Chapter 1 - The Woman Who Came on My Honeymoon.
The first sign that something was wrong with my marriage appeared before my marriage was even forty-eight hours old.
It stood six feet away from me at John F. Kennedy International Airport, wearing a white sundress and a smile that was far too comfortable.
Her name was Khloe Bennett.
My husband's secretary.
And apparently, she was coming on our honeymoon.
I noticed her suitcase before I truly looked at her face.
Cream leather.
Gold hardware.
The same limited-edition luggage Alexander had given me as a wedding present.
Not merely the same brand.
The same collection.
The same monogram placement.
The only difference was that mine carried the initials S.M., while hers carried K.B.
Alexander stood beside me in a navy travel suit, one hand in his pocket, looking as calm as he had beneath the white roses at our wedding two nights earlier.
He had promised me forever in front of two hundred guests.
Now he cleared his throat as if he were about to explain a delayed flight.
"Khloe will be with us in Maui," he said.
I stared at him.
"On our honeymoon?"
His mouth tightened.
"It is work, Sophia. Nothing more."
Khloe gave me a sympathetic little smile that somehow felt more insulting than a laugh.
"I told him it might be awkward," she said.
Alexander barely looked at her.
"And I told you Sophia would understand."
That sentence was the first slap.
Not because he had brought another woman on our honeymoon.
Because he had already decided what I was allowed to feel about it.
I opened my mouth to answer when my phone vibrated inside my quilted white handbag.
Unknown number.
One message.
DO NOT BOARD THAT FLIGHT UNTIL YOU SEE THIS.
Beneath the words was a photograph.
At first, my brain refused to understand what I was seeing.
Then the letters sharpened.
State of Nevada.
Certificate of Marriage.
Alexander James Mercer.
Khloe Marie Bennett.
The date was seven months earlier.
My fingers went cold around the phone.
I zoomed in.
There were signatures.
A county seal.
A license number.
And a small photograph underneath showing Alexander and Khloe outside a chapel in Las Vegas.
Alexander was wearing the same watch I had given him for his birthday last year.
Khloe was holding a cheap bouquet and laughing into his shoulder.
My stomach turned so hard I thought I might actually be sick.
"Sophia?"
Alexander's voice came from somewhere far away.
I locked the screen.
"Sorry," I said.
"My mother sent me something about the reception flowers."
My mother had been dead for eleven years.
Alexander knew that.
But he was distracted enough not to catch the mistake.
He checked his watch instead.
"We need to get through security."
Khloe adjusted her sunglasses on top of her head.
"Our boarding group will be called soon."
Our boarding group.
The words landed strangely.
I looked from her to my husband.
Then back to the phone hidden in my palm.
Forty-eight hours ago, I had believed I was Alexander Mercer's wife.
Now I was staring at proof that another woman might already own that title.
But the message had contained one more line beneath the photograph.
A line I had not let Alexander see.
THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.
And as Alexander reached for my hand, I realized something terrifying.
May you like
Whoever had sent the message knew what he was planning next.
MY HUSBAND BROUGHT HIS SECRETARY ON OUR HONEYMOON
