"Stay away from Penelope and her baby from now on. Having a vicious so-called best friend like you is the worst luck she's had in her entire life."
Silas's warning rang through the air like a slap. My heart skipped, hollowed out for a beat, but my feet moved on their own, carrying me further from the two of them.
After I'd gotten my wound cleaned up, a memory surfaced unbidden: the scar on the top of Silas's head.
It was from the year my mother was diagnosed. She'd lost control, grabbed a knife, and started slashing at everything in the house.
The blade had been swinging toward me when Silas appeared out of nowhere and threw himself in its path. The knife carved a gash across his scalp that never fully healed.
Every time I saw that scar, my chest ached for him.
He'd always laugh it off. "It's just a scar. Scars make a man look tough."
He kept it all these years. Called it proof of his love.
I was still stumbling out of the hospital in a daze when Penelope's laughter floated over from somewhere behind me. "Silas, you look so much better now that scar's gone."
In that moment, I knew with perfect clarity that I no longer occupied any corner of his heart.
So why was I still chaining myself to a dead marriage? Trapping myself, trapping him.
I walked up to Silas, ready to end things cleanly, but he waved me off before I could open my mouth.
"Didn't I tell you to keep your distance? With that filthy body of yours, do you really think I'd still hold you in the palm of my hand and treat you like a queen? Wake up."
I was about to explain that all I wanted was a clean break, but my phone buzzed. Rosalie Marsh from the lounge.
"Hilda, our VIP Mr. Lambert asked for you by name tonight. Get back here. If he's happy, I'll throw in an extra ten grand on your bonus this month."
"I don't want to go."
"Fine, don't go. But word is you already wired every cent you had to that compound to get your husband back, am I right?"
"Your mother's still in the psychiatric hospital waiting for you to cover her bills. If you're coming, come now. If you piss Lambert off, I'm docking your entire bonus."
Rosalie's words jolted something loose in my mind.
If Silas was never taken by the compound, then that $500,000 ransom was a setup. Someone he put up to it must have collected every dollar.
I hesitated, then walked back to him. "Silas, you were willing to come clean and admit the whole thing was a lie. So can you give me back that $500,000?"
"My mother's gotten worse. I need that money for her hospital bills."
Silas's brow furrowed. Something blank and uncomprehending flickered behind his eyes.
"What $500,000?"
Penelope leaned into his arms, her tone light and teasing. "Oh, Hildie, I know you better than anyone. You've always loved money more than anything else in this world."
"I bet you tried to squeeze some other man dry, got scammed out of your own savings instead, and now you're crawling to Silas for a handout. That's what a lounge girl's commission buys you, huh?"
"Give it a rest with the little schemes. Your mother's perfectly fine. You probably blew through your money on shopping sprees and now you're trying to shake Silas down."
"Besides, this baby's going to need plenty of money down the road. Every dollar Silas has should go where it actually matters."
The last trace of warmth drained from Silas's gaze.
"Hilda, don't think I'm still as easy to fool as I used to be."
"If you hadn't stolen Penelope's dating account to catfish me online, I never would have fallen for a scheming woman like you in the first place."
"Get lost."
But that wasn't how it happened. Penelope had been juggling half a dozen guys on that app. Silas was just one of her backups.
She didn't think he was worth her time, so she tossed the account to me like it was nothing.
And now that same account had become a blade, twisted between us to cut me away from him for good.
