Chapter 5 - The Second PhoneAdrian lunged for the phone.
Melanie stepped back.
“Don’t.”
“That’s mine.”
“I know.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
His expression changed.
Not guilt now.
Panic.
Elias saw it too.
“Who’s M?”
Adrian ignored him.
“Melanie, you cannot steal my phone.”
She laughed.
“I found it in my closet.”
“I left it there.”
“While hiding your boyfriend.”
Elias flinched.
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“Give it back.”
Melanie looked at the notification again.
LANDLORD CONFIRMED.
The Chelsea apartment.
M knew.
YOUR WIFE STILL DOESN’T KNOW?
She slowly held the phone out.
Adrian reached.
Then Melanie pulled it back.
“You’re right.”
He stared.
“It’s yours.”
She placed it on the dresser.
“I don’t need to invade it.”
Elias frowned.
Melanie looked at Adrian.
“If you want any chance that tonight ends with me speaking to you voluntarily again, unlock it.”
Adrian stared.
“That’s manipulative.”
“No.”
She picked up Ivory’s leash.
“It’s a choice.”
“I have private conversations.”
“Clearly.”
“Some involve clients.”
“Then show us M.”
“Us?”
He laughed bitterly.
“You and Elias are a team now?”
Elias stood.
“Stop doing that.”
“What?”
“Every time someone asks you a question, you make the question the problem.”
Adrian glared.
“You sound like her.”
“That’s not an insult anymore.”
Silence.
Melanie almost reacted.
Didn’t.
Adrian rubbed his jaw.
“M is a broker.”
“Name?”
“Michael.”
“Last name?”
“Drew.”
Elias frowned.
“The broker for Cobble Hill was a woman.”
Adrian looked at him.
“That was different.”
“Different apartment.”
“Yes.”
“So there was an apartment?”
“I looked.”
“You said you put in an application.”
“I said I might.”
Elias laughed.
“You told me they approved us.”
“I was trying to keep the conversation moving.”
“What does that even mean?”
Adrian snapped:
“You pressured me every day!”
There it was.
Elias stared.
“You promised to leave your wife for a year.”
“I was trying!”
“No. You were asking me to stop asking.”
Melanie watched.
She was beginning to see the affair from inside.
Not romantically.
Mechanically.
Elias wanted a deadline.
Adrian offered a milestone.
After Christmas.
After the project.
After the house.
After the closing.
Each deadline expired.
Adrian invented another.
The affair had survived on postponed truth.
Their marriage had too.
Melanie said:
“What does Michael know about me?”
Adrian looked exhausted.
“That we’re separating.”
“We aren’t.”
“We are now.”
The cruelty of the sentence landed.
Melanie’s face went still.
Adrian realized too late.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did.”
“I mean after tonight.”
“No. You mean you told strangers our marriage was over before telling me.”
Silence.
Melanie picked up her purse.
“I’m leaving.”
Elias stood.
“I should too.”
Adrian suddenly looked afraid.
“Elias.”
He stopped.
Adrian softened his voice.
“Can we talk?”
Elias stared.
“About what?”
“Us.”
Melanie felt the word but kept moving.
Elias shook his head.
“There is no us until I know what was real.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“I love you.”
Elias’s eyes filled.
“You keep saying that like it’s evidence.”
Adrian went still.
Elias walked out.
Melanie followed.
At the top of the stairs, Elias stopped.
“Melanie.”
She turned.
“I’m sorry.”
She nodded once.
Not forgiveness.
Acknowledgment.
He continued.
“I thought you knew the marriage was ending.”
She looked at him.
“You still knew it wasn’t ended.”
“Yes.”
“Remember that tomorrow when you want to make yourself only a victim.”
Elias swallowed.
“I will.”
They went downstairs.
Melanie attached Ivory’s leash.
Adrian stood halfway down the stairs.
“Where are you going?”
“My sister’s.”
“You don’t need to leave your own house.”
“No.”
She looked up.
“But I need to leave you.”
The words made everything real.
Adrian gripped the railing.
“Please don’t make permanent decisions tonight.”
Melanie stared at him.
“You made fourteen months of them.”
Then she left.
Outside, the Connecticut night was cool and painfully ordinary.
Elias stood near his car.
Melanie did not look at him again.
She drove away with Ivory in the passenger-side back seat.
Only when she reached the end of the street did she start crying.
Not elegantly.
Not silently.
Her entire body shook.
Ivory whined.
Melanie pulled into an empty church parking lot.
She pressed both hands to her face.
The affair.
The money.
The apartment.
The second phone.
The lies.
She could not hold all of it at once.
So her mind chose one ridiculous detail.
The dinner invitation.
Just us.
Adrian had kissed another man beside their bed, hidden him in the closet, kissed Melanie’s cheek, and suggested dinner.
How many times had he done that emotionally?
Walked from one life into another and smiled before the door fully closed?
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
Melanie stared.
Then answered.
“Hello?”
A male voice.
“Mrs. Cole?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Michael Drew.”
She froze.
The broker.
“I’m sorry to call late.”
“How did you get this number?”
“Your husband provided it as an emergency contact on the Chelsea lease.”
Melanie closed her eyes.
“What do you want?”
Michael hesitated.
“Mr. Cole called me ten minutes ago asking me to destroy part of his rental application.”
Her grip tightened.
“What part?”
“The financial disclosures.”
Melanie stopped crying.
“What disclosures?”
Another pause.
“Mrs. Cole…”
Michael sounded uncomfortable.
“Your husband listed you as a co-guarantor.”
Melanie’s blood went cold.
“I never signed anything.”
Silence.
May you like
Then Michael said:
“That’s why I called.”
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