved toward us in midnight blue that probably cost more than I made in three months, every step planned to draw attention. Success stuck to her like expensive perfume-exciting and impossible to ignore. Even now, even knowing what I knew about the distance between us, I felt that familiar stab of not being good enough.

Why couldn't I be her?

"You came." Her hug was camera-ready perfection-warm enough for show, cold enough to remind me exactly where I stood in her world. "I wasn't sure you would."

"Family is important," I managed, hating how small my voice sounded.

But Sophia wasn't looking at me anymore. Her eyes had found Marcus, and something hungry flickered there. Something that made my stomach twist.

"Marcus." The way she said his name was different. Richer. Like she was tasting something delicious. "That suit is devastating on you."

"Sophia." His voice changed too-became something I'd never heard before. Interested. Alive. "Congratulations on Johns Hopkins. Heart surgery suits you."

I might as well have disappeared.

"Walk with me?" Sophia's arm slipped through mine with sisterly love that felt more like a chain. "We need to catch up."

She led me deeper into the gallery, away from the crowd, away from witnesses. Our heels echoed against marble floors that had seen centuries of secrets. The old statues watched us with stone eyes as we moved through shadows and dim light.

"You know, Ava," Sophia stopped beside a statue of Persephone-the goddess frozen forever in captivity, stolen from everything she'd ever known. "I've been thinking about us. About how different our lives turned out."

Something in her tone made my skin crawl. "Different how?"

Her laugh was like crystal breaking against concrete. "Oh, please. The innocent act is getting old."

The mask was slipping. Finally.

"Did you really think I wouldn't find out about your pathetic little side job? Working extra shifts at that cute bookshop café to scrape together money for your extra income?" Her voice dropped to a whisper that somehow felt louder than screaming. "Marcus told me everything."

The blood drained from my face so fast I thought I might collapse.

All those late nights. The bone-deep tiredness. The shame of hiding my second job from everyone who mattered. I'd told it all to Marcus during our most private moments, when the darkness made honesty feel safe.

"He's quite the storyteller, your husband." Sophia traced one finger along the marble goddess's cheek. "Especially when we're alone."

"What are you talking about?"

The gallery tilted sideways.

"Oh, Ava." Her smile was sharp enough to draw blood. "You always were the naive one. Tell me-did you never wonder about Marcus's monthly business trips to Miami? The ones that happen to match perfectly with my surgery conferences?"

No. No, no, no.

"That anniversary necklace he gave you last year-the sapphires that made you cry with joy?" Sophia's hand moved to her throat, where an identical piece caught the light like a slap in the face. "He does have excellent taste. Though mine was the original."

I gripped the marble stand so hard my knuckles went white. The truth crashed over me in waves that threatened to drown me.

"He wore it when we made love in the fancy suite at the Ritz-Carlton. The same suite where you honeymooned, actually." Her voice was honey mixed with poison. "Beautiful, don't you think?"

"You're lying."

"Am I?"

The phone appeared in her hand like magic. One swipe, and my world ended.

Marcus. Definitely Marcus, his arms wrapped around Sophia in what was clearly a hotel room. Both wearing the necklaces. Both looking like they'd found their missing piece.

My knees nearly gave out.

"He told me you were cold, Ava. Too damaged, too broken to satisfy a man like him." Her eyes glittered with mean joy. "But don't worry-I've been taking excellent care of his needs. In fact, he's coming to my apartment tonight. After we finish playing happy family, of course."

Every tender moment. Every whispered promise. Every night I'd felt loved and whole-all of it lies. All of it an act.

"That blue dress you love so much? The one he bought for your birthday that made you feel beautiful?" Sophia leaned closer, her voice dropping to an intimate whisper. "I wore it first. Quite thoroughly. Marcus has such creative ideas when he's properly motivated."

The dress hanging in my closet. The one that had made me feel like someone worth loving.

I was going to be sick.

But as Sophia's laughter echoed off the marble walls, as my marriage showed itself as an elaborate lie, something else stirred in my chest. Something that felt suspiciously like...relief?

Because now I knew. Now the pretending could stop.