Verity's POV
Monty stumbled into the room, cupped my face, and kissed me on the forehead.
His drunken eyes were full of worry.
“Why are you standing at the door?”
“Nothing. I was gonna bring you some hangover soup, but I spilled it.”
“Let the housekeeper take care of stuff like that. You’ve been way too tired lately. Get some rest, okay? Or I’ll feel bad.”
After saying that, he kissed me again.
Just like before—gentle, loving.
But I couldn’t feel his warmth anymore.
‘Can one person really go that far for someone else?’
I closed my eyes, and the tears slipped down.
I helped him onto the bed and pulled the blanket over him.
The alcohol hit fast—he passed out in no time.
I sat at the bedside and quietly picked up his phone.
Ha. The password? Sylvie’s birthday.
Once it unlocked, it switched into another system.
The home screen was clean, barely anything on it—except for the photo album, packed full.
He had stored photos of my parents’ murder case from five years ago there.
A thousand of them.
Every single one had Sylvie’s name on it—from her motive to the evidence of her crime!
Even a video of her showing up at my parents’ villa!
All fucking crystal clear!
Yet… when I flipped to the end, Monty had marked it as an “unsolved case.”
Afraid his coworkers would get suspicious, Monty took the case files home.
He only kept records of it on his phone.
Only he could see them.
His bias and protectiveness were impossible to miss.
Admittedly, it made my chest ache.
He always had principles when working a case. Always had his own judgment.
That was one of the reasons I fell so in love with him.
God, I never thought he’d throw all of that away—for Sylvie.
Besides that, there was another hidden, private album.
I tapped it open—every photo was of Sylvie smiling.
Ten thousand shots, all from the past five years of her life after marriage.
As Monty’s brother’s second wife, any time she made a public appearance, he saved the image.
And in every family photo—Monty cropped out my face.
The message couldn’t be clearer.
I let out a bitter laugh and stopped looking.
Took pictures of everything on my own phone.
Booked a flight to leave the states in three days.
Filed to cancel all my personal documents.
Didn’t sleep a wink all night.
At dawn, when I went out to wash up, my phone rang.
Monty’s confused voice followed right after.
“Verity? Why are you canceling your documents?”
I quickly took my phone from him and kept my tone calm.
“Oh, nothing. They’re expired, I just booked an appointment to renew them.
“Hey, aren’t you supposed to have training today? Go do your thing.”
He didn’t think much of it—just pulled me into his arms, brushing his cheek against mine.
“Babe, are you trying to surprise me or something?”
I froze for a second.
He playfully tapped the tip of my nose.
“I saw your pregnancy report!
“My parents have been asking for a grandkid for five years. They’ll be over the moon when they find out!
“It’s almost your parents’ memorial day. Let’s visit them together and tell them the news, yeah? Maybe throw a family dinner too—Wiley hasn’t been back in ages.”
I smiled but didn’t say anything while he spun me around in excitement.
Over the past five years, he’d worked hard to bring the family together.
I used to think that was his way of loving me.
But now I see—it was all calculated.
He just wanted an excuse to see Sylvie more often.
This five-year-long lie…
It’s time to end it.
