Chapter 1 - Four Tables to the Left
The silence in the ballroom was absolute. It was the kind of heavy, suffocating quiet that follows a car crash.
Two hundred and fifty heads turned in unison.
Exactly four tables to Chloe’s left sat Evan. Mark’s business partner. Mark’s college roommate. The man who had stood right next to him at the altar twelve years ago as his best man. Beside Evan sat his wife, a high-profile real estate attorney named Valerie, whose face had just gone perfectly, terrifyingly blank.
Chloe’s eyes darted frantically to the medical document in my hand. Her confident smirk collapsed into a twisted mask of confusion and terror. "No... that's impossible. I made sure... I mean, Mark and I..."
"You made sure?" I interrupted, my voice carrying clearly through the room. "You made sure Mark was the only one you were sleeping with? Or you made sure the clinic altered the initial paperwork?"
Mark, who had been frozen near the bar, finally jolted to life. His face was the color of chalk. "What is she talking about, Chloe?" he demanded, his voice cracking. "What does she mean, Evan?"
I handed the paper back to Victor, the private investigator, who tucked it neatly into his black binder. "Five months ago, I hired Victor to follow my husband. But what he found was much more interesting. He found out that you and Mark weren't exclusively sneaking around. You were also visiting Evan’s condo on Tuesday afternoons while his wife was in court."
Evan scrambled out of his chair, knocking over a crystal water goblet. "Mark, man, listen to me—"
Mark lunged.
It took three groomsmen and two waiters to pull my husband off his best friend. The string quartet, unsure of what to do, awkwardly began playing Vivaldi’s Spring.
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Valerie stood up slowly. She didn't scream. She didn't cry. She just picked up her designer clutch, looked at Evan with eyes colder than dry ice, and said, "Don't come home." Then, she walked out.
I looked at Chloe, who was now sobbing on the floor in her ruined emerald gown. "Happy anniversary, Mark," I said. Then, I turned my back on the chaos and walked out the front doors, my head held high.
