Chapter 1
My husband slapped me in front of his mistress outside our Dallas mansion—he was still laughing when a black SUV screeched to our gates. Then the man inside called my husband by a name I’d never heard before.
I had come home early because our daughter’s school called.
Instead, I found my husband, Ryan, standing beside Vanessa’s car in our driveway.
Vanessa was the woman he had sworn was “just a client.”
Her hand was resting on his chest.
I stopped three feet away.
“So this is the business meeting?”
Ryan didn’t even look embarrassed.
“Emily, go inside.”
Vanessa smiled.
“He was going to tell you tonight.”
“Tell me what?”
Ryan stepped between us.
“That I’m done pretending this marriage works.”
I stared at the house behind him.
The house we had bought together nine years earlier.
“Our daughter is inside waiting for you.”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“Apparently she’ll have to get used to weekends.”
I turned toward her.
“Stay out of my family.”
Ryan grabbed my arm.
“Don’t speak to her like that.”
“Take your hand off me.”
I pulled away.
Ryan slapped me across the face.
Vanessa covered her mouth, but she was smiling.
Ryan actually laughed.
“Maybe now you’ll listen.”
Then tires screamed outside the gates.
A black SUV stopped so suddenly that Ryan turned around.
Two men stepped out.
The older one walked directly toward us.
Ryan’s face changed.
“Mr. Crawford?”
The man ignored him and looked at me.
“Mrs. Bennett?”
Ryan frowned.
“My wife’s name is Carter.”
The man stared at him.
“No. Your wife’s legal name is Emily Bennett.”
Vanessa looked confused.
Ryan laughed nervously.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
The man opened a folder.
“You should ask your husband why he’s been using the name Ryan Carter for eleven years.”
Nobody spoke.
I looked at Ryan.
His face had gone completely pale.
Then Mr. Crawford pulled out a photograph.
It showed Ryan standing beside another woman.
May you like
And two children.
The date printed beneath it was three years after our wedding.
