【You'd better not forget—half the money to hire those thugs came off your card! If she reports it, you don't walk away clean either!】
Dennis: 【I've been by her side for days now. She trusts me. She won't go to the police.】
Hailey: 【Then when are you coming over to me?】
Dennis: 【The second she's asleep.】
My breathing turned shallow, and my fingers wouldn't stop shaking.
He'd left me standing there in my wedding dress and gone to Hailey's bed.
He was the one who'd paid to have me destroyed.
I put the backup phone back in the drawer.
The hospital room door opened.
"Sweetheart, why aren't you asleep yet?"
He came to the bed and tucked the blanket in around me.
"I was about to. The company's swamped, you don't have to stay with me."
"Out of the question. I've already taken the time off. Once you're feeling better, I'll take you somewhere to relax."
Dennis smoothed my hair.
"All right. Let's do the discharge tomorrow, then."
All I wanted now was to leave this place. To leave him.
The day I was discharged, we went home.
The red double-happiness cutouts in the living room had all been stripped away, replaced with beige curtains and a beige rug.
Dennis poured a glass of warm water and set it on the coffee table, then took out his phone and tapped a few times.
My phone buzzed.
A bank text. Twenty thousand dollars deposited.
"Sweetheart, take this twenty thousand. Buy yourself some clothes, some jewelry, whatever you like. From now on I'll hand over my whole paycheck to you every month."
Dennis sat down beside me.
"Keep it. I don't need money."
I was about to send it back when he stopped me.
"Take it. I want to make it up to you."
Just then came a knock at the door.
Dennis frowned, stood, and went to answer it.
Hailey stood outside in a bright red slip dress.
"Well, well. Heard Angela got discharged, so I came to pay my respects."
She craned her neck to peer into the apartment.
Dennis blocked the doorway. "What are you doing here? Get lost!"
"Dennis, why are you standing in my way?"
Hailey let out a laugh. "Afraid she'll fall apart if she sees me?"
Dennis seized her wrist, yanked her out into the hall, and slammed the door shut with a bang.
The two of them were in this together, and here they were putting on a show like they couldn't stand each other.
I wanted to know exactly how they carried on behind my back.
I got up, went to the door, and pressed my eye to the peephole.
The hallway's motion light was on.
Hailey shook off his grip and jabbed a finger into his chest.
"Dennis, what's with the attitude?"
She lowered her voice. "What, you feel sorry for her, seeing her like that?"
Dennis grabbed her finger. "I told you to leave her alone!"
Hailey gave a cold laugh. "Don't forget—the getaway money for those thugs came from you!"
"If you can't handle her and she goes to the cops, we all go down together!"
"Fine. I'll go in right now and tell her exactly where you were on our wedding night—"
Hailey stepped forward as if to grab the door handle.
"Shut your mouth!"
Dennis hauled her back and pinned her hard against the white hallway wall.
He lowered his head and covered her mouth with his.
Hailey braced both hands against his chest, gave a token push or two, then wound her arms around his neck.
Right there outside the door, the two of them tangled together in plain sight.
His hand even slid up under the hem of her dress.
I let go of the door handle and stepped back.
