Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN IN HIS OFFICE
I caught my husband kissing another woman on our fifth wedding anniversary.
I did not scream.
I did not slap him.
I did not ask him why.
I simply walked away.
Four years later, he would stand in front of two little boys who had his eyes, his smile, and the same small dimple in their left cheeks.
But on that night, Julian Foster had no idea those boys would ever exist.
I had spent the entire afternoon preparing his surprise.
I picked up his favorite dinner from Le Jardin, the little French restaurant where we used to celebrate before his company became more important than our marriage.
The restaurant owner still remembered us.
“You two used to sit by the window every Friday,” Madame Claire said as she handed me the insulated bag.
I smiled.
“We have both been busy.”
Her eyes softened with pity.
“Busy people still need love, Audrey.”
I pretended not to notice the warning in her voice.
Inside the bag were steak tartare, warm crusty bread, black cherry tart, and a bottle of the red wine Julian had ordered on the night he proposed.
I had also written him a card.
To another five years... and all the years after.
I believed those words.
That was the most painful part.
The elevator carried me to the twenty-eighth floor of Foster Meridian.
Julian had turned his father’s struggling hotel company into a billion-dollar empire.
His face appeared in business magazines.
His name appeared on buildings.
His success had become so enormous that sometimes I wondered whether there was still room for me inside his life.
The executive floor was almost empty.
Most employees had already gone home.
I walked quietly toward Julian’s office.
The glass doors were partly open.
I heard a woman laugh.
It was soft.
Intimate.
Familiar.
I recognized Madison Carter’s voice immediately.
Madison had been Julian’s executive assistant for eighteen months.
She was beautiful, polished, and always standing one step too close to him.
Whenever I visited the office, she greeted me with a careful smile.
“Mrs. Foster.”
Never Audrey.
Never warmly.
Always as though my presence was an inconvenience.
I should have trusted my instincts.
Instead, I told myself I was being insecure.
Then I stepped closer to the open door.
Madison stood beside the conference table.
Her hands were resting against Julian’s chest.
Julian had one hand around her waist.
Their lips were locked together.
The bag slipped slightly in my hand.
The wine bottle struck the side of the container.
The sound was small.
But Julian heard it.
His eyes opened.
He looked directly at me.
The color vanished from his face.
“Audrey.”
Madison pulled away so quickly that she nearly stumbled.
I stood in the doorway holding the dinner I had bought for our anniversary.
Julian released Madison as if she had burned him.
He took one step toward me.
“Audrey, please.”
I looked at him.
Then I looked at Madison.
Her lipstick was smudged.
One of Julian’s shirt buttons was undone.
Neither of them could hide what I had seen.
“I saw you.”
My voice was calm.
That frightened Julian more than anger would have.
“It was a mistake.”
I almost laughed.
A mistake was forgetting an appointment.
A mistake was sending an email to the wrong person.
This was a decision.
He had placed his hand on her waist.
He had closed his eyes.
He had kissed her back.
Madison grabbed her handbag.
“I should go.”
I turned my eyes toward her.
She stopped.
For a moment, I saw fear in her face.
Then I saw something worse.
Relief.
She thought my marriage was finally over.
She thought Julian would become hers.
I stepped aside.
Madison hurried past me without saying another word.
Julian moved closer.
“Let me explain.”
I placed the insulated bag on the nearest table.
The handwritten card sat on top.
Julian saw it.
His eyes fell on the words.
To another five years... and all the years after.
His expression broke.
“Audrey, I swear, this has never happened before.”
I looked at him for a long time.
“Did you want it to happen?”
He said nothing.
That silence answered me.
I turned away.
He grabbed my wrist.
I looked down at his hand.
He released me immediately.
“Please don’t leave like this.”
“How should I leave?”
My voice remained quiet.
“Should I throw something?”
“Should I cry in front of your employees?”
“Should I ask what she has that I don’t?”
“Audrey—”
“I already know the answer.”
His face tightened.
“She makes you feel admired.”
I swallowed the pain rising in my throat.
“I make you remember who you used to be.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“No.”
I looked into his eyes.
“What you did was not fair.”
I walked toward the elevator.
He followed me.
“Come home with me.”
I pressed the button.
“We can fix this.”
The elevator doors opened.
I stepped inside.
Julian placed one hand between the doors.
“Audrey, look at me.”
I did.
For the first time in years, he looked terrified.
“It was one kiss.”
“One kiss was enough.”
The doors began closing again.
“I love you,” he said.
The words reached me just before the doors shut.
I stared at my reflection in the polished metal walls.
Only one tear slid down my cheek.
Just one.
Then I wiped it away.
By the time Julian returned to our penthouse before sunrise, every trace of me was gone.
My clothes had disappeared.
Our wedding photographs were missing.
My books were no longer on the shelves.
My coffee mug was gone from the kitchen.
Even the small wooden box containing old birthday cards and handwritten notes had been emptied.
Julian ran from room to room.
“Audrey?”
His voice echoed through the penthouse.
“Audrey!”
There was no answer.
He found my wedding ring on the kitchen counter.
Nothing else.
No letter.
No explanation.
No address.
No second chance.
He called my phone.
The number had already been disconnected.
Then he called my mother.
She answered after the sixth attempt.
“Where is she?”
My mother’s voice was ice-cold.
“She asked you not to look for her.”
“I need to speak to my wife.”
“You should have remembered that she was your wife before you kissed someone else.”
The line went dead.
Julian stood alone in the kitchen until the sun rose.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message appeared from Madison.
I’m sorry about tonight.
Julian stared at the words.
Another message followed.
But maybe this happened because you were already unhappy.
Julian’s expression hardened.
He deleted both messages.
Then a third message appeared.
You said you were going to leave her eventually.
Julian froze.
May you like
Because he had never said that.
And suddenly, he realized Madison had been waiting for this moment far longer than he had understood.
